‘There’s never been a picture like THE APPALOOSA . . . There will never be another.’ That’s the Universal ad copy, overselling this rather conventional Western from director Sidney J. Furie, briefly ‘hot’ after THE IPCRESS FILE/’65, and star Marlon Brando, in his chilly career peregranation between a catastrophic MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY/’64 remake and his GODFATHER/TANGO/‘72 resurrection. Not that Brando didn't have good outings over the break, it’s just that he didn’t matter as he once did. It’s 1870 and Brando, 'the Gringo,’ is heading to the poor home of his son & family near the border to start a horse farm with his fabulous Appaloosa stallion. But unknowingly, along the way he’s made an enemy of Mexican John Saxon. Brando & Saxon wear the same Mex-makeup and use the same accent (though Brando drops his for a bit after he shaves), so why he’s named The Gringo something of a mystery. Most of the film merely a chase to get back the horse that’s been stolen by Saxon. Furie seasons with still new Spaghetti Western stylings (note the use of thrifty two-perforation TechniScope stock), but mostly sticks, like a one-trick pony, to his favored trick of framing within the frame by placing objects or silhouettes in the foreground to alter the picture ratio. Vet cinematographer Russell Metty couldn’t have been happy.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Brando’s self-directed Western, ONE-EYED JACKS/’61, much like this film, tries for profound/settles for ponderous. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2018/01/one-eyed-jacks-1961.html
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