This screenplay tells the story of a stoic pioneer rancher(William Holden, as John Benedict), in Colorado, who loses his entire family to a raid by Comanche, led by 2 Comancheros. One of the latter is later captured and is made to tell the name of the other(Tarp),the fact that he has one visibly abnormal eye, and his probable location, at Pueblo Plaza. Benedict goes looking for a cheap posse to help him tract down and kill Tarp, who also stole his horses. He goes to a Mexican prison camp, and chooses 6 disparate convicts to be his posse. The rest of the film deals with the travels and adventures of this gang, their near victory at one point and their final confrontation with Tarp and his Indians and Comancheros. During one period, Benedict is shot close to the heart by one of his gang. Amazingly, he eventually recuperates, over months, with his gang waiting around to see if he will live or die. During this period, his nurse, Elizabeth(Susan Hayward), falls in love with him, and requests that he either stay there with her or go back to his ranch. He does neither, in his continuing quest for revenge. The closing scene has Benedict riding off into the sunset, leaving his frustrated gang behind(to what end?). I bet he's riding back to that village where Susan is, to take her to his ranch. Incidentally, this was Susan's last role in a Hollywood film. She would soon be diagnosed with brain cancer.
Other reviewers have noted some commonalities with several prior films, such as "The Dirty Dozen", "The Wild Bunch","Return of the Magnificent Seven" and "The Searchers". In regard to the last, both center on a long, long search of months and perhaps years. But also, when they did find their quary, they suddenly got cold feet about completing their mission. In Benedict's case, I can understand his response under the conditions. Tarp was a prisoner of the US Army, awaiting trial and a possible hanging. Thus, there was a good chance he would die rather soon anyway. If Benedict had shot him under this condition, as he could easily have done so, he would have to answer to the army, as he was a vigilante. In Wayne's case(The Searchers), initially he didn't want to 'rescue' Debbie because she was married to an Indian, and initially, she didn't want to be rescued. Thus, initially, Wayne wanted to shoot her, but a cooler head prevailed, and she was brought back to the remaining members of her European family.
There is another prior film, I might mention as having some relation to this one. It's called "Wild Women", and involves releasing a bunch of army women prisoners in Texas, to help in a mission against the Mexican army. They accomplished their mission.
Problems:
1) I was usually confused as to where the action was taking place: in Colorado, where we started, in Mexico, to which we traveled, or back across the border, in the US? It seemed like Colorado was next to the Mexican border. This may not bother everyone, but it bothers me.
2)We are supposed to believe that 6 desperate Mexican prisoners could be trusted not to run away, and with firearms, to follow their employer in his seemingly crazy mission of revenge, and not kill him(one almost did, out of anger). Benedict chose to get rid of the 2 guards the prison furnished him with, apparently, a psychological move to show he trusted the men, and hoped this would increase their trustworthiness.
3) Holden isn't the most exciting leader of a posse. Is his character just very stoic, or perhaps he was bored with the film?
4)Many viewers are apparently disappointed that the film didn't end with a duel between Benedict and Tarp, as expected. I previously offered a rational for this. At least, Benedict's gang took part in the climatic attack by Tarp's comrades, while he was locked up.
5)The gang uses dynamite to scare and kill Tarp's comrades when they attack the army camp. But dynamite wasn't discovered until after the Civil War. Probably, it shouldn't have been available.
6) There's precious little humor or romance to lighten things every now and then.
There are, of course, some other problems with the film that I won't bother enumerating.
See it at YouTube. Filmed at various locations in Mexico
Other reviewers have noted some commonalities with several prior films, such as "The Dirty Dozen", "The Wild Bunch","Return of the Magnificent Seven" and "The Searchers". In regard to the last, both center on a long, long search of months and perhaps years. But also, when they did find their quary, they suddenly got cold feet about completing their mission. In Benedict's case, I can understand his response under the conditions. Tarp was a prisoner of the US Army, awaiting trial and a possible hanging. Thus, there was a good chance he would die rather soon anyway. If Benedict had shot him under this condition, as he could easily have done so, he would have to answer to the army, as he was a vigilante. In Wayne's case(The Searchers), initially he didn't want to 'rescue' Debbie because she was married to an Indian, and initially, she didn't want to be rescued. Thus, initially, Wayne wanted to shoot her, but a cooler head prevailed, and she was brought back to the remaining members of her European family.
There is another prior film, I might mention as having some relation to this one. It's called "Wild Women", and involves releasing a bunch of army women prisoners in Texas, to help in a mission against the Mexican army. They accomplished their mission.
Problems:
1) I was usually confused as to where the action was taking place: in Colorado, where we started, in Mexico, to which we traveled, or back across the border, in the US? It seemed like Colorado was next to the Mexican border. This may not bother everyone, but it bothers me.
2)We are supposed to believe that 6 desperate Mexican prisoners could be trusted not to run away, and with firearms, to follow their employer in his seemingly crazy mission of revenge, and not kill him(one almost did, out of anger). Benedict chose to get rid of the 2 guards the prison furnished him with, apparently, a psychological move to show he trusted the men, and hoped this would increase their trustworthiness.
3) Holden isn't the most exciting leader of a posse. Is his character just very stoic, or perhaps he was bored with the film?
4)Many viewers are apparently disappointed that the film didn't end with a duel between Benedict and Tarp, as expected. I previously offered a rational for this. At least, Benedict's gang took part in the climatic attack by Tarp's comrades, while he was locked up.
5)The gang uses dynamite to scare and kill Tarp's comrades when they attack the army camp. But dynamite wasn't discovered until after the Civil War. Probably, it shouldn't have been available.
6) There's precious little humor or romance to lighten things every now and then.
There are, of course, some other problems with the film that I won't bother enumerating.
See it at YouTube. Filmed at various locations in Mexico