Reviews

This is one of those movies that are easy to overlook because of their lack of special effects, bone-rattling audio, and sexual situations. Nevertheless, The Browning Version tells a poignant story of an aging teacher who is being shunted aside in favor of a younger replacement. Albert Finney is wonderful as Crocker-Harris, "the Hitler of the lower sixth," whose health is failing and whose enthusiasm for teaching is gone. Greta Scacchi is equally good as his unfaithful wife. Her nuanced performance is one way in which this version is superior to the much-admired Michael Redgrave issue of 1951. In the latter, Jean Kent plays an unrelenting bitch who cares not a whit for her husband's plight. One cannot, under any circumstances, imagine how the two characters ever got together. In the new rendition, however, one can see how the lovely Miss Scacchi might have fallen for the athletically built Finney. As a result, one can better appreciate the disillusionment and bitterness that inform her character as she contemplates what he has become.

Though not a great film, this tale of story of lightning fast gunslinger who must fight a duel to save his town contains all of the standard thematic elements of the American western. In a moment of frustration over his situation as the proprietor of a general store, George Temple (Ford) storms across the street to the saloon, gets drunk , and procedes to reveal- and demonstrate - the secret of his unmatched skills with a gun. Shortly thereafter, he is challenged by a passing outlaw (Crawford)who has heard of Temple's prowess. If he refuses to fight, the outlaw will burn the town. As the pressure to fight builds, Temple makes another equally startling revelation. At work here are several themes, all of them familiar to fans of the western: Temple must overcome his fear of fighting Crawford's character and standing up to his two-faced fellow townsmen who are willing to see him die rather than suffer the razing of their town. In other words, Temple is fighting one enemy within and two enemies without at the same time. Do good guys always win? Well directed. Worth ninety minutes.