Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

James Hitchcock Len Merrick, a US marshal, and his two deputies rescue an elderly farmer named Timothy Keith from a lynch mob. Keith is something of a disreputable character and freely admits to being a cattle rustler, but the leader of the mob, a local rancher named Ned Roden, indignantly denies that he would seek to take a man's life for a few head of cattle. He believes that Keith is guilty of a much more serious crime, the murder of Roden's son Ed who has been found shot in the back. In view of the seriousness of the allegation against Keith, Merrick agrees to take him to Santa Loma to stand trial, but this does not satisfy Roden who wants to kill Keith with his own hands, not leave the task to the public hangman. The rest of the film tells the story of the journey to Santa Loma and of Keith's trial. Merrick and his deputies are pursued across the desert by Roden and his gang who are determined to administer their own brand of justice and who would have no compunction about killing Merrick in order to do so. Keith himself does not make the task any easier. Although he claims that he is innocent of the murder charge, he clearly does not believe that he can expect a fair trial in Santa Loma because he is continually trying either to escape or to persuade Merrick to set him free. He clearly does not realise that it is only the presence of the three lawmen which protects him from Roden's rough justice. Further complicating factors are the fact that Merrick is forced to take Roden's other son, Dan, as a hostage and the presence on the journey of Keith's beautiful daughter Ann. Merrick and Ann fall in love, but their romance is a difficult one because she believes passionately in her father's innocence whereas Merrick believes him to be guilty. This was Kirk Douglas's first Western. Although he was to make many films in this genre during his long career, few of the ones which I have seen really rank among his greatest, apart from the modern-day "Lonely Are the Brave" and, possibly, "Gunfight at the OK Corral". "Along the Great Divide" does not really qualify as a great film either. The plot is a complex one, and at times too much so for its own good. The whole romantic subplot between Merrick and Ann is one of the complications which could easily have been omitted, but the producers evidently wanted to see a pretty girl in what would otherwise have been an all-male film, and in the early fifties few young actresses were prettier than Virginia Mayo. Walter Brennan seemed to specialise in playing irritating old men, and here he makes Keith the sort of irritating old man that audiences would quite happily have seen hanged, if not for murder or for cattle-rustling then for being a general pain in the ass. This may not be a great film, but Douglas himself certainly gives an excellent performance. The film is a "psychological Western", one of a type which was becoming popular in the early fifties; in the next few years James Stewart was to make some great films of this type with director Anthony Mann such as "The Naked Spur" and "The Man from Laramie". Merrick is not a straightforward hero but a difficult, conflicted individual, torn by guilt following an incident in his past. His relationship with Keith is not eased by the fact that the old man reminds him of his father, with whom he also had a difficult relationship. His determination to save Keith from the lynch mob, even though he believes him to be guilty, is only partly due to a belief that any man, even an accused murderer, deserves the due process of law. It can also be seen as an attempt to confront his feelings of guilt and to make amends for the incident which gave rise to them. Douglas's performance gives the film a greater psychological and moral complexity than it might otherwise have had and lifts the film above the level of some of his more run-of-the-mill Westerns like "The Big Trees" or "The Indian Fighter". 7/10

david-546 The 1950's brought us a lot of great Westerns - The Naked Spur, High Noon, Man of the West, 3:10 to Yuma, Shane, Vera Cruz and others. Unfortunately this is not one of them despite the hand of the Great Director Raoul Walsh. No it is not bad but overall this is a routine western - straightforward story - Old guy wrongly accused of murder (Walter Brennan), taken by Marshall (Kirk Douglas) for trial, chased by rich rancher (Morris Ankrum) whose son was killed, Marshall has hots for old guy's daughter (Virginia Mayo) despite all the tension between them. It does have its moments and a good cast despite all the western clichés and Kirk Douglas's clenched teeth. Enjoyable though and wrapped up in a tidy 88 minutes.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) This was Kirk Douglas' first western and he did so well, that he could not stop making them after. Virginia Mayo, who used to be just another pretty woman, here, as in Colorado Territory, has a chance to show her talent and does very well, she still looks modern, when you see the film today. The story is about Kirk saving Walter Brennan from a lynch mob, and trying to get him to the nearest town without being caught by the mob. He chooses to go through the desert and falls in love with Brennan's daughter(Mayo). Raoul Walsh feels at home directing this film, he is as good as always. What I did not like about the film is the song that Douglas does not want to hear, and Brennan keeps singing, it's too sentimental and just one step from being ridiculous. Apart from that, this is an above average western

dbdumonteil This is the western Walsh made after "Colorado territory"("White heat" which is "Colorado'"s follow up is a masterpiece but not a western- and it nearly matches its brilliance.A rather short movie,it's an action-packed story which never loses momentum.Beginning with a very tense situation (a lynching) it remains suspenseful and absorbing all along the great divide.The characters are wonderfully depicted and any of them could be the subject of a movie.This is like" Colorado 's territory" or "pursued" ,an intellectual western.The hero,Merrick ,carries the weight of his father's death.Kirk Douglas gives a fine performance ,being in turn nice or unpleasant.What's really fascinating is that his tragedy is about to happen again:his prisoner may be innocent and he will have another fault on his conscience.Pop Keith (Walter Brennan) and his daughter Ann (Virginia Mayo who was at the time Walsh's favorite actress:she's in the two movies I mention above as well) are an endearing couple:the girl is a strong personality -the part was tailor-made for Mayo-while his papa is a resigned old man,whose favorite weapon is nothing but a ditty which he knows reminds Merrick of his past he cannot forget.One can go as far as saying that Merrick sees Keith as a father who returned from the grave.Another relationship father/son is also featured: Roden who demands Keith's head because he thinks that he killed his son Ed-"I buried my heart in the grave" he says- and his second son ,the ugly duckling.Roden speaks of his late offspring as a perfect boy .Walsh's movie raises many questions .Sometimes we wonder where justice really is and who is on the right side of the law.This exciting western deserves to be upgraded