Tasty little Western, produced, directed & starring Kirk Douglas, about to hit 60 and making a proactive career move. A Texas Marshall with lots of ambition and close connections to the railroad companies, he’s got his eye on the U.S. Senate and figures to seal the deal by taking down Bruce Dern and his gang of cutthroats & robbers. But that Dern is one slippery character, even after he’s been captured. Douglas, not a director who knows how to make two mill pass for ten, but he turns in clear-eyed action and doesn’t hold the reins so tight the actors can’t breath some life into the old tropes. And just barely 'sells' the clever twist ending. Douglas deserved the credit he got for casting double amputee James Stacy in his first role since his injury (Stacy is excellent), but he should have gotten just as much for letting Dern steal the picture playing the sort of wily, likable badass Kirk would have taken on twenty-five years ago. And in doing so, likely did himself a favor as it allows him to lay back for a change instead of pushing to prove he’s still got what it takes. (He seems constantly delighted in what Dern is doing all thru the pic.) Keeping his head low, Douglas turns in one of his best late turns. Good tech for the bucks spent, too. Or is with the exception of Maurice Jarre’s oddball score. Perhaps his attention was already on his next assignment, one of his best, John Huston’s THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING/’75.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID; There are two pretty horrific horse stunts in the film (see poster). I'm assuming they were safely accomplished but just be aware.
DOUBLE-BILL: Douglas made more Westerns than you may recall. And all thru his career, not only toward the end when fading Golden Age Hollywood stars used the genre as a safety net. Try one of the early ones, but perhaps skip Raoul Walsh’s ALONG THE GREAT DIVIDE/’51 for Howard Hawks’ bromatically revealing THE BIG SKY/’ 52 where Kirk and Dewey Martin are the real couple.
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