Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence

Glenn Ford, a New York boy who has been saving his cash, thumbs and hobos his way to the Arizona ranch he has bought, where he hopes to find HEAVEN WITH A BARBED WIRE FENCE.

A film with a Dalton Trumbo script and story, directed by villain extraordinaire Ricardo Cortez, and starring the frequently twitchy Glenn Ford and the restless Richard Conte just shouldn't be so bloody nice. Though the system -- mostly seen as mean cops and railroad bulls and real estate con men -- is as awful as one might expect from the leftish Mr. Trumbo, every single proletarian is just so sweet and nice and salt of the earth that one feels nausea. It doesn't help that the heroine -- a sweet blonde thing who is an illegal alien refugee fleeing Franco's Spain -- is annoying for reasons of both scripting and acting.

So why watch? Richard Conte, in his first role, already has his persona and a pretty good part. And there are some moments of 30s leftist camp that are pretty astonishing. (Did Dalton absolutely have to set a major portion of the movie in the Russian Worker's mission? All that was missing was a portrait of a beaming Joe Stalin!) Also, this is Glenn Ford's first substantive role (though his performance isn't good).

Why not watch? Essentially, the movie offers an unconvincing vision, is wedded to a political viewpoint that is risible, and the two leads have made much better movies. Also, the strengths of Dalton Trumbo as a screenwriter are nowhere in evidence. Instead, we get a film that the Coen Brothers Barton Fink could have written in a flash (and avoided that hellish bout with writer's block).

I saw this movie when I was 8 years old, so my memories are not nearly as cynical as the previous comments. I've never forgotten a funny scene when Glenn Ford is sitting at the counter in a restaurant. He asks for a cup of hot water and proceeds to add ketchup, salt , pepper, and crackers. He's making soup, for free. When the owner realizes what Glenn is doing, he removes the doughnuts from the counter. Disparage his acting, if you want. I remember being so struck with Glenn Ford looking for Shady Acres that I watched for his other movies. The Depression didn't really end until 1942 with the beginning of WW2 and full employment. But even an 8 year old could see this was a future star.

In film school, when the 'chewing up the scenery' class comes up, this B movie is the feature presentation!

Four likeable, yet different characters traverse the country from East to West. They are all fairly aimless, but the general goal is to find the unseen treasure that Glenn Ford has sold his soul for... a ranch in Arizona.

Despite the terrible conditions, this somehow manages to maintain a high level of comedy and the travelers rarely complain. In fact, it's a lot of fun (mainly) and a rewarding way to spend time.

As entertainment value this is no great shakes. A store clerk, Joe (Glenn Ford) has worked six years in New York to save up enough money to purchase a 20 acre ranch in Arizona, and now that he has purchased it he's quit his job and on his way there. But apparently, he didn't think ahead enough to save up for a train ticket there. But if he had a tidy comfortable trip across country in a train we would have no movie. Thus he ends up hitch-hiking and freight-hopping, with all of the dangers and complications that arise from such activities at the very tail end of the Great Depression. Along the way he meets up with an illegal alien from Spain (Jean Rogers) and a hobo, Tony (Richard Conte).

This was Richard Conte's and Glenn Ford's feature film debut, and they are fifth and fourth billed respectively behind Jean Rodgers, Raymond Walburn , and Marjorie Rambeau even though Glenn Ford is the real center of attention. It's strange to see Glenn Ford speaking like a gangster - I think they were going for a Humphrey Bogart or James Cagney style performance here - a city slicker out of his element. Richard Conte seems to be Fox's answer to John Garfield with his "dust be my destiny" attitude, even though John Garfield just showed up on screen the year before. This was directed by actor Ricardo Cortez in the few years that he tried his hand at directing, and written for the screen and from and original story by famed screenwriter Dalton Trumbo early on in his writing career. Spartacus it is not.

The road portion of the film takes up almost all of its short running time, with Ford arriving at his ranch only at the end. So if you are thinking this is a western from the title, you would be wrong. It's probably worth it just to see Ford and Conte so early in their careers.

This is a wonderful movie! Really. It's not a 'Blockbuster" by today's standards, but it IS extremely heartwarming, well acted, and you-never-know-what's-going-to happen-next type film. Sure, most of us have money, now, to buy groceries and essentials, but what if that all changed?

With such a bumbling potato-head in the WH, right now, who knows what can happen? This film depicts life in the 1930's. For many of you who don't remember that era, or if your 'History Book' conveniently left that part of our recent heritage out -- this was after the Great Depression -- hardly anyone had anything. My parents grew up in that era, and they made their way through it; but they didn't talk about it much.

This film depicts that era. If 'Something Happened', and grocery store shelves were empty and/or you had no money -- or your money was worthless, what would YOU do? How long could you really survive on your pitiful stockpile of "Prepper supplies"? It's worth thinking about.

Watch this movie. Yes there is camaraderie among relative strangers, also fights, trouble with the Law -- however, it all comes out OK -- and it's worth your time to view this film!

I hope to God that part of our History does NOT repeat itself; but NEXT TIME be more careful who you vote for -- AND be far MORE careful about who counts the Votes!!!!!! Oh, and get out of your comfy easy chair -- and GET INVOLVED with politics and governance at your LOCAL levels too!!!