Chuck-213

This wonderful example of the early B western is tarnished by some pitiable horse falls that would not be tolerated in today's films. Two scenes in particular show the poor animals somersaulting and going down in a horrendous heap, sometimes on top of one another. Even knowing that the movie is over 70 years old; the sight of the poor animals in such distress still made me heart sick. The Running W appears to have been used liberally in this picture, which is otherwise well acted and produced. John Wayne gives an excellent performance along with a strong supporting cast, while the Owens Valley and Alabama Hills outside Lone Pine provide a realistic backdrop to the story.

I guess you can look at this movie from many different angles. In 1960, it was probably considered a cut above the normal western. However, in appraising it with a more contemporary perspective, it seems to suffer significantly from several things. First off, it is loaded with A list or former A list performers such as Audrey Hepburn, Burt Lancaster, Audey Murphy, Charles Bickford, Lillian Gish, John Saxon, etc. that seem to crowd the playbill with their presence...too many top bananas in one basket. The tempo of the picture seems to fluctuate between epic western drama, and goof ball antics found in Broadway stage plays like "Oklahoma." The action is frenetic at times, and the music score is more often than not completely incongruous or irrelevant to what's taking place on the screen. It's hard to fathom that the director of "The Treasure of Sierra Madre" also directed this turkey. "Over the top" is an understatement in describing what might have been a pretty good picture if it had been toned down, and scored better. As it was, just listening to the music was like finger nails on a chalk board! Such a waste of talent and energy.

How this picture ever got made is beyond me. Terrence Malick should be stripped of his director's beret, and reduced to filming programs for the WB or UPN. Approximately two hours and 20 minutes of the principal actors basically staring at each other in abject silence with hanged-dog looks on their faces, just about had me heading for the exit. The story line was so thin, it's obvious why Malick took the writing credit as opposed to spending a little bit of production money on a decent screen play. I must say, the cinematography, locations, set design, and costuming were first rate. However, having the "naturals" dancing around like inquisitive apes for the first part of the picture was a low blow to the integrity of native Americans, at the cost of cheap thrills for the audience. Yes, most Americans DO want entertainment, not Malick's overindulgent, self aggrandizing wet dreams. If I want to be depressed, I can always jump on the LA freeway system and get stuck in traffic.