Living and Dying by "The Code" (CONTAINS SPOILERS) Richard Brooks, Lee Marvin, and Burt Lancaster are at the top of their game in this turn-of-the-century Western classic.
As the Old West dies, on the eve of World War I, a rich businessman assembles a team of ex-revolutionary mercenaries to rescue his kidnapped wife. The task is complicated by this twist -- the kidnapper is an old compadre of half the rescue team. Brooks makes the most of his material, exploring the rigid code by which such men live, and how contact with the cynical Twentieth Century can use that code as a weapon against its adherents.
Marvin was rarely better than his role here as Henry "Rico" Fardan, a tough soldier, torn between his own memories and his professional sense of honor. His performance is matched by Lancaster, in the role he was, perhaps, born to play. Bill Dolworth is a cynical scoundrel who rediscovers his own sense of decency during the mission. Lancaster is a letter-perfect smartass, and his stunt work is impressive, particularly considering his age at the time this film was made. Robert Ryan and Woody Strode have less to do, but are still interesting. Claudia Cardinale is gorgeous, Ralph Bellamy, suitably slimy, and Jack Palance even manages to invest a little dignity into the only strained sequence of the film -- his monologue about love and the revolution.
The dialogue is rich and memorable -- you may find yourself quoting whole passages. Maurice Jarre's stirring score is apt without being obtrusive. The splendidly photographed desert becomes a virtual character in the story.
A word about weaponry. Hollywood goofed more often than not when showcasing Western armaments. It could easily have happened in this film, set at a time when the Colt .45 and the Lewis gun both coexisted on the frontier. But Marvin's sequence with the Model 1897 Winchester Trench Gun is one of the best photographed gunfights in history, and shows clearly why this pump shotgun was the most fearsome close-quarters weapon ever made.
This film is rarely shown on television or cable. Fortunately, it is available once again on VHS tape, and may be available on DVD as well. While the picture is not well known, it deserves to be mentioned with "The Wild Bunch," "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," and "The Searchers."