WARLOCK (1959)

Though his biggest commercial hits came from A-list films in the second half of his career (i.e. THE CAINE MUTINY/’54; THE CARPETBAGGERS/’64), Edward Dmytryk was a far more interesting filmmaker in his scrappy, modestly budgeted early days (see CORNERED/’45; CROSSFIRE/’47).* But there were exceptions; like this unusual/unusually thoughtful Western with big names above the title (Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn, Dorothy Malone) and worthy old-timers alongside up-and-comers below (Wallace Ford, Tom Drake, Richard Arlen, DeForest Kelley, Regis Toomey, Whit Bissell, even Frank Gorshin as Widmark’s kid brother!). There’s probably too much plot in Oakley Hall’s novel, but Robert Alan Authur’s script details some pretty ‘out there’ relationships when outsiders Fonda & Quinn claim dictatorial powers (and the town's gambling concession) as part of their deal to clean up Warlock, hired Fascist gunmen with a municipal stamp of approval. Fonda quickly sidles up to a standoffish belle, but the script is more interested in bromantic displays of affection, especially from Quinn’s crippled sharpshooter, playing the submissive half in a mariage blanc to Fonda. Hired to put down a gang of ‘regulators’ terrorizing the town, and use any means to get the job done after legit lawmen failed, they soon find themselves seconded and opposed by Widmark, an ex-regulator coming on strong as the new town deputy, trying to wake up citizens to community responsibilities and not give in to strongman shortcuts. 'Deputy Widmark!, we’re surrounded by Allegorical Punditry!' Yet the film never plays like a Stanley Kramer civics lesson, thanks to superior acting, spasms of ‘70s-style violence, and Dmytryk’s WideScreen action chops. A big step up from his earlier CinemaScope work. Studded with dandy narrative twists, this should be much better known.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Dmytryk’s career also readily splits into before & after his jail stint as one of the 'Hollywood Ten.'