calvinnme This is a western starring Spencer Tracy as the patriarch rancher Matt Devereaux who has four sons. The three sons from Spencer's first marriage are Ben (Richard Widmark), Mike (Hugh O'Brian) and Denny (Earl Holliman). When his first wife dies, Matt marries Katy Jurado, a Native American. They have a twenty five year marriage including Matt's youngest son, Joe (Robert Wagner).The three older sons are a disappointment to Matt, and the eldest, Ben, hates his father and youngest brother. Matt rules his ranch with a iron fist, and he uses a whip with authority. Many cattle on the ranch have died because the creek water was poisoned by a copper mine. As a result, Matt rides out to the mine with all four of his sons, and together they destroy the mining equipment, injuring some of the miners in the process.The law comes down hard on Matt for this, and somebody will have to serve jail time. Joe knows that his father would die in prison, so he serves the three year prison term. Ben refuses to go on principle, and Mike and Denny are just plain sniveling weaklings. Joe is released, and there are still problems on the home front. Ben is angry and defiant saying he worked sixteen hours a day since he was ten years old, and Matt suffers a stroke after a nasty fight with him. As a result of his incapacity, Matt signs over a piece of the ranch to each of his sons, and you know that share and share alike is just going to cause more trouble among this incongruent group.Did I mention there is oil on the land? Who will sell out, and how will this all work out? Watch and find out. Spencer is excellent as Matt Devereaux, and his scenes with Richard Widmark are especially well done. Their arguments as father and eldest son are convincing.This was the first film Spencer did after leaving MGM and the film is available free to AMAZON PRIME members. I'm bumping this from a 7 to a 6 because for those famililar with Fox classic films you'll probably recognize the plot as a loose western remake of a well known 40s Fox noir. That tended to reduce the suspense for me quite a bit.

Tweekums As the film begins Joe Devereaux is picked up and told that he is being taken to see the state governor; when he gets there he learns of a deal that has been struck between the governor and his three brothers… he has just finished a three year jail sentence and they want him well away; to this end they give him ten thousand dollars and instructions to be on the night train to Oregon. Instead of accepting the deal he throws the money in the spittoon and rides back to his family's ranch; it has been abandoned for some time but a portrait of his father still hangs over the fireplace. The action then jumps back a few years to when his father Matt Devereaux was still alive and running the ranch. We quickly learn that he is a hard man who pays his sons the same amount that he pays the rest of his hands and thinks nothing of trying to trick Barbara, the governor's daughter, into eating a chilli pepper during dinner. She eats it even after being told what it is and after dinner she and Joe spend some time together and grow close. Shortly afterwards the governor tells Matt that he doesn't want Joe seeing her because he is half Indian; it is clear that this prejudice is the thing that offends Matt the most. Soon afterwards they discover some of their cattle dead; poisoned by the run-off from the nearby copper mine. When they go to visit the manager a confrontation ensues and the mine buildings are destroyed. This is the beginning of the end for Matt; taken to court, he faces losing everything till Joe claims to have drawn first; he is jailed so Matt decides to settle… his other sons won't allow it though. Joe ends up spending three years in jail and his father gradually fades away and dies while his brothers run the ranch the way they want under the leadership of eldest brother Ben. When events catch up with what we saw in the opening scenes Joe says he intends to leave with Barbara; Ben has other ideas though and the two of them must confront each other.This western was different from most I've seen; usually the cattlemen are fighting each other or trying to run farmers off their land but here a cattleman is in conflict with a mining company and the conflict is resolved on the floor of a courtroom not in the middle of the street with a pair of six-shooters. Spencer Tracy did a fine job as the elderly Matt Devereaux; portraying him as a strong, harsh man who did have a protective side towards his Indian wife and half-Indian youngest son; as his character became broken he remained believable. Robert Wagner did a good job as Joe and Richard Widmark impressed as Ben, the eldest brother who had a long standing, and to a degree justified grievance against his father. Often in films of this era the Native Americans are portrayed as the villains but this film treats them far more sympathetically with one protagonist married to an Indian woman and the other, his son, half Indian; this made a refreshing change. While this isn't this most action packed western I've seen it has enough and the story is good; I'd certainly recommend it to fans of the genre.

