THE BRAVADOS (Fox, 1958)

DIRECTOR: Henry King;  PRODUCER: Herbert B. Swope, Jr.; WRITERS: screenplay by Phillip Yordan based on novel by Frank O'Rourke; CINEMATOGRAPHER: Leon Shamroy

CAST: Gregory Peck, Joan Collins, Stephen Boyd, Albert Salmi, Henry Silva, Kathleen Gallant, Barry Coe, George Voskovec, Herbert Rudley, Lee Van Cleef, Andrew Duggan, Ken Scott, Gene Evans, Joe De Rita

THE PLOT.

Frankly, this movie could have and should have been better. After all, it had an accomplished director at the helm, starred one of the best actors to appear in Western films, featured outstanding location photography, a stirring musical score, an interesting supporting cast, and a talented actress -- no, wait -- I went too far.  Erase that last part.  That was part of the problem.

Perhaps part of the fault also lies in Yordan's screenplay or O'Rourke's novel, but something is missing.  Despite its component parts, the sum of which are greater than the whole, it is not a classic film, perhaps not even a great one, but it isn't a bad one either.

Jim Douglas (Gregory Peck) has been on a mission. For some time he has been searching for four men that he believes raped and murdered his wife.  They have been described as two white men (Stephen Boyd and Albert Salmi), a "half-breed" (Lee Van Cleef), and an Indian (Henry Sliva).  Now he learns that the four are locked up in the jail in the border town of Rio Arriba, sentenced to hang for attempted bank robbery and the killing of a teller.

Douglas rides into the village because he wants to look the killers in the eye and to witness their hanging the next day.  However, that evening, while most of the community is in church, the outlaws break jail, abducting a merchant's daughter, Emma Steinmetz (Kathleen Gallant), while making their getaway.

Stephen Boyd and Albert Salmi above and Lee Van Cleef and Henry Sliva below are the four "bravados"

Since the sheriff (Herbert Rudley) is seriously wounded during the jail break, a posse is formed and led by his deputy, Primo (Ken Scott).  Primo and the other posse members defer to Douglas as the manhunt begins.

Douglas taking the lead is successful in tracking down the fugitives one by one. Each time he shows them a picture of his deceased wife and small daughter and asks them if they have ever seen them before.  Each man swears that he hasn't, but Douglas doesn't believe them and kills the first two (Van Cleef and Salmi) in a coldblooded fashion. After Emma is found, alive but having been raped by Zachary (Boyd), Douglas tracks him down and kills him in a shootout in a Mexican cantina.

After trailing Lujan (Silva) to his home in the mountains, Douglas learns that he has been wrong about some things -- some rather important things.  After Lujan's wife subdues Douglas by conking him on the head with a pot and Lujan has a gun on him, Douglas shows Lujan the picture and, like the other three men, Lujan claims he has never seen the woman or the child.  Eventually, Lujan persuades Douglas that neither he nor the other three had anything to do with his wife's death. The realization leaves him speechless with remorse.

Nevertheless, when he returns to Rio Arriba he is greeted as a hero by the community.  It is grateful to him for what he has done.  After all, the four men had attempted to rob the bank and had killed one of the town's citizens. When the assembled townspeople offer their gratitude, Douglas asks for their prayers.

Many, many times, before and after THE BRAVADOS, the vengeance plot has been adapted for the screen, sometimes featuring the hero tracking the killer or killers of his brother or maybe his father.  In numerous films, B-Western star Bob Steele found himself searching for the mangy coyote who killed his father. In fact, it happened so often that "the Bob Steele plot" became shorthand for such a story (One reason it may have been so prevalent in the Steele films is that many of them were written and directed by his real-life father.)

But in other films, as in THE BRAVADOS, the avenger was searching for his wife's murderer(s).  An excellent example is SEVEN MEN FROM NOW (1956), the first of several classic collaborations by director Budd Boetticher and star Randolph Scott.  At least Peck's character only had to track down four men.


