Most western films of this era are dull, and this film is no exception. The acting is OK, but the story and script have some serious flaws.
Here's my breakdown:
STORY: The story is narrow and dull: man is on a vengeance quest, but gets derailed in a small cattle-baron owned town.
Man also gets the hots for a nice woman. Oh boy, this sounds original ...
The biggest problem, however, is that the film begins somewhere in the middle of time and space. The writer / director provide a sliver of context for understanding the man's purpose. Even what little it provides is horribly staged and dull, lazy, and dull.
ACTING: Jimmy Stewart and nearly the whole cast are miscast here. On occasion, Stewart is perfect for western riles, e.g.
"Who Shot Liberty Valance?" But here he's just a bad pick, but so are most other actors. Then again, you could put Clint Eastwood in the lead, but he can't offset a poorly made story.
The only good pick was MacMahon who plays a female owned ranch.
TEMPO: The pace is OK, but this film bounces around like a cannabis-infused ball of flubber. Seriously, this production crew needed the British equivalent of the "Continuity" role badly. (It also needed some originality, no, any.)
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Filmed in New Mexico, this is the only grace possessed by the film, dusty as it was.
DIRECTING / WRITING: Aside from a few films, e.g. "El Cid," the team doesn't have much of a successful career (that I can see).
My guess is that if I watched all of their films I'd be disappointed as a whole.
NOTES: This is perfunctory storytelling at its finest, and an especially cliche one at that. (So much wasted time ...) Bad Native Americans, the Holy US Military, and some sweet western beef. Oy ...
Is it a good film? No.
Should you watch this once? Maybe.
Rating: 6.4.
Here's my breakdown:
STORY: The story is narrow and dull: man is on a vengeance quest, but gets derailed in a small cattle-baron owned town.
Man also gets the hots for a nice woman. Oh boy, this sounds original ...
The biggest problem, however, is that the film begins somewhere in the middle of time and space. The writer / director provide a sliver of context for understanding the man's purpose. Even what little it provides is horribly staged and dull, lazy, and dull.
ACTING: Jimmy Stewart and nearly the whole cast are miscast here. On occasion, Stewart is perfect for western riles, e.g.
"Who Shot Liberty Valance?" But here he's just a bad pick, but so are most other actors. Then again, you could put Clint Eastwood in the lead, but he can't offset a poorly made story.
The only good pick was MacMahon who plays a female owned ranch.
TEMPO: The pace is OK, but this film bounces around like a cannabis-infused ball of flubber. Seriously, this production crew needed the British equivalent of the "Continuity" role badly. (It also needed some originality, no, any.)
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Filmed in New Mexico, this is the only grace possessed by the film, dusty as it was.
DIRECTING / WRITING: Aside from a few films, e.g. "El Cid," the team doesn't have much of a successful career (that I can see).
My guess is that if I watched all of their films I'd be disappointed as a whole.
NOTES: This is perfunctory storytelling at its finest, and an especially cliche one at that. (So much wasted time ...) Bad Native Americans, the Holy US Military, and some sweet western beef. Oy ...
Is it a good film? No.
Should you watch this once? Maybe.
Rating: 6.4.