Diagonaldi
Very well executed
Dorathen
Better Late Then Never
Comwayon
A Disappointing Continuation
Aneesa Wardle
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
jarrodmcdonald-1
This film has quite a lot going for it. First, we have Walter Brennan as the title character, a crooked father who leads his sons in various cattle rustling schemes. Sort of reminiscent of Brennan's turn in MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, where he played Pop Clanton. Second, this film was made in the Trucolor process, Republic's answer to Technicolor. The blues are so strong and clear, and the reds and greens are perfect. This is very noticeable when portions of the film take place outdoors, and director Joseph Kane did take them out on location for quite a few sequences. So it's a gorgeously photographed picture. Third, I think this film is worth checking out because it moves along at a nice pace and is consistently entertaining. The direction and performances have much to do with its success. What a sturdy western cast, who raise the story a notch above most films that cover this subject. In addition to Brennan, we have Rod Cameron, the lovely Adrian Booth, Jim Davis, Guinn Williams, Jack Holt, Forrest Tucker and Will Wright. And oh, don't miss Jody Gilbert in her great bit as a Fat Woman (what else?) on the stage.
GManfred
This one would have gone over well with the under 12 crowd, many years ago. For you young folk, once upon a time movie theaters had matinees for kids every Saturday morning. Starting times varied - ours started at 10:00 am, and consisted of some cartoons, a serial, maybe a comedy short, and then a (fair-to-middling) western feature film. "Brimstone" would have filled the bill for one of these, and if I were 11 I would have rated it higher."Brimstone" is a typical two-dimensional western devoid of rational thought and motivation, the type produced by the carload by Poverty Row studios in the 40's. It has lots of action, with fistfights and shoot-outs and hombres talking tough. This one has stalwart Rod Cameron as a US Marshal trying to apprehend some stage robbers, in fact a family of them. The family is headed by Walter Brennan in iron-fisted fashion as a cantankerous old rancher, and he makes the most out of his chance to carry a movie. He is like Moe and his sons like the other Stooges, aided by some unintentionally funny dialogue and knockabout comedy, as the British would say. (Of course,this is supposed to be deadly serious stuff).There are the usual plot dead ends and unresolved loose ends which I always find annoying, but at the age of 11, who would notice? There is enough action to fire up the young audience, and cause the matron to descend on us and order all concerned to be quiet, flashlight in hand.
tavm
In continuing to review movies and TV appearances of the original "Dallas" cast in chronological order, we're once again in 1949 with Jim Davis once again playing an antagonist in Brimstone having previously been in Hellfire early in the year. He's one of the sons of Walter Brennan who's long resented all the settlers that have-what he believes-invaded his land and has no qualms about robbing and killing to get what he wants. Rod Cameron plays someone who aims to stop Brennan and his family. Forrest Tucker, also from Hellfire, once again plays a lawman but you might be surprised about his motivations. I'll stop there and just say that Davis has his most exciting scenes that I've seen him in during his younger days in this movie especially concerning his fate here. And I also like the way some characters turn loyalties on a dime. And how about when Brennan's other son, Jack Lambert, asks how the world can be round since if it was so, "...the people down in China would be standing on their heads!" Oh, one more thing: James Brown, the youngest son, would also appear in the later seasons of "Dallas" as Harry McSween. So on that note, I highly recommend Brimstone.
volker-9
*Stagecoach* used to be my favorite Western, but *Brimstone* may supplant it. Brimstone has no intellectual pretensions, but it's a perfect distillation of all cowboy movies. Every line is a great cliche.