THE DIRECTOR.

Henry King (1915)

Henry King (1886-1982) was one of the most talented and certainly most versatile directors in Hollywood's history.  He was equally adept at directing musicals, melodramas, and epics. Unfortunately, that versatility resulted in him directing precious few Westerns for people like us. But he was good at that, too.  He never failed us the few times he was given the responsibility of filming one.

An actor in silent films, he began directing in 1915. During the silent era he directed a few Westerns, the most noteworthy being THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH (1928), a film that went a long way in launching the long successful career of a young actor named Gary Cooper.

His first Western during the sound era was a classic: JESSE JAMES (1939), starring Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda.  His second was also a classic: THE GUNFIGHTER (1950), starring Gregory Peck.  His only other Western was THE BRAVADOS, perhaps not a classic, but nevertheless a good one.  And that was it.  Just three Westerns during the sound era, but each is a winner.


THE CAST.
Completely out of character, Gregory Peck's first Western movie role found him portraying an unlikable, unreformed scoundrel in the overblown epic, DUEL IN THE SUN (1947).  But things quickly took a turn for the better a year later when he gave an outstanding performance as a bad man who does reform in YELLOW SKY (1948).  He was even better in THE GUNFIGHTER, which as noted earlier, was Henry King's second sound Western, and was one of Peck's greatest performances.    

The '50's, the best decade ever for Westerns, was a great one for Peck, with THE BRAVADOS being bookended by THE GUNFIGHTER and THE BIG COUNTRY (1959).

Joan Collins appeared in only three Western features -- or maybe only one depending on what one considers to be a Western.  One was a comedy spoof, one was a Northerner set in the Yukon during its gold rush, and the other is THE BRAVADOS.  Collins looks uncomfortable in the film, especially when she is astride a horse, and there seems to be absolutely no chemistry between the two stars.  Peck does often seem ill at ease in romantic scenes, but with the right actress he comes across as believable, even in Westerns.  For proof see his scenes with Jennifer Jones in DUEL IN THE SUN or Anne Baxter in YELLOW SKY. 

The production does have an international flavor.  It was filmed on location in Mexico (before that became common); Joan Collins was born in London; and though Albert Salmi was born in Brooklyn, his parents were Finnish immigrants; and Stephen Boyd was a native of Northern Ireland.  

In 1956, Boyd signed a seven year contract with Twentieth Century-Fox, but is best known for his role as Messala in BEN HUR (1959), while on loan-out to MGM.  He appeared in only three Westerns, with THE BRAVADOS being the best by far.  The others were SHALAKO (1958) and HANNIE CAULDER (1972).  He was only in his mid-forties when he died in 1977.

Albert Salmi began his acting career on the stage.  One of his early roles was in the Broadway production of The Rainmaker. In 1955, he was cast as rodeo cowboy Bo Decker in Bus Stop. As a result of the critical praise he received, he was offered the role for the movie version with Marilyn Monroe.  He turned it down because he preferred the stage over movies.  Another notable performance came in 1953 on the TV anthology series, The U.S. Steel Hour, when he portrayed a major league catcher with a terminal illness in the dramatization of Mark Harris' novel, Bang the Drum Slowly.  A young actor by the name of Robert De Niro played the part in the movie version.

Paul Newman as pitcher Henry "Author" Wiggen and Albert Salmi as catcher Bruce Pearson in the U.S. STEEL HOUR production of BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY (1953) 

THE BRAVADOS was Salmi's second movie role and his first in a Western. Through the years the busy character actor would appear in several more, perhaps the most notable being THE UNFORGIVEN (1960) and HOUR OF THE GUN (1967).  He seemed to enjoy his Western roles and became a ubiquitous and welcome presence in TV Westerns during their heyday.

He was still acting right up until his death in 1990, which occurred under tragic circumstances.  It was ruled that he shot and killed his estranged wife before committing suicide.

