mark.waltz What could have been an intriguing little Enoch Arden tale of coming back from the dead and how that effects the goings on of a small western town turns out to be an overdone gory tale of inhumanity and revenge. A great cast is assembled, but many of them are wasted, as the story is dished out to United States census taker James MacArthur by local bartender Arthur O'Connell, the purpose of which is never explained. It seems that years ago, Chuck Connors, a guy from the wrong side of the tracks fell in love with pretty Kathryn Hays, but her ailing aunt Ruth Warrick was opposed to them being married, and after walking out on her, Connors goes to make his fortune, returning nine years later to find out that he is not so welcome in his community. On his way back, he is attacked by gamblers Bill Bixby, Michael Rennie and Claude Akins, and branded for allegedly stealing coffee from them, his money stolen, and left to die in the countryside. Upon seeing Hays when he arrives in his hometown (late at night), Connors is rejected by her in the darkened streets for being just another drunken bum making a pass, and later finds out that she's engaged to marry the wealthy Rennie. When Connors, who was believed to be dead, reveals himself for real, the town is turned upside down as a cloud of violence hangs over everybody for the wrongdoing done to him, leading to some ugly confrontations and some disgusting situations concerning his vengeance.Certainly, practically every western town or city once started off just as a few buildings and businesses, and as they grew, became bustling metropolises or communities. The shot of Aunt Gussie's (Warrick) house decaying in the background is an interesting visual, but I wish there had been more character development for the various people involved in the story. The decision to brand Connors is disgusting and barbaric, and when one of the accused faced with being branded by Connors fearfully pulls the brand down on his own chest and runs off with it stuck in his guts, I had the urge to turn this off. It made no sense, as do many things in this vile film. Joan Blondell as a local "madam" and Gloria Grahame, as a local "easy girl", don't get much opportunity to do anything juicy, and poor Warrick (then one of the stars of "Peyton Place") has hardly any lines at all. The only thing I can say about her character is that the future Aunt Phoebe Tyler Wallingford of "All My Children" really reminded me of "Little House on the Prairie's" Harriet Olsen, a character I always compared to her wealthy matriarch anyway.Future soap diva Kathryn Hays ("As the World Turns") is quite lovely here, and she is one of the saving graces of this unfortunate western. Chuck Connors isn't really all that likable other than the few early romantic scenes he has with Hays, and as dashing as Rennie is, he's given a character that is completely vile beneath the silk suits he wears. Bixby, too, plays quite an unlikable character, but the champion of vile here is the madman played by Claude Akins whom I'm surprised wasn't killed off by either Bixby or Rennie earlier just as a favor to the community. In keeping with his disgusting character, he gets in a shoot-out with Rennie and runs off like a coward when Rennie shoots his horse. I did want to shout out some praise to the theme song, "You Can't Ever Go Home Again". sung by Glenn Yarborough, which gives a different indication of the type of film you're going to see over the opening credits than what actually transpires on screen.

Spikeopath I see why some folk like it, the downbeat and harsher edges appealing, if only it wasn't so badly constructed and played! It is to my mind a classic example of the funk American Westerns had got themselves into at this juncture of genre film making.Michael Rennie and Bill Bixby are badly miscast, Claude Akins overacts to within an inch of his life (a rare poor show from him), while Bernard McEveety's direction shows why he was more at home in TV work. It all looks desperately fake, the interiors of key buildings looking like Wild West themed restaurants, the rest of the exteriors looking like what they are - stages! (most likely built from Chuck Connors' woodenness) Script is weak, which leads to a story that is never once authentic in tone or feeling, scenarios that are meant to be telling are unconvincing and the action is laughably staged.No hidden or misunderstood gem here, just bad film making that irritates as opposed to entertaining. 1/10

classicsoncall I think my summary quote might have been more appropriate for Bill Bixby's character Johnsy Boy after the old rifleman came on the scene for a little payback with the branding iron. Man, wasn't that some crazed way to go out? About as good as Frank Gorshin describing the incident to his buddies at the Two Butt Saloon. It looked like Gorshin was still stuck on his Riddler character from the Batman TV series of the mid-Sixties.So I just watched two Westerns back to back that ended with unsatisfying conclusions. The other one was "Will Penny" starring Charlton Heston. I guess one could make a case for Jonas Trapp (Chuck Connors) riding off into the sunset without his wife considering what happened here, but he went to a lot of trouble for nothing. Not that the revenge angle didn't play out satisfactorily enough, but he should have figured after eleven years gone, nobody was going to hang around waiting for him to show up again.This is one of those movies where it seems like the roles were handed out by drawing names from a hat. The casting is really eclectic, with players like Connors, Bixby, Gorshin, Michael Rennie, Kathryn Hays, Joan Blondell, Gloria Grahame, Claude Akins and Paul Fix. The Western movie character actors all made sense, but the rest looked a little out of place. Even the opener was a little strange with the modern day setting resolving to a flashback to reminisce about La Noche del Tigre, the Night of the Tiger.But at least it had that great bar room brawl with Claude Akins up against Connors; that was one of the more memorable ones you'll find in a Western. It certainly felt more realistic than Connors knocking out Buddy Baer with one punch. You know, I'm still thinking about the cast list, and it brings to mind a picture made a decade later called "The Night They Took Miss Beautiful". That one had Gary Collins, Henry Gibson, Victoria Principal, and Phil Silvers, and right in the middle of it all was a guy who's name was pulled out of a hat - Chuck Connors.

jjnxn-1 Solid western with a wonderful cast of veterans. Connors fits the stoic lead character like a glove, in certain ways it's an extension of his Rawhide character, with the rest of the performers well cast in roles that weren't any stretch for them but which they play well. Joan Blondell and particularly Gloria Grahame are woefully underused in parts that could have been played by any competent actress but they make them somewhat more memorable because of their talent. Leading lady Hayes played Kim Hughes on As the World Turns for years. The modern scenes used as a framing device at the beginning and end are superfluous and could have easily been discarded.