I've got a real affection for this film, as a fan of Yul Brynner and off-kilter Westerns that wonderful American art form, a mould into which absolutely any story at all can be poured. Into this mould are poured a tired, hurting, dusty town, morally bankrupt, cowardly, racist. Add a rebellious 'reb' in a town full of sanctimonious 'unionists', a miserable marriage, an old, soured love story, and, of course, the unfathomable, memorable Jules Gaspard D'Estaing, played by Brynner with his usual class and intensity.
But every appearance of good or prosperity or right in this town is a lie; the grieving widow's husband brought on his own death; the Mexicans living across the wash work for the whites "if they want to eat"; the town's "rooster", Mr Brewster, got rich by taking advantage of the Civil War, and everyone's deep in debt. Ruth's marriage to Crane Adams is a sham, and everything serves to illustrate that no one wins, except perhaps the rooster. Into this poisoned air stalks Brynner, his dancer's walk and dandyish clothing of less concern to white townsfolk than his rich skin tone. Considerable time is spent by those around him, trying to work out who he is. The cold-blooded killer he seems to be trying to convince himself that this is what he is becomes the moral centre of the storm, and his steadily building rage spills over in a powerful scene in which he literally lays waste the town. But as Shakespeare most memorably put it, "all are punished".
It is a trifle heavy on the morality; and I'm guessing a vehicle dreamt up for Brynner. But I still stand by this film as an all time favourite. I really like the interaction between Brynner and Janet Rule, whose low voice and gentle persuasion chip away at the gunfighter's hard edges. For all its imperfections it has some of those ingredients I always want to see in a film: flawed but compelling characters, a troubled romance, a different world peopled by humans, not heroes.
But every appearance of good or prosperity or right in this town is a lie; the grieving widow's husband brought on his own death; the Mexicans living across the wash work for the whites "if they want to eat"; the town's "rooster", Mr Brewster, got rich by taking advantage of the Civil War, and everyone's deep in debt. Ruth's marriage to Crane Adams is a sham, and everything serves to illustrate that no one wins, except perhaps the rooster. Into this poisoned air stalks Brynner, his dancer's walk and dandyish clothing of less concern to white townsfolk than his rich skin tone. Considerable time is spent by those around him, trying to work out who he is. The cold-blooded killer he seems to be trying to convince himself that this is what he is becomes the moral centre of the storm, and his steadily building rage spills over in a powerful scene in which he literally lays waste the town. But as Shakespeare most memorably put it, "all are punished".
It is a trifle heavy on the morality; and I'm guessing a vehicle dreamt up for Brynner. But I still stand by this film as an all time favourite. I really like the interaction between Brynner and Janet Rule, whose low voice and gentle persuasion chip away at the gunfighter's hard edges. For all its imperfections it has some of those ingredients I always want to see in a film: flawed but compelling characters, a troubled romance, a different world peopled by humans, not heroes.