Henry Silva, like Salmi, born in Brooklyn and in the same year (1928), gives one of his better performances as the Indian Lujan.  He did not appear in a lot of Westerns, but was rather impressive as one of Richard Boone's henchman, a cold-blooded killer, in the Boetticher-Scott film, THE TALL T (1957).

Clarence Leroy Van Cleef, Jr. was born in New Jersey in 1925.  It is quite ironic that both Van Cleef and Jack Elam were accountants before launching careers as two of the most recognizable and despicable villains to appear on the screen.  In the end, however, Elam became a latter-day comic actor in the tradition of Walter Brennan and against all odds Van Cleef became a star.  

Van Cleef broke into movies as the result of producer-director Stanley Kramer spotting him in a touring company of the play, Mister Roberts.  Kramer wanted to cast the young actor as Deputy Harvey Pell in HIGH NOON (1952).   However, Kramer did have one request.  He asked the young actor to have his hawk-like nose fixed.  To his credit, Van Cleef refused.  He was still cast in the film, but as one of the four gunmen who stalk Marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper) in the streets of Hadleyville.  Lloyd Bridges was chosen to portray the deputy.

The year after THE BRAVADOS, Van Cleef headed the gang of outlaws who pursued Randolph Scott in the Boetticher-Scott film, RIDE LONESOME, and in 1962 he was one of Liberty Valance's (Lee Marvin) henchmen in THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE.  During these years he also appeared on virtually every TV Western series in production, even those aimed at juvenile audiences.

Then in 1965, Sergio Leone cast him in support of a fellow named Eastwood in FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE and an international star was born.  It wouldn't be correct to call him a hero in the spaghetti Westerns that followed, because there was no such character in any of those films.  But like Eastwood before him, he became an antihero.   

******

REVIEWS.
"It's a grim, hard, pursuit drama, brutal at times, with a pointed messge about the futility of revenge.  Tough and tight, it has a big look and a heroic stirring score; the acting is very good.  There are moments when one must wince -- the lame tip of the hat to religious faith; the turgid romantic interludes; a tailored and curiously Tom Mix-ish costume worn by the hero -- but Henry King...always seemed capable of eliciting [Peck's] best performances.  This one is a superior and often quite moving Western." -- Brian Garfield, Western Film: A Complete Guide

"Distilled to essentials, THE BRAVADOS is, simply, a manhunt.  But it is executed intelligently in fine, brooding style against eye-filling, authentic backgrounds, so that its basically familiar ingredients glisten with professional polish." -- A.H. Wieler, New York Times

Now for an opposing viewpoint:

"A routine, would-be prestige Western....both King's direction and Peck's acting lack the intensity needed to animate it." -- Phil Hardy, The Western 

DAY OF THE OUTLAW (Security/UA, 1959)

 

DIRECTOR: Andre deToth; PRODUCER: Sidney Harmon; WRITER: Philip Yordan from novel by Lee E. Wells; CINEMATOGRAPHY: Russell Harlan

CAST: Robert Ryan, Burl Ives, Tina Louise, Alan Marshal, Venetia Stevenson, David Nelson, Nehemiah Persoff, Jack Lambert, Frank DeKova, Lance Fuller, Elisha Cook, Jr., Dabbs Greer, Betsy Jones-Moreland, Helen Westcott, Donald Elson, Robert Cornthwaite, Michael McGreevey, George Ross, William Schallert, Arthur Space, Jack Woody, Paul Wexler

Is there any doubt what this poster is selling?  It was a case of false advertising since nothing remotely approaching this scene appeared in the film.  Maybe it was left over from the previous year's steamy GOD'S LITTLE ACRE, which also starred Ryan and Louise, and was made by the same production company that made DAY OF THE OUTLAW.

THE PLOT.
The film has three assets: 1). Robert Ryan; 2). Burl Ives; and 3). Russell Harlan.  Unfortunately, the plot isn't one of them.

The story begins as a conventional range land conflict between ranchers and homesteaders. There is, however, another complication.

Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan):  "I'm through being reasonable. I told Crane what would happen if he strung that wire."

Dan (Nehemiah Persoff):  "Blaise, we've pulled over some hard hills together, and I've rode behind you all the way. But a wire fence is a poor excuse to make a widow out of Crane's wife. What have you been thinking about all winter -- Crane's barb wire fence, or Crane's pretty wife, Helen?"

Helen Crane (Louise) is the woman that Starrett loved, but he let her get away.  And now she is married to Hal Crane (Marshal), the leader of the homesteaders.

 

Helen has just told Blaise that she no longer loves him.  I don't know if I believe her or not.  I know Blaise doesn't.

It could have been a Luke Short story, something like RIDE THE MAN DOWN, for example, one of the many range land conflict stories he wrote or maybe Ernest Haycox; MAN IN THE SADDLE comes to mind.  It is set in the aptly named village of Bitters, Wyoming.  Early on, rancher Blaise Starrett (Ryan) lectures the homesteaders about what he and his partner, Dan (Persoff), had to do twenty years earlier in order to make the valley a safe place to live in and how the homesteaders think that they can now move in, fence off the range, and take away what rightfully belongs to the cattlemen.

"You got a big mouth, farmer. You got big eyes, too. You came here a year ago in your broken down wagon looking for a choice spot to settle and you think you found it. But you never stopped to think what made it such a good place. When Dan and I came here, Bitters was a nesting place for every thief and killer in the territory. A man's life wasn't worth the price of a bullet. No woman was safe on the streets, let alone in a lonely farmhouse. It took more than a big mouth to get rid of the lice who infested every bend of the road you ride so safely on. I'm not saying Dan and I did it alone, but we did more than our share. We hunted them down in the freezing cold while you sat back in the East hugging your pot-bellied stove. Nobody thanked us. Nobody paid us. We did it because we felt we belonged. We earned the right to belong. And all you've done is ride in here and put down your stinking boots. And now you tell us that you belong and we don't. Mr. Crane, you said you'd fight to keep what you want. Well, I've been doing that for twenty years and I intend to keep doing it, and no pig-belly farmer is going to stop me!" -- Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan)

It is the kind of declaration that the rancher Ryker could have made in SHANE (Paramount, 1953).  In fact, he did.  Since that story was also about a rancher-homesteader conflict in Wyoming, DAY OF THE OUTLAW, up to this point, might have been written by Jack Schaefer.

Starrett confronts the homesteaders

However, the plot makes a complete turnaround at about the twenty-minute mark of this ninety-minute movie. 

It occurs when the showdown between Starrett and the homesteaders is interrupted by the appearance of a gang of seven outlaws (naturally; gangs nearly always consisted of seven members) led by a former army officer named Jack Bruhn (Ives).  

The gang is being pursued by the cavalry and is looking for a place to rest.  Only three members of the gang possess any redeeming qualities whatsoever.  The other four are unredeemable.  These four are not only looking for a place to rest, but are also seeking liquor and female companionship, probably in that order.

With the appearance of the outlaws, the rancher-homesteader conflict not only becomes secondary to the plot, it becomes completely meaningless and almost non-existent.  Suddenly, it becomes a conflict between the community (rancher and homesteaders) and a  band of murderous outlaws. 

Rancher Starrett finds himself in the same position that he was in twenty years ago.  He must once again find some means of ridding the community of forces that might very well destroy it.

Complicating matters is the fact that he must depend on the co-operation of Captain Bruhn in order to carry out his mission, for it is only the Captain's iron hand of discipline that keeps four of the band -- Tex (Lambert), Pace (Fuller), Denver (DeKova), and Vause (Wexler) -- from going on a murderous rampage and having their way with the four women in the town.  

