Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Homeric There is a very good print of this film out on DVD. It is a somewhat odd little film, a modern western, a confined setting, but it does have items of interest. There are only 4 actors in the movie and for most of it, only 3. This creates an interesting dynamic between the players. Then there is the beautiful scenic location, which is not a Hollywood "set", and is excellently photographed. The actors are very watchable, and Simmons and Calhoun make a good couple. This is a passable western, not a great one. The dialogue is okay and did not have many moments to make you wince. The story line is terrific, but there is a lack of real tension that makes the film drag at times. However, the real problem is the ending. It ends a little too pat, a little too safe, a little too Hollywood. Overall it is better than many such B films, and does manage to maintain interest throughout.

Randy H. Farb Let's see, a father and a daughter in a remote location. They are visited by strangers who arrived their by a transportation accident and stranded by a storm. The daughter falls in love with one of the men. One of the men is from a wealthy community some distance afar. Is this "The Tempest" or is it the prequel to "Forbidden Planet?" Jean Simmons can't help being beautiful even though she lives on a sheep farm in the mountains. Rory Calhoun is fine as an accused murderer. He has that Robert Mitchum style of beast and human schizophrenia. Brian Donlevy is also fine, though his part is brief and yet pivotal to the plot. The dialog is well written, and just when you think you've got it all figured out, a twist emerges.

jjnxn-1 Not a western but an entertaining if improbable drama set in an isolated area in the west. Jean Simmons is full of guarded, wounded vulnerability, a very fine actress. She and Rory Calhoun make a surprisingly simpatico pairing. Stephen McNally's character is rather one note, a more distinctive actor could have perhaps fleshed it out but it doesn't hurt the film. Makes some observations about a man's true nature even if he has committed a criminal act. Brian Donlevy shows up near the end to act as a sort of catalyst for the resolution and is fine as always but the picture could have done without him. Not a classic but a solid film.

Neil Doyle John Farrow directed this unusual western about a bounty hunter (STEPHEN McNALLY) and his prisoner (RORY CALHOUN) seeking shelter in a remote cabin owned by JEAN SIMMONS, biding their time until the bad weather passes so that McNally can bring Calhoun to justice for a crime he's committed involving McNally's brother.Somehow the casting seems adrift. McNally is usually much more at home as a villain and should have played Calhoun's part. And yet, Calhoun and Simmons don't seem like a good match, she being completely out of place in this sort of western and he not convincing enough as the bad man McNally is after.The storm sequences are well done, the settings are good, and everyone tries hard to keep the melodramatics on a believable level--and most of it works quite well.BRIAN AHERNE, as Simmons' absent father, only makes an appearance toward the end of the story when his role becomes important in the scheme of things. He too seems oddly out of place in a western.Despite the flaws, makes an interesting watch.