TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Byrdz Sometimes it's trying to be a lightweight comedy about a career criminal with a comic streak. Sometimes it's trying to present a serious look at the cruel hardships endured by men incarcerated in the middle of the Arizona desert. Sometimes it's trying to be a comedy about a bickering couple of grifter's. Sometimes it's showing a bloodbath during an attempted prison escape. Sometimes it's trying to be a comedy with scenes of prisoners bathing in rain barrels. And so it goes back and forth with no unity. It just cannot seem to make up its mind and as such it's a "one time watch and then donate film". Kinda sad as with that great cast it had a lot of potential.

ma-cortes A charming but totally roguish and ruthless criminal called Paris Pitman Jr. (Kirk Douglas) is detained for robbing and condemned for a long time in a remote , impregnable territorial prison . There Pitman to start doing ten years in an isolated jail but being supported by a motley group of inmates (Burguess Meredith , Warren Oates , John Randolph , Hume Cronyn) . All of them are surveyed by an assorted team of stiff wardens (Victor French , Gene Evans , Alan Hale Jr.) . However , those years should pass quickly because of a $500,000 loot previously stashed away . But then , an innovative and incorruptible warden chief (Henry Fonda) takes over the Arizona town's prison and he has some new ideas about law and order . Scurrilous Pitman enlists the help of his cellmates in an escape attempt with the promise of sharing his hidden loot . At the end one of them lived happily ever after . Offbeat Western black comedy displays an excellent plethora of actors , as main as secondary cast and with fine acting all around . This is a richly amusing tale , including hilarious touches , tongue-in-cheek , twists and turns . Interesting and fun script written by two prestigious screenwriters : David Newman and Robert Benton . Overlong Western ; however, Warners objected Mankiewicz's preferred version of the film (it ran to 165 minutes) and re-cut the film , to his great irritation , to a more manageable 126 minutes . One notable casualty of this re-cutting was the prominently-billed Lee Grant , a very well-known actress at the time, whose appearance is now barely a couple of minutes in length . Enjoyable performance by Kirk Douglas as a charming , intelligent and successful criminal who eventually imprisoned is sent in the middle of the Arizona desert ; here Douglas steals the show playing one of the smiling rogues that he did so well . Henry Fonda is perfect as a new idealistic warden who starts to manipulate everyone to achieve his goal , to take the stash . Douglas and Fonda dominate this western comedy as two immensely likable roguish men making plans to collect the buried loot . And brief nudism by today's standards, what remains is fairly tame : a couple glimpses of the bare backside of Kirk Douglas, a glimpse of a bare breast here and there and some mildly risqué drawings . Impressive production design , in fact a realistic 1880s territorial prison replica was constructed on four acres in the high-desert country of the Joshua Tree National Monument , being designed by Edward Carrere , Oscar-winning designer of such movies as Wind Bunch (1969) , it was one of the most massive location sets ever built . As the prison set took seven weeks to build , when construction began , it was snowing , when it ended, the temperature was 100 degrees . Furthermore , it contains a colorful cinematography in Panavision by Harry Stradling Jr . Lively and vivid musical score by Charles Strouse , adding some catching songs sung by Trini López . The motion picture was compellingly made by Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909-1993) , it was promoted as a "cynical western" , the film was released on Christmas Day 1970 and it did poorly at the holiday box office . Mankiewicz is considered to be one of the best directors of film history . He directed excellent pictures in all kinds of genres , such as intriguing dramas : ¨All about Eva¨ (50) , ¨Five Fingers¨ (51) , ¨The barefoot Contessa¨ (54) , ¨Suddenly , Last summer¨ (59) , ¨The honey pot¨ (67) ; Noir Film : ¨House of strangers¨ (49) , ¨No way out¨(50) ; Musical : ¨Guys and dolls¨ (55) , Fantasy : ¨The ghost and Mrs. Muir¨ (47) , and Historical : ¨Julius Caesar¨ (53) and ¨Cleopatra¨(63) .

mark.waltz A unique entry among the golden age of westerns, this is a combination of dark comedy with classic prison drama. In fact, this could be called the "Grand Hotel of Prison Movies" with its eclectic group of characters in a desert prison where bandit Kirk Douglas ends up after he robs a respectable house during their respectable dinner. You know you're going down a different territory when you see the black cook (veteran actress Virginia Capers) quietly bemoaning the fact that she has to work for snooty white folks then putting on airs when she brings their supper into the dining room. Douglas is soon caught and sent to prison where a sudden change brings in new warden Henry Fonda who wants to establish prison reform. Fonda is actually out to discover where Douglas hid the loot he stole (in a pair of bloomers) and befriends him in order to gain some clues. One thing leads to another, the prisoners plan an escape attempt, and the stage is set for Fonda to follow Douglas in order to find out what he's been hired for.This starts off on just the right note (with the robbery) and never lets up, following Douglas to a brothel (with "The Young and the Restless's" Jeanne Cooper as a hooker!), then to prison where the variety of fellow prisoners are introduced. There's the ancient Missouri Kid (Burgess Meredith), a grizzled con (Warren Oates), a young hot-head (Michael Blodgett), a mute giant (C.K. Yang), and most memorably, an obvious gay couple (Hume Cronyn and John Randolph) who argue like an old married couple. Then, there's "the skipper" (Alan Hale Jr.) as one of the guards, a jovial type who gets a surprisingly gruesome ending.This is a bawdy comedy with tons of sexual overtones that at first seem gratuitous but really fill out the cheek that some writer's tongue was obviously in. Not only is there the brothel sequence, but a beautiful visitor to the prison (veteran actress Barbara Rhodes) literally gets her dress blown off of her when an explosion in the prison occurs. The violence of the prison is not at all pretty, and Douglas's character is a villain you can't help but like, even though he's about as trustworthy as a rattle snake. As for Fonda, there's a crooked smile to his supposedly law abiding citizen that is quite a contrast to the sparkle in Douglas's eye. It says to the audience that these two opposites are more alike than they think, and even if they are on the opposite sides of the law, three's an unspoken respect that indicates they knew there's more to each other than what really meets the eye. There's also an ironic conclusion that is truly sardonic and extremely amusing. Some exciting cameos by Arthur O'Connell and Ann Doran (as the robbed white folks in the opening), Martin Gabel (as the original warden) and Lee Grant fill out the cast. Veteran director Joseph L. Mankiewicz provides an exciting atmosphere that never lets up, with excellent photography and outstanding production values. Especially because of its cynicism, this holds up just as well today as it did back in 1970.

FightingWesterner There Was A Crooked Man... is a bawdy and rowdy but morally bankrupt comedy that fits well with the anti-establishment sentiments at the time of it's release. It's a bit long but is helped considerably by an excellent cast and witty script.Kirk Douglas gives a good performance as a feisty outlaw in a territorial prison who squirreled away $500,000 in cash before being caught. Before long, he's using the unrecovered loot to gather around him a group of cons to help in his escape.The film is marred though, by Douglas' treacherous turn in the last act. He goes from lovable rogue to murderous backstabber at the drop of a hat, cold bloodily murdering friend and foe alike during his food fight, turned riot, turned escape attempt. Although his murderous streak is revealed at the beginning of the film, it's still quite unsettling to watch him kill people that the audience thought he bonded with.It's especially hard to watch Kirk double-cross the teenage boy played by Michael Blodgett, as he's really the only essentially good person in the entire film.Overall it's a bit overrated but still somewhat entertaining.