Like a number of other people who have commented, I felt this movie to be tremendously overrated. I just couldn't see the appeal. So it is supposed to be a commentary on the McCarthy hearings? How does anyone know that? Did the director or writer let that information out? Was the appeal something like "Hey, I'm a Liberal like you -- please support your fellow Liberal by praising this movie."? I'm sorry, but a bad movie is a bad movie -- I don't care about your politics. Besides, if the writer/director didn't let this information out then you don't know, this could just as well be a commentary on people's reaction to the threat of Communism -- the analogy is the same in either case -- how people react to a perceived threat.
This is a gimmick movie -- like "Rope" and "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou" (with its Odyssey parallels). I'm not opposed to gimmicks -- they're fun to notice and talk about -- but a good movie they do not make.
Frankly, the best thing about this movie is the school marm dress that Grace Kelly wore -- somebody should have received an award for it -- it manages to give the impression that Grace is naked from the waist up!
BTW, the movie makes very clear that the townspeople did not come to the aid of Cooper because they were afraid -- hence no need for Rio Bravo. I thought it obvious that some were personal friends of Miller, others thought the town was a better place before Cooper became marshal, and others thought that Miller wasn't going to be the threat to anyone that Cooper thought.
And that music -- BOOM SHAKA LAKA LAKA BOOM SHAKA LAKA LAKA -- it drove me nuts.
If you want to see a GOOD classic western, rent SHANE.
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