Harrison's Reports (1956)

November 24, 1956 HARRISON'S REPORTS 187 Angle, who had reluctantly become his woman. Arness first meets up with Megowan and gives him a sound beating. Emile Meyer, the town's sheriff, makes it clear to Arness that he will not stand for lawlessness but he takes no action when Arness proves that Megowan had stolen his horse. Wilke, convinced that Arness is bent on revenge, hires Michael Emmet, a gunslingcr, to kill him. Angie visits Arness and warns him, but he treats her with disdain. Forei warned, however, Arness outdraws Emmet when they meet. The sheriff again takes no action against Arness since he killed Emmet in self-defense. Wilke and Megowan, accompanied by Angie, flee from town during the night and Arness trails them into the hills. When he catches up with them, Wilke, in utter panic, shoots wildly and his bullets kill Angie and Megowan. He flees once again with Arness in pursuit and is finally trapped in a boxed canyon. Arness gives him a thorough beating and then brings him unconscious to the sheriff. Assured by the sheriff that Wilke will hang for the deaths of Angie and Megowan, Arness rides off to begin a new life. It was produced by Robert E. Morrison, and directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, from a screenplay by Burt Kennedy, based on a story by Sam C. Freedle. Adult fare. "Running Target" with Arthur Franz, Doris Dowling and Richard Reeves {United Artists, T^ovember; time, 83 mm.) This program outdoor melodrama offers exciting action, considerable suspense and fine DeLuxe color photography, but it is handicapped by a story that is so abstract in characterizations and motivations that it leaves the audience too bewildered to fully enjoy it. Centering around the efforts of a small posse to capture four escaped convicts in a chase through the Colorado Rockies, the story misses fire mainly because of the vagueness surrounding the motivations of the principal characters. For example, the sheriff heading the posse is shown as a man who is bitterly opposed to kilU ing -even though he is duty bound to bring back the convicts dead or alive, but just why he reacts that way is never made clear. Even more vague is the characterization of a female member of the posse, an attractive woman who had been held up and mistreated by the convicts, and who seems bent on revenge, but for reasons that are too obscure to be understood by the audience it turns out that she had fallen in love with the leader of the convicts and is found in his arms when the sheriff finally catches up with him. The acting is good, but the muddled screenplay prevents the players from being dramatically effective. In the picture's favor is the beautiful outdoor scenery: — As leader of a posse searching for four convicts who had escaped into the Colorado Rockies, sheriff Arthur Franz does not relish his job, for his duties called for him to bring back the escapees dead or alive while he personally was bitterly opposed to killing. Included in the posse is Franz's antithesis, Richard Reeves, a sadistic fellow who was proud of his marksmanship and of his costly rifle, which had a large telescopic sight. Franz feels nothing but contempt for Reeves when he spots and kills one of the convicts with one shot before the man has a chance to surrender. Another member of the posse is Doris Dowling, a gas station owner who had been held up and mistreated by the convicts. In the course of events, two of the three remaining convicts are captured alive, thanks to Franz's control of the triggerhappy Reeves. Franz orders two of his deputies to take the captured men back to town and keeps Reeves and Doris with him to continue the search for Myron Healey, the fourth convict, who had led the prison break. Reeves disagrees with the route taken by Franz to track down Healey and goes off in another direction on his own. That night, while Franz and Doris are asleep, Healey, without food for days, steals into their campsite and helps himself to some food. Franz notices him, but since he cannot bring himself to shot he pretends to be asleep. On the following morning, they find Healey's tracks and resume the search. Franz and Doris become separated and, some time later, when Franz comes upon Healey, he finds Doris making love to him. Healey draws his gun, but before Franz can do likewise Reeves appears on the scene and shoots Healey dead. Franz, infuriated, expresses his disgust by smashing Reeves' expensive rifle to bits. It was produced by Jack C. Couffer, and directed by Marvin R. Weinstein, who collaborated on the screenplay with Mr. Couffer and Conrad Hall, basing it on a story by Steve Frazee. Adult fare. "Rumble on the Docks" Math James Darren, Michael Granger and Laurie Carroll (Columbia, December; time, 82 min.) A fairly interesting, if not unusual, mixture of juvenile delinquency and gangsterism is offered in this melodrama, which should get by as a supporting feature wherever pictures of this kind are acceptable. It will, however, require considerable selling, for no one in the cast means anything at the box-office. Basically, it is the story of a misguided 18-year-old youth who lives in a slum district and who foolishly becomes involved in the machinations of a powerful labor racketeer. Worked into the proceedings are street fights between 'teen-aged gangs, violence between opposing factions of longshoremen, and the hero's troubles with his crippled father, who had long carried on a crusade against the goons who controlled the dock workers. The characterizations are more or less stereotyped, but the performances are competent. On the whole the action is interesting and fairly exciting, if not always pleasant: — 18-year-old James Darren, head of a brawling street gang, is well on his way to becoming a juvenile delinquent even though he shows traits of honesty and has a sense of fair play. Behind the boy's bitterness and violence is the enmity between himself and Edgar Barrier, his father, who had been crippled years previously in a longshoremen's union brawl and who blamed his infirmity on the boy because he had been compelled to become a dock worker to earn a living. Cut off from partental understanding, Darren is susceptible to the flattering interest shown in him by Michael Granger, the smooth but ruthless gangster head of the union, against whom Barrier had long crusaded. Through Darren, Granger hoped to make Barrier quit his attacks. When stevedores opposed to Granger's rule take on a shiploading contract, Granger sends a gang of his goons down to the docks to interfere with the operation. The goons are vanquished when Tim Carey, Granger's main thug, is beaten to a pulp by Joe Vitale. Darren personally brings the unconscious Carey back to Granger, and when Barrier learns of this he disowns his son and throws him out of the house. Granger gives Darren money to support himself. Several days later, Carey deliberately runs down Vitale with an automobile and kills him. Two youngsters identify Carey as the driver and, to combat their testimony, Granger persuades Darren to testify falsely that he saw the "accident" and that Carey was not the driver. His perjured testimony shocks Laurie Carroll, his neighborhood sweetheart, with whom he had been at the time of crime, and she threatens to refute him in court unless he tells the truth. Conscience-stricken, Darren agrees, but Granger learns of his intentions and sets out to kill him. In a showdown gunfight, in which his father comes to his aid, Darren kills Granger in self-defense and prepares to become a decent member of society. It was produced by Sam Katzman, and directed by Fred F. Sears, from a screenplay by Lou Morheim and Jack DeWitt, based on the novel by Frank Paley. Adult fare.