Interesteg
What makes it different from others?
Diagonaldi
Very well executed
CommentsXp
Best movie ever!
KnotStronger
This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
georgewilliamnoble
Where has this cracking hard action hard riding hard action grade A western been all my life. I can hardly believe that i have missed it for so many years until i caught it on Film 4 tonight. The film has Glen Ford as the complex hero who hates violence but fights hard and brutally when cornered. Edward G Robinson and Barbara Stanwyck with Brian Keith make up the rest of a great A list cast all lined up against the immovable Glen Ford. With great big scale outdoor action all filmed with real scale that has hundreds of horses, and even more cattle, and scores of men, this is a western with epic above it's title. Here is a film that really uses the widescreen to the best effect with vista after vista of huge snow clad mountain ranges just on the horizon. The violence considered over done at the time (1955) seems routine now perhaps, but exactly why anyone in the fifties would of wanted to stay at home to google a 15" black and white flicker on a television set when the local cinema was showing a monument of a film like this escapes me. But then again i'm a movie going film buff. And this one thrilled me. A sound as a pound 8 from 10.
jpdoherty
Another cracker of a fifties western is Columbia Picture's THE VIOLENT MEN (aka "Rough Company"). Produced by Louis J. Rachmil for the studio in 1955 this enjoyable oater regrettably seems somewhat forgotten in these days of sparse western productions. It is a pity really for it is quite an absorbing colourful western tale directed with a genuine flair by Rudolph Mate and boasting an all star cast in Glenn Ford, Edward G. Robinson, Barbara Stanwyck and Brian Keith. With splendid production values it even has a score by the legendary Max Steiner who was borrowed from Warner Brothers. This was the second score the formidable composer wrote for a Columbia picture after his great success the previous year with "The Caine Mutiny" (1954). From a novel by Donald Hamilton THE VIOLENT MEN was well written for the screen by Harry Kleiner and beautifully photographed in Cinemascope and colour by W.H. Green and Burnett Guffey.A recuperating Civil War veteran John Parrish (Glenn Ford)- along with some other small ranchers - is running his holding in a valley dominated by the powerful Anchor Ranch owned by big land baron the crippled Lee Wilkinson (Edward G. Robinson) and his unfaithful wife Martha (Barbara Stanwyck). But Wilkinson wants all the ranches in the valley to be Anchor owned and his younger gunslinging brother Cole (Brian Keith) is riding roughshod over them and burning them out when they refuse to be bought. Wilkinson offers to buy out the Parrish place and when he refuses and one of his hands is killed by some Anchor riders he decides to fight Wilkinson. Before long a full scale range war begins culminating in the Anchor stock being stampeded, the Anchor ranch set alight and finally Parrish taking on Cole in an exciting fast draw shootout.THE VIOLENT MEN is an action packed and handsome looking western. Performances are fine from all concerned. Ford is his usual likable unforced self, presenting his affable cowboy image with that familiar attractive casualness. He was only two years away from his greatest western role in "3.Ten To Yuma" (1957). Good too is Barbara Stanwyck as Wilkinson's scheming cheating wife. A part the actress played many times before in her busy career. But miscast is Edward G. Robinson! The great pint sized actor simply doesn't suit the part of the big rancher in a western. Watching him here you can't help but wonder if he was only brought on board the production to replace someone like Lee J. Cobb or Albert Dekker or perhaps Raymond Massey.Holding the whole thing together is the splendid music of Max Steiner. As the credits unfold a jagged staccato statement from the orchestra is heard to emphasize the film's title before segueing into an attractive broad loping western melody. Later in a resplendent sequence this lovely theme is heard in full bloom when we see Ford riding (with characteristic crooked elbows) across some spectacular locations at Lone Pine and The Alabama Hills with what looks like Mount Whitney in the background. A captivating example of the beautiful combination of film and music. Steiner's score was conducted by Columbia Picture's conductor in residence Morris Stoloff. A rare occasion when the composer's music was conducted by someone else.THE VIOLENT MEN is an enjoyable and memorable motion picture and a fine addition to the list of splendid westerns that were thankfully brought to us in the fifties.
MartinHafer
In many ways, this is a very typical sort of western. One of the most common themes in films, if not THE most common, was the idea of a boss who wanted to use his bully-boy tactics to drive out all the ranchers. Here in "The Violent Men" we have such an amoral and ambitious man (Edward G. Robinson). What makes it a little different is that one of the local ranchers (Glenn Ford) has a fiancée and her family who are strongly encouraging him not to fight this injustice but to sell out cheaply and move back East. What also makes this different is the strange love triangle going on in the household of the boss-man. Together, these subplots manage to breath some life into a very, very tired and overused plot.Although Ford is quite willing to walk away from this fight and take a very poor offer from the boss-man, eventually he is just pushed too far. When one of his own men is killed, Ford reluctantly goes to war with this band of cut-throats.The chief punk working for Robinson is Matlock (Richard Jaeckel). Jaeckel played this sort of gun-crazy punk in approximately 46923 films (give or take 6). What would have been surprising would have been if Jaeckel had played a level-headed nice guy! Eventually, it all culminates in an all-out war--with some interesting twists. Still, despite this, it really is just a well made version of the same old thing you've probably seen dozens of times before...and will see dozens of times again.By the way, as far as the casting goes, this is an odd film. You don't expect to see Robinson out West nor can you really picture Barbara Stanwyck playing his wife. And, oddly, it's very hard to picture Brian Keith as Robinson's brother. As for Ford, he's pretty adept at such a film role.
classicsoncall
It's always interesting to catch a line in a film that winds up being somewhat prophetic for the future of an actor. In this case, I was intrigued by Edward G. Robinson's statement to Barbara Stanwyck - "I promised you the Valley", as he discusses the lone hold outs to his attempt to control all the land in Logasa. Ten years later, Stanwyck would star as the matriarch of the Barkley Family on "The Big Valley". Somehow I thought she might have looked older in the earlier picture; I guess all those bright gowns and fancy riding outfits have a way of bringing out one's youthful side.As for my summary line above, that's Lee Wilkison's appraisal of John Parrish (Glenn Ford), one of those hold outs mentioned earlier, shortly after Parrish uses his knowledge of military tactics to take out a number of Wilkison hands after they raid his ranch and torch his home. I liked the way the film explored his character, starting with the way he dealt with foreman Wade Matlock (Richard Jaeckel) in a calculated showdown. The set up for the ambush was also a clever maneuver, diametrically opposed to the strategy of rushing the bad guys head on with both sides fighting it out to the last man standing. For that, Parrish also had something to say - "Never meet the enemy on his terms"."The Violent Men" is a good title for this film, and was probably at the head of it's class in the mid 1950's, though by today's standards doesn't come close to the blood letting one will find in a "Tombstone" or "Open Range", where the bullets exact a nasty savagery. But it's shaped by fine performances from the principals, with a sub plot exploring infidelity that seemed almost ironic considering it was Stanwyck's character who was cheating.
