Intriguing little Western improves as it goes along . . . just not enough. In a late role, Jeff Chandler (dead next year at 42) has to come to grips with the useless right arm & defeatist attitude he got in the Civil War when four cowpokes turned cocky cowpunks show up and roll over his sad-sack little town. Turns out, the town’s ripe for terrorizing and the young drifters take advantage, demanding free booze, free room & board and free merch while all the ‘good’ citizens cower. Especially after their easygoing sheriff, pushed past his limit, pays the price. Trying to keep his distance, the violence ultimately tips Chandler into action. But how much can a crippled man do against four young bucks? One strategy remains: Divide and Conquer. Journeyman helmer Joseph Pevney & tv lenser Gene (son of Sol) Polito do some good honest work with this THE WILD ONE meets BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK mash-up*, but lack style and can’t pull off the slow-burn suspense they’re aiming at. (Where’s Don Siegel when you need him?) On a more positive side, the film fights its way past the compressed grey-scale of its early scenes and looks more Feature Film than TV Show in the second half. Plus, John Saxon, with Latino shading (convincing) & accent (less so), shows considerable screen presence & sexual threat as one of the baddies. Oddly, the film’s most despicable character, a two-faced town drunk, gets off scot-free. Maybe the budget ran out.
DOUBLE-BILL: *As mentioned above, BD@BR. (Marlon Brando’s response to ‘Hey Johnny, what are you rebelling against?,’ with ‘Whadda you got?’ is famous, but THE WILD ONE is one lousy pic.)
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