Review of There Was a Crooked Man...

This is a very cynical and bitter revisionist western (in fact, not a western at all, but a prison movie ,as they call it …); like other somewhat similar products of the revisionist '70s, it's rather formless and style—less. Not a great cinematographic achievement. Despite this, many things are in its favor—the cast, the interesting performances from actors as good as Fonda and Douglas. The ironic score works at deflating the adventurous element. Doubtless, it's interesting and intelligent, though not really worked out, not really achieved: badly written—the narration is prolix, the characters are also badly written, much below the actors' energies. Sometimes, it is (deliberately) funny. Yet it lacks drive, energy, instinct. This disabused look at the western world intends more than it's able to really deliver. One needs seeing at least one western a week. Douglas, sometimes a surprisingly respectable actor, made better westerns—like The Last Sunset (1961) , Lonely Are the Brave (1962) , Last Train from Gun Hill (1959) –not to mention the all—important Hawks masterpiece from the early '50s (but that was truly an author movie) .Here, he does whatever is possible in an underwritten role of a demonic, nasty character. At 53, he was in a somewhat remarkable physical shape. I know only of one Douglas—the Kirk.

Fonda was magical. He was always that way; one of the ten best American actors ever. Each of his roles is bright with subtlety, with finesse and intelligence. It was finesse over vigor. Some other actors were maybe as artistically intelligent as him—but never subtler.

The actors, maybe even the idea needed another, tighter, tauter script. As such, the movie is shapeless and uninspired.