In this film you get to see some of the studio's more well-known postwar stars at the beginning of their respective careers. Rock Hudson had just been promoted to leading man roles; Julie Adams (still billed as Julia Adams) was featured as a female lead; John McIntire was already carving out a niche for himself as a dependable character actor; and Dennis Weaver would be seen in one of his first supporting roles. All four of these contract players would have a long association with Universal up through the 1970s and 1980s.
This particular production benefits from the sure hand of actor-director Raoul Walsh. It is blessed with a strong script and gorgeous Technicolor cinematography. There was a trend in westerns at this time to tell the stories of notorious gunfighters whose days as outlaws in the late 1800s made them memorable figures. A lot of tales about the Jameses, Daltons and Youngers had been passed down as oral history and became part of common folklore. In this case, Bernard Gordon's screenplay has as its basis the autobiography of its historic main character, John Wesley Hardin.
After watching the film I read up on Hardin. I had to wonder how much of Hardin's own accounts, which were not published until 1925, about thirty years after his death, were exaggerated by him. Also, while I would expect the screenwriter not to take it all as gospel, I would think some of what was considered factual in the early 1950s was later proven to be untrue.
Regardless of what actually happened during some of these episodes from Hardin's life, it is certain that he lived a colorful life. He killed his first man as a young teen and had many violent encounters. He would spend years on the run before finally being brought to justice. And after he was tried in a court of law, convicted and sentenced, he served about 17 years in prison before a governor pardoned him.
A lot of what we see in the film is romanticized. The romantic aspects of the story help sell it as entertainment, and give this tale a broad commercial appeal. I don't fault the filmmakers for that. I rather like it. However, the real John Wesley Hardin was a braggart, a man who seemed proud of his exploits, and he dealt with some very mean law officers that probably forced him to be just as vicious in return.
Rock Hudson's portrayal is not mean, vicious or one bit cynical. While not soft, he is still wide-eyed and his character is depicted as devilish, fun-loving and someone who doesn't know how to stay away from trouble. In a way the script makes it seem like he is an addict- addicted to gambling, women and danger all in equal measure. The guy just cannot help himself.
What really impresses me about this film is how it gives us a family that comes together to help Hardin. But at the same time this nuclear unit exhibits a rigid dichotomy. Interestingly, John McIntire plays a dual role- as a fear-instilling man of the cloth who whips his rebellious son - and as the preacher's much more liberal and tolerant half-brother. It is no surprise which father figure Hardin turns to for help, when he can't obtain leniency or any sympathy from the other. Yet both patriarchs, the father and the uncle, are present in the courtroom when Hardin is sentenced, both of them there to offer support in the ways they best know how.
Some of this dichotomy is revisited in the final sequence of the movie when Hardin is released from the penitentiary. He reunites with his wife (Adams) and their now teenaged son (Race Gentry). Afraid that his son will be as reckless as he once was at that age, he hits the boy to punish him the way his father had done to him, to knock some sense into him. Then like the understanding uncle that always helped him, he rides off after his boy to make amends with him in a local saloon. Only this time there are unexpected and dramatic repercussions when Hardin is shot in the back by a whippersnapper out to prove something.
In real life Hardin was killed a year after his release from prison, by the father of a man he had pistol whipped in a fight. But in the movie, in order to ensure a happy ending, he survives being shot and goes home with his wife and son to live out his last days peacefully on their farm.
This particular production benefits from the sure hand of actor-director Raoul Walsh. It is blessed with a strong script and gorgeous Technicolor cinematography. There was a trend in westerns at this time to tell the stories of notorious gunfighters whose days as outlaws in the late 1800s made them memorable figures. A lot of tales about the Jameses, Daltons and Youngers had been passed down as oral history and became part of common folklore. In this case, Bernard Gordon's screenplay has as its basis the autobiography of its historic main character, John Wesley Hardin.
After watching the film I read up on Hardin. I had to wonder how much of Hardin's own accounts, which were not published until 1925, about thirty years after his death, were exaggerated by him. Also, while I would expect the screenwriter not to take it all as gospel, I would think some of what was considered factual in the early 1950s was later proven to be untrue.
Regardless of what actually happened during some of these episodes from Hardin's life, it is certain that he lived a colorful life. He killed his first man as a young teen and had many violent encounters. He would spend years on the run before finally being brought to justice. And after he was tried in a court of law, convicted and sentenced, he served about 17 years in prison before a governor pardoned him.
A lot of what we see in the film is romanticized. The romantic aspects of the story help sell it as entertainment, and give this tale a broad commercial appeal. I don't fault the filmmakers for that. I rather like it. However, the real John Wesley Hardin was a braggart, a man who seemed proud of his exploits, and he dealt with some very mean law officers that probably forced him to be just as vicious in return.
Rock Hudson's portrayal is not mean, vicious or one bit cynical. While not soft, he is still wide-eyed and his character is depicted as devilish, fun-loving and someone who doesn't know how to stay away from trouble. In a way the script makes it seem like he is an addict- addicted to gambling, women and danger all in equal measure. The guy just cannot help himself.
What really impresses me about this film is how it gives us a family that comes together to help Hardin. But at the same time this nuclear unit exhibits a rigid dichotomy. Interestingly, John McIntire plays a dual role- as a fear-instilling man of the cloth who whips his rebellious son - and as the preacher's much more liberal and tolerant half-brother. It is no surprise which father figure Hardin turns to for help, when he can't obtain leniency or any sympathy from the other. Yet both patriarchs, the father and the uncle, are present in the courtroom when Hardin is sentenced, both of them there to offer support in the ways they best know how.
Some of this dichotomy is revisited in the final sequence of the movie when Hardin is released from the penitentiary. He reunites with his wife (Adams) and their now teenaged son (Race Gentry). Afraid that his son will be as reckless as he once was at that age, he hits the boy to punish him the way his father had done to him, to knock some sense into him. Then like the understanding uncle that always helped him, he rides off after his boy to make amends with him in a local saloon. Only this time there are unexpected and dramatic repercussions when Hardin is shot in the back by a whippersnapper out to prove something.
In real life Hardin was killed a year after his release from prison, by the father of a man he had pistol whipped in a fight. But in the movie, in order to ensure a happy ending, he survives being shot and goes home with his wife and son to live out his last days peacefully on their farm.