Harrison's Reports (1958)

128 HARRISON'S REPORTS August 9, 1958 "The Fiend Who Walked the West" with Hugh O'Brian and Robert Evans (20th CenturyFox, August; time, 101 min.) "The Fiend Who Walked the West" is indeed an intriging title that lends itself to exploitation and it should help this picture to do surprisingly well at the box-office, particularly since the huge campaign 20th-Fox is putting behind it is designed to attract both the western and horror fans. As an entertainment it is a fairly gripping remake of "Kiss of Death," the 1947 gangster picture that zoomed Richard Widmark to stardom because of his portrayal as a cold-blooded hoodlum and killer, except that the story has been given a western setting. Robert Evans plays the homicidal maniac effectively in this version, and the hor' rendous methods he employs to dispose of his victims certainly are fiendish. There is considerable suspense in the grim story and much of the action is brutal and cruel. Hugh O'Brian, who has become highly popular as TV's "Wyatt Earp," turns in a fine performance as a luckless lawbreaker who cooperates with the authorities in an effort to bring the murderous Evans to justice. The black-andwhite CinemaScope photography is first-rate: — Needing money to support his family on their small ranch, O'Brian joins a trio of desperados in robbing a bank. He gets caught while the others escape. Sent to jail, he keeps silent about the identity of his cohorts in the belief that they will share the loot with his family. O'Brian's cellmate proves to be Evans, a strangely ominous man completing a 90-day sentence, who slyly poisons to death a prisoner who had manhandled him. In a conversation with Evans, O'Brian lets slip the name of one of his cohorts. Upon being released, Evans goes to the robber's home, brutally kills him and his mother, and sets fire to the place after finding the hidden bank loot. He then visits Linda Cristal, O'Brian's pregnant wife, and frightens her into a miscarriage after crudely suggesting that he move in with her. Later, he shows up in town with Dolores Michaels, whom he had acquired as a mistress and whom he mistreats sadistically. Stephen McNally, the sheriff, becomes suspicious of his wealth and questions him. He gives a surly answer and is slapped by a deputy. Shortly thereafter Evans kills the deputy. McNally suspects Evans of this and the other murders but is unable to prove it. To apprehend him, he makes a deal with O'Brian whereby the latter is permitted to escape from jail and seek refuge with Evans. This strategy results in Evans being brought to trial on the strength of evidence obtained by O'Brian, but a clever defense lawyer makes a shambles of O'Brian's testimony and Evans gains his freedom. Now aware that Evans will seek revenge on him and his family, O'Brian lives a nightmarish existence, not knowing when the fiend will strike. Meanwhile Dolores, who had testified against Evans, is found dead with a broken neck. In a final desperate move, O'Brian baits Evans into a showdown and kills him in self-defense. It was produced by Herbert B. Swope, Jr., and directed by Gordon Douglas from a screenplay by Harry Brown and Philip Yordan. Adult fare. "Tank Force" with Victor Mature and Leo Genn (Columbia, August; time, 86 min.) Enhanced by CinemaScope and Technicolor, this Britishmade war adventure melodrama rarely strikes a realistic note, but since the emphasis is on action it probably will pass muster with the undiscriminating movie-goers. The story, which takes place on the Libyan desert, centers around the escape of five men from a German-Italian prison camp. How only two of them survive after sandstorms, fierce tank battles and the opposition of an anti-British Arab tribe, is depicted in exciting fashion but it does not come through the screen with any feeling of conviction. The photography is fine: — During a tank battle in the Libyan desert, Leo Genn, a British sergeant, and Victor Mature, an American attached to the British forces, are captured and taken to a GermanItalian prison camp. They manage to escape from the camp with Sean Kelly, an Australian; Anthony Newley, a British tank driver; and Bonard Colleano, a vicious Pole who does not hesitate to kill. Mature and Genn are at odds because the former wants to escape on his own, but circumstances compel them to stick together. In the course of the complicated events that follow, the Gestapo enlists the aid of an anti-British Arab chief who captures the five fugitives. Mature, whose Jewish wife had been killed in Germany, is put to torture by the Gestapo to force him to sign a paper that would incriminate the American government in a death plot against a high Nazi official. Mature endures the torture and refuses to sign. A sympathetic German officer, disgusted by the inhuman treatment, helps the prisoners to escape, and in the process they kill the Arab chief. In subsequent encounters with the enemy, Genn, Kelly and Colleano are killed, but Mature and Newley are rescued by British tanks. It was produced by Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli, and directed by Terence Young, from a screenplay by the director and Richard Maibaum. Family. "The Big Country" with Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker and Chariton Heston (United Artists, Aug. pre-release; time, 156 min.) A first-rate super-western, beautifully photographed in the Technirama anamorphic process and Technicolor. It is a long picture, perhaps too long for what the story has to offer, but there is never a dull moment from start to finish and it holds one's interest tightly throughout. Set in the 1870's and centering around a vendetta between two feuding families who seek control of a valuable strip of land for its water, the explosive story has all the excitement, suspense and violence that one expects to find in such a seething conflict. Against this background of rangeland feuding is a tender relationship that arises between Gregory Peck, as a mild-mannered but fearless Easterner, and Jean Simmons, as a demure school teacher, who owns the wanted land and provides both warring factions with water rights but refuses to sell to either one lest it lead to bloodshed. The characterizations are colorful, particularly those contributed by Burl Ives and Charles Bickford as the arrogant heads of the rival clans; Carroll Baker, as Bickford's flighty daughter; Charlton Heston, as Bickford's sardonic ranch foreman; and Chuck Connors, as Ives' drunken, hot-headed son, who meets a violent death at the hands of his own father. The climax, in which Bickford and Ives kill each other in a showdown gun battle, is at once tragic and thrilling. The outdoor backgrounds are magnificent, making for a pictorial excellence that has seldom if ever been surpassed in a picture of this type. Briefly, the story has Peck arriving in a far-west community to marry Carroll, Bickford's pampered daughter, whom he had met in the East. He soon learns of the feud between Bickford and Ives because both coveted the land owned by Jean, who was Carroll's closest friend, and who refused to sell to either man in order to keep the peace. Peck's genteel manner is treated with contempt by Heston, who was in love with Carroll himself, and his peaceful philosophy disappoints Carroll, who believed that a man should display some measure of pugnacity. Peck comes to the realization that he and Carroll lacked mutual understanding. He sets out to explore the country and contemplate his future. He visits Jean and a warmth of understanding springs up between them. When she learns of his desire to become a rancher, she agrees to sell him her land after he promises to work it on his own and grant water rights to all outsiders. Peck's deal with Jean arouses Carroll's jealousy and leads to a break in their engagement. Before he can depart from the ranch, he is drawn into a bloody fight with Heston, whose disdain for his courage turns to grudging admiration. Unaware that Jean had sold her land and led to believe that she was in love with Chuck, his son, Ives has her abducted as part of a plan to induce her to sell the land to him and at the same time draw Bickford and his men into an ambush if they try to rescue her. Peck, learning of her plight, rushes to her aid and gets involved in a fight with Connors. Ives, who had a curious sense of fair play, insists that they duel with pistols, but he shoots his son dead for trying to shoot Peck in the back. Meanwhile Bickford and his men arrive on the scene and Ives calls for a showdown between themselves. Bickford accepts the challenge, and they kill each other in an exchange of shots. It ends with Peck and Jean, by this time in love, riding off together to live in a more peaceful atmosphere. It was co-produced by William Wyler and Mr. Peck, and directed by Mr. Wyler, from a screenplay by James R. Webb, Sy Bartlett and Robert Wilder, based on the novel by Donald Hamilton. Family.