Only the oldest gang member, Shorty (Woody), and the youngest, Gene (David Nelson), can be trusted to act in anything approaching a civil manner.  However, Captain Bruhn has been badly wounded and there is no medical doctor in the community, only a veterinarian (Greer) who is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the Captain survives.

three bad men (L - R): Tex (Jack Lambert), Captain Bruhn (Burl Ives) and Pace (Lance Fuller)

Despite the abrupt change in the storyline, which can be startling and somewhat disconcerting, this is still a conventional Western. It just happens to have two separate and distinct conventional plots -- one that accounts for the first twenty minutes and one that takes over for the remaining seventy minutes. In that sense, it is, of course, unconventional.

THE STARS. 
Robert Ryan broke into films in 1940, but it took almost a decade before anybody noticed. His breakthrough role came as an anti-Semitic soldier in CROSSFIRE (RKO, 1947). For his performance, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. It was his only nomination.

Under contract to RKO, Ryan appeared in a number of Westerns, primarily in supporting roles. Released a few months before CROSSFIRE was TRAIL STREET (RKO), which found Ryan as the bad man who attempts to prevent Bat Masterson's (Randolph Scott) efforts to tame Liberal, Kansas. A year later, in RETURN OF THE BAD MEN (RKO), U.S. marshal Scott takes on what seemed to be every desperado that ever rode the outlaw trail in the Old West. Ryan received second billing as "The Sundance Kid."

In 1949, RKO finally saw fit to cast Ryan in a starring role -- and it was a good one. THE SET-UP is one of the best films about professional boxing ever produced. In no small part, that was due to Ryan's performance as a washed-up fighter. Adding to the authenticity of the film was the fact that Ryan had been a champion boxer during his college years.

Ryan's first starring role in a Western occurred in BEST OF THE BADMEN (1951), the third RKO production to feature an all-star line-up of Western desperadoes. However, it was in supporting roles that Ryan seemed to do his best work in Westerns. Among the best examples are his villainous roles in THE NAKED SPUR (MGM, 1953) and, if we can count it as a Western, BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (MGM, 1955). In 1956, he got to play a good Westerner, a lawman, in THE PROUD ONES (Fox).

After DAY OF THE OUTLAW (1959), he gave outstanding performances in a number of superior Westerns. The three that stand out are: THE PROFESSIONALS (Columbia, 1966), HOUR OF THE GUN (Mirisch/UA, 1967) and THE WILD BUNCH (WB, 1969).

Manohla Dargis wrote in the New York Times, "[Ryan] was known for his villains, and it is the complexity of these characters, their emotional and psychological kinks, that elevated even his lesser roles." I would say that sounds just about right.

Captain Bruhn and Blaise Starrett, adversaries or co-conspirators?  Gang member, Gene (David Nelson), is in the background.

Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives gained prominence as a singer, specializing in folk ballads, before he became an actor. Moreover, even after he made it as an actor he continued to pursue a singing career that resulted in several hit records.
 
Four of Ives' first five screen roles were in Westerns. His debut was as a singing cowboy in SMOKY (Fox, 1946), followed by roles in GREEN GRASS OF WYOMING (Fox, 1948), STATION WEST (RKO, 1948), and SIERRA (UI, 1950).  For his role in THE BIG COUNTRY (UA, 1958), a big-budget Western directed by William Wyler, he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. It was the only nomination of his career. 

 In that same year he brought one of his defining roles to the big screen, one that he had originated on Broadway, that being "Big Daddy" Pollitt in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (MGM).

After DAY OF THE OUTLAW the following year, Ives appeared in only one other Western, THE MCMASTERS (1970).

At 6'1" and in the neighborhood of 300 lbs, Ives was an imposing physical presence and intimidating personality on the screen. And this is much in evidence in DAY OF THE OUTLAW. He and Ryan (and Russell Harlan) saved the film. Brian Garfield wrote in Western Films: A Complete Guide that "Ryan and Ives are utterly superb."

