Martin Bradley Anthony Perkins had yet to find his feet when he made "The Lonely Man" in 1957, cast as former outlaw Jack Palance's son, but he's remarkably assured nevertheless. It's a so-so western from a mediocre director, Henry Levin, with Palance the lonely man of the title, wanting to go straight but finding both the law and his former partners doing all they can to see that he doesn't. A first class supporting cast, (Neville Brand, Robert Middleton, Lee Van Cleef, Claude Akins) ensure that it's never less than watchable and it's very handsomely photographed in black and white VistaVision by Lionel Lindon. It's a pity the script never really develops the characters beyond the one-dimensional and now it is very seldom shown.

Spikeopath The Lonely Man is directed by Henry Levin and written by Harry Essex and Robert Smith. It stars Jack Palance, Anthony Perkins, Elaine Aiken, Neville Brand, Robert Middleton, Elisha Cook Jr. and Claude Akins. It's a VistaVision production with cinematography by Lionel Lindon, music scored by Van Cleave and the title track sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford.Trying to leave his gun slinging days behind him, Jacob Wade (Palance) tries desperately to bond with his son Riley (Perkins) who blames him for his Mother's death.From the outset as Tennessee Ernie Ford warbles a soft ballad over the opening credits, you know that we are in for a Western sorrowful in tone, and so it proves. I confess it's a film I hadn't really heard of before and kind of stumbled upon it by accident. It certainly seems to be under seen, while judging by the lack of written critique's for it, most probably forgotten by those who viewed it many years ago.It's a film with problems, there is no getting away from that, but for the Western fan who has a bent for films like Shane, The Gunfighter and Unforgiven (and it is no way in the same league as these pictures) it has narrative rewards. There is very little action here, a couple of horse pursuits (though these are very well filmed and are exciting) and a short gunfight are about as thrilling as it gets, because this is very much a character study and smiles are very much in short supply. Story follows father and estranged son forming an uneasy alliance as Jacob tries to set Riley up for the future, truths will out along the way and Jacob's past is coming back to haunt him. There's a girl in the middle, naturally, and health will also come into play.Filmed out of the Sierra Mountains, Lone Pine and the Mojave Desert, the back drops are excellent. Lionel Lindon's black and white photography is a real asset to the picture in how it captures the mournful mood of the story. While for the finale we move into noir territory as Levin and Lindon darken the skies and bring the atmospheric shadows, and this is something that perfectly cloaks what unfolds in the story. The support cast is like a whose who of Western character actors: Elisha Cook Jr., Neville Brand, Claude Akins, Lee Van Cleef, Denver Pyle, Harry Shannon and John Douchette, all of whom owe the Western fan nothing. But here lies one of the film's major problems…With a dialogue heavy picture such as this, we reasonably expect good characterisations, unfortunately we just don't get that. Palance is basically required to just look tough and emote when faced with Perkins' whiny barbs. Oh they are good at being emotive and whiny respectively, but the screenplay just doesn't ask anything of them, with some interesting threads dangled but never expanded upon. Aiken is stock female fodder, and again she plays a character that just exists since the interesting possibilities are not explored. Then there's the number of characters played by those wonderful Western actors that just drift in and out of the film with no chance to impact on proceedings. Brand does get a neat role, and shows a good mean streak whilst introducing us to some cowardly bastard tactics, but he's still under written.The lack of depth to plotting and complexity of principal characters is such a shame, as is the uneven direction of Levin. Yet I personally was very pleased to have seen this, it has some merits in the "moody redemption" splinter of Western films. A cautious and generous 7/10 from me.

Tilly Gokbudak I found "Lonely Man' in a local library. I can't believe it only has 26 votes on the IMDB. This is not as great as the Anthony Mann films I've studied in grad school. There is one with Anthony Perkins called "The Tin Star" which I would recommend more. But, this is still a good Western which doesn't follow the conventional theme/structure narrative. Worth a look.

Colin R. Glassey It is not clear just what the creators of this film had in mind. It does have some worthwhile sequences of the actors riding on horse back chasing wild horses. What that had to do with the rest of the film is not at all clear.The relation between the son (played oddly by Tony Perkins (Psycho)) and the former lover of his father (the father is decently acted by Jack Palance) was a film disaster. Obviously the creators wanted to go in the direction of a romantic triangle (younger woman falls for older man's son) but the attraction is completely nonsensical because the son is sullen, rude, and distinctly un-heroic throughout the whole film. No woman tough enough to live on her own in an isolated mountain ranch would fall for such a useless man.The end scene is also absurd as the son helps his dying father shoot the bad guy dead in what has to be the stupidest possible fashion. This is NOT one of the better westerns filmed in the 1950s.I will say one thing for it, those actors sure could ride horses. I wonder where it was filmed? Wyoming?