This odd, moody western is combination of psychological thriller and a study into the dark side of justice. Kirk Douglas is at his moodiest as a lawman taking accused murderer Walter Brennan into be tried, having saved him from the hangman's noose via a lynching. With the murdered man's family stalking the group (which includes Brennan's masculine daughter, Virginia Mayo), Douglas becomes more troubled, both from the lack of sleep and Brennan's use of the knowledge of Douglas's past to further destroy him. He sings a song Douglas's father used to sing, finding out that Douglas hated his dad.
Dark and depressing, this is a part of a new wave of American western that dug into the depths of hell in the human soul to make a metaphor of the dire circumstances of being surrounded by the treacherous sun and not so noble characters. Once you discover that this isn't the lovable Brennan you're used to or the fact that Douglas ain't so nice either, you hope something will engage you, but it doesn't.
As for Mayo, she speaks with an odd accent that isn't any American dialect I've ever heard of. She's an actress whose appeal I never understood, even if she played a few interesting vixens I'm film noir and could sing and dance admirably. But Betty Grable and Doris Day she's not, and here, there's no sexual appeal to her character either. It's an admirable attempt to make something out of the darkness of the soul in an undeveloped land, but the script and story never gels, and a sudden switch in mood in the last minutes just seems bizarre.
Dark and depressing, this is a part of a new wave of American western that dug into the depths of hell in the human soul to make a metaphor of the dire circumstances of being surrounded by the treacherous sun and not so noble characters. Once you discover that this isn't the lovable Brennan you're used to or the fact that Douglas ain't so nice either, you hope something will engage you, but it doesn't.
As for Mayo, she speaks with an odd accent that isn't any American dialect I've ever heard of. She's an actress whose appeal I never understood, even if she played a few interesting vixens I'm film noir and could sing and dance admirably. But Betty Grable and Doris Day she's not, and here, there's no sexual appeal to her character either. It's an admirable attempt to make something out of the darkness of the soul in an undeveloped land, but the script and story never gels, and a sudden switch in mood in the last minutes just seems bizarre.