The Violent Men
Directed by Rudolph Maté
Written by Harry Kleiner from a novel by Donald Hamilton
1955/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Lee Wilkison: Here in Archer we don’t pay much attention to that hogwash about the meek inheriting the earth.[/box]
Edward G. Robinson and some outstanding action sequences add spice to an otherwise fairly routine Western.
John Parrish (Glenn Ford) is a valiant ex-Union officer who has retired to a cattle ranch to recover from his war wounds. As the story begins, he receives a clean bill of health to get married and go on a long honeymoon. His fiancee Caroline desperately wants to return East to civilization. While in town, John witnesses the cold-blooded murder of the Sheriff by two thugs hired by Lew Wilkinson (Robinson), the crippled owner of the Archer Ranch. Wilkinson has managed to snap up most of the land in the valley for a song through threats and intimidation. Although John deplores these tactics, he is determined to sell out himself for whatever price and refuses to get involved.
John goes out to the Archer Ranch for negotiations. He meets Lew and the rest of the clan. Lew’s brother Cole (Brian Keith) is a ruthless character. Lew’s wife Martha (Barbara Stanwyck) is all sweetness and light. We soon learn that under her cool exterior lies the most avaricious of the entire lot. She is secretly in love with Cole. The Wilkinson’s daughter Judith is on to her mother’s shenanigans.
Some thugs ride over to John’s place with efforts to encourage him to sell low but end up killing a couple of his ranch hands. From here on out, it is war and John proves to be an equally ruthless adversary.
This Western contains a horse stampede, a cattle stampede, several conflagrations, and plenty of gunplay. These were the high points of the film to me along with Robinson’s nuanced performance. He starts out being a pure villain but ends by revealing a human interior. The film’s range-war/reluctant-hero themes have been done many times before and since. On balance, I would say it is worth seeing by Western fans.
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