vincentlynch-moonoi I've been watching in order as many of the Spencer Tracy films as I could as I read the new biography about him. When you pop this film into the DVD player from that perspective, you realize that even though Tracy had starred in a good many great films, with this film he entered truly modern film making.Here you had wide screen photography, on-location shooting, rich -- but realistic -- Technicolor (I believe this was only his second color film, the first being "Northwest Passage", 14 years earlier), and what I'll call realistic modern (aka gritty) acting by the principals.There were so many times while watching this film that I thought to myself, "God, what a great actor Spencer Tracy was". And, surprisingly perfect for this particular role. His many years of playing polo, though in the past, made him look very natural in the saddle. As a man, I hate to say this, but his beautiful gray -- almost white -- hair made him look the part of tough western father so perfectly. And his diction, whether being rough on his foolish sons, or tender with his Mexican wife. Even though I had this on my DVD shelf, I'd only watched it once before, but I would have to say this was one of Spencer Tracy's finer performances, and actually a very different role for him.It's been said that Tracy liked the then young Robert Wagner, who plays the favored (though racially mixed) son in this movie. I've always been rather neutral about Wagner -- liking him in some films, and not so much in others. Here he does an admirable job and manages to look the part. On the other hand, Richard Widmark, who had to suffer through 4th billing on this film, is a wonderful actor, but his scenes in the first half of this film are minor, weak, and his role is just too negative to like his character at all. His stronger scenes come later in the film when you begin to see how impressive his acting could be. Jean Peters and Katy Jurado are excellent, although make no mistake, this is a man's picture. The two other sons -- Hugh O'Brien and Earl Holliman have minor roles -- often in the frame, but with little significant dialog. There were a number of films where Earl Holliman was a whining-son type, and this is one of them...very unlikable type of role, and not demonstrative at all of the level of work he was capable of. Another notable character actor here -- E.G. Marshall -- plays an important role, and does it well, though he does not have much screen time.There was a time, of course, that Westerns were a dominant force in both motion pictures and television. And, when I was young I loved them. But Westerns are passé, and it is a rare Western that can hold my attention today. This is one such film. It isn't often that I give an "8", but I will here. This is a extremely fine motion picture that deserves a place on your DVD shelf.

Luis Guillermo Cardona Edward Dmytryk was a skilled director. He showed plenty of memorable titles as in "Murder My Sweet" "The Caine Mutiny," "Warlock", "Raintree County"... where he showed narrative skill, a most correct direction of actors and impressive staging.The one that concerns us: "Broken Lance" is, for our taste, one of his best films. Told from a long flashback that begins after Joe Devereaux returns to his old home after spending three years in prison, the narrative focuses on the eventful life of the landlord Matthew Devereaux (a superb and brilliant Spencer Tracy) and his difficult relationship with his children and unhappy with the environment that surrounds it. Matt is a man who loves nature and respects animals. It is also a just and loving husband with his Indian wife (Katy Jurado's always accurate Oscar nominee for this role), loves much the son she had with her (Joe), but the children of his former wife, now deceased, is intolerant and demanding. Their conflict develops into a crescendo that prevents us from a storm that seems inevitable. Dmytryk will recreate every nuance of arrogance and the film emerges as a psychological portrait of great importance. Matt is contrasting as day. Defend the Indians and some even work for him. Your home is an earthly paradise and think, clearly, a man of privilege.But as in all light is usually a shade to Matthew is impossible to get along with their children and this makes the paradise into an inferno. The river that crosses his land is a symbol of the flow of life: sometimes calm... sometimes with rocks impeding the flow. Sometimes of course... and sometimes murky. Remake of "House of Strangers" by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the story of "Broken Lance" refers to "King Lear" by William Shakespeare and even "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Materials, all of these, essential in the cultural baggage of any human being. "Broken Lance" can also be made in any list of classic western movies.