Technicolor seems all wrong for this leaden western, allegedly based on the life of John Wesley Hardin, a brutal, trigger-happy outlaw who murdered at least forty or fifty people, was pardoned after serving little more than half a 25-year jail sentence, but was then shot down by some lawman who had a grudge against him for murdering their kin. This factual ending was actually shot for the movie, but then scrapped and replaced by an everything-is-coming-up-roses fade-out instead. In the Hardin role, Solid Rock Hudson blacks out most of the screen while he exhibits an amazing ability to read the script's dreary, purple-laced dialogue from the idiot board without giving the game away by moving his eyes, but charismatic he most certainly is not. Nor is hammy John McIntire the least bit convincing as Hardin's bible-bashing dad. Unfortunately, many of the better players such as Lee Van Cleef, Buddy Roosevelt and Dick Wessel are lost in tiny roles. In all, it's mighty hard to believe that this dreary movie was so leadenly directed by Raoul Walsh who did such a magnificent job with 1951's The Enforcer.
Review of The Lawless Breed