Tina Louise had been acting on TV for a couple of years and had appeared in a Broadway play when she made her movie debut in GOD'S LITTLE ACRE (Security/UA, 1958). The controversial movie was based on an even more controversial Erskine Caldwell novel that had been published twenty-five years earlier. It was controversial for both its sexual content and its sympathy for striking textile workers in the South during the Great Depression.
 
In the film, Louise was perfectly cast as Robert Ryan's sexy, sultry daughter-in-law. It was an auspicious beginning. She won a Golden Globe for "most promising newcomer" and it seemed that the sky was the limit for the red-haired, green-eyed beauty. However, something happened on the way to Gilligan's Island.

She was a very busy actress the following year, appearing in three films, all Westerns. First to be released was a contemporary Western, THE TRAP (Paramount), followed by THE HANGMAN (Paramount), and then DAY OF THE OUTLAW.

I've never seen THE TRAP, and though I have seen THE HANGMAN, I don't remember enough about it to pass judgment. But I believe that she was miscast in DAY OF THE OUTLAW, and her performance indicates that she may have known that, too. There is no way that she is believable as a homesteader's wife. She appeared to be far too glamorous to have spent the preceding year on a homestead. At any rate, once the film's plot abruptly changed her role was greatly diminished.

After such a promising start as a serious actress, and with her movie career stalled, she became a pop culture icon on one of the silliest sitcoms ever to see the light of day. As movie star Ginger Grant, she became a household name as one of the people stranded on Gilligan's Island. However, not only was Ginger Grant, fictional movie star, stranded on the island, so was Tina Louise, actress. She would never again be taken seriously as an actress.
 

THE SUPPORTING CAST.
Alan Marshal (one l), as Hal Crane the leader of the home-steaders, is even more miscast than Tina Louise. He doesn't look like a homesteader; he doesn't sound like a homesteader; and he certainly doesn't dress like a homesteader. He could have been a banker, but never a farmer.

Venetia Stevenson is the town's youngest female. She is attracted to Gene, the youngest and most decent member of the outlaw gang, who is portrayed by David Nelson. The attraction is mutual. The couple is attractive. Unfortunately, neither was much of an actor despite the fact that both grew up in show business families. 

Nelson, of course, was a featured member of the TV cast in the long-running (fifteen years) sitcom, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, in which he co-starred with his father, mother, and brother. However, I never thought he, or brother Ricky, ever looked comfortable in front of the camera. (The same year that David was in DAY OF THE OUTLAW, Ricky had an important role in a bigger budget, more prestigious Western: RIO BRAVO (WB, 1959). But neither film did anything for either brother's acting career.)

David Nelson and Venetia Stevenson

Two very good actors, Nehemiah Persoff and Elisha Cook, are wasted in the film. Persoff even got special billing in the opening credits ('and as Dan, Nehemiah Persoff'). He doesn't have much to do during the rancher v. homesteader portion of the film and nothing once the outlaws appear on the scene. Cook was even more wasted. He hardly makes an appearance and has practically no dialogue. Maybe his scenes ended up on the cutting room floor.

Jack Lambert, one of those veteran characters with a familiar face that people have a time putting a name to, gives the best and most believable performance of any of the supporting players. With a face that only a mother could love, Lambert, as the lowdown, meanest of a lowdown, mean bunch, gives what is perhaps the best performance of his career.

Tex (Lambert) has designs on Helen (Louise).  Only Captain Bruhn's (Ives) iron hand of discipline (holding a gun) prevents him from exercising them.

 

BEHIND THE CAMERA.
In the late '40's, writer Philip Yordan and producer Sidney Harmon created a film production company which they named Security Pictures.  Yordan usually provided the scripts for their films while Harmon was the producer of record.  However, Yordan was nearly always involved as a producer as well, but in an uncredited capacity.  

