The Bravados (1958)

The Bravados
Directed by Henry King
Written by Philip Yordan from a novel by Frank O’Rourke
1958/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing/Amazon Instant

Sheriff Sanchez: Ladies and gentlemen, there’s no need for me to tell you – the emergency arose and the man appeared. Mr Douglass, it’s not often a man gets to do so much for his neighbors and do it like you did. We want you to know we’ll always be grateful… and in our hearts always.
Jim Douglass: Thank you… and in your prayers, please.

There is a certain sameness in all the 1958 Westerns so far.

Jim Douglass (Gregory Peck) rides into town hoping he is in time for a hanging.  There is an aura of mystery about the man.  He asks to see the condemned men and appears to be satisfied.  The “hangman” visits later and soon the sheriff has been stabbed and the men have escaped taking a local girl hostage.

It turns out Douglass believes these are the men that raped and murdered his wife.  He takes charge of the posse that spends the rest of the film chasing them.  With Joan Collins as a peripheral love interest and Steven Boyd, Albert Salmi, Lee Van Cleef and Henry Silva as the bad guys.

This is at least the third 1958 movie I have seen with Lee Van Cleef and/or Henry Silva as villains.  Their presence is always welcome of course.  Also we get the standard tortured hero. There is little that makes this movie special.  The church here is a grand Roman Catholic mission, though.  The moral is that vengence is a very bad thing.

Trailer