In the '50's the duo produced three movies starring Robert Ryan.  The first was MEN IN WAR (1957), a Korean War drama directed by Anthony Mann that co-starred Aldo Ray, with Nehemiah Persoff in a supporting role.  Ben Maddow, who had been blacklisted during the communist witch-hunt, wrote the script.  The writer of record was Philip Yordan, who fronted for Maddow on more than one occasion.  GOD'S LITTLE ACRE (1958), also directed by Mann, once again featured Aldo Ray in a co-starring role, and, as earlier mentioned, provided Tina Louise with her screen debut.  Maddow wrote this script as well, with Yordan fronting and receiving the credit.

DAY OF THE OUTLAW was the third Security production with Robert Ryan in the lead role.

This time Yordan wrote the screenplay.  Unfortunately, it isn't nearly as good as the Maddow scripts in the other two films.  That is not to say that Yordan wasn't a talented writer.  He was nominated for Academy Awards on three occasions, wining one award.  His first nomination was for his screenplay for DILLINGER (King/Monogram, 1945), followed by a nomination for best screenplay for DETECTIVE STORY (Paramount, 1951).  He won the award for best story for BROKEN LANCE (Fox, 1954).

Andre deToth, the one-eyed native of Hungary, was best known for his direction of the  horror classic, HOUSE OF WAX (WB, 1953), which most critics consider to be the best 3-D movie ever produced.  Ironically, because of his lack of depth perception, the director was never able to enjoy the result of his efforts.  But he also directed Westerns.

RAMROD (Paramount, 1947), starring Joel McCrea and deToth's wife at the time, Veronica Lake, brought the director his first good critical reviews. 

In the early '50's, Randolph Scott starred in twelve Westerns.  DeToth directed half of them.  They were not the best Scott vehicles ever produced, but neither were they the worst either.  For the most part, they were enjoyable films. My personal favorite in the group is the initial film, MAN IN THE SADDLE (Columbia, 1951).  

DAY OF THE OUTLAW was his final Western and one of his last feature films.  It was not a bad finish.

Russell Harlan began his career as a cinematographer in 1937 working for producer Harry "Pop" Sherman on the Hopalong Cassidy B-Westerns.  B-Westerns they may have been, and there may have been better ones, but none were as beautifully photographed as this series.  Harlan collaborated with director Lesley Selander on more than thirty films, most of them in the Hoppy series. 

When Sherman sold the Hoppy enterprise to the series star, William Boyd, and went out of the B-Western business, he set about to film two Westerns, both starring Joel McCrea.  The first was the aforementioned RAMROD.  A year later Sherman produced FOUR FACES WEST (UA), co-starring Charles Bickford and Frances Dee (Mrs. Joel McCrea).  Both are extremely well made and enjoyable little films that some (including yours truly) consider to be classics.  Both benefit from the excellent black-and-white photography provided by Russell Harlan.

Though he never won, he was nominated six times for an Academy Award -- once for two films in the same year:

THE BIG SKY (RKO, 1952), directed by Howard Hawks
BLACKBOARD JUNGLE (MGM, 1956)
HATARI! (Paramount, 1962), directed by Howard Hawks
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (UI, 1962)
THE GREAT RACE (WB, 1965)
HAWAII (Mirisch/UA, 1966)  

Among his other notable films are two other Westerns directed by Howard Hawks:
RED RIVER (UA, 1948)
RIO BRAVO (WB,1959)

DAY OF THE OUTLAW supposedly takes place in Wyoming, but was filmed in the mountains of Oregon.  Not only that, it was filmed in late November and early December and that meant snow -- a lot of snow -- which was an important element of the plot.  In fact, without the snow the story would have had to be rewritten.

Harlan's black-and-white photography took full advantage of the snow, the snow-capped mountains, the bleak, overcast weather, and the authentically designed town set.  Here are some examples:

    

       

DAY OF THE OUTLAW will never be considered a classic Western, but the performances of Ryan and Ives and Harlan's photography make it worthwhile viewing.


 

the writer

         

the director

 

the cinematographer

    

 







     






There are black-and-white and colorized versions of DAY OF THE OUTLAW on YouTube.  However, I would recommend the original black-and-white in order to appreciate Harlan's expert photography.