If only they made pictures like this still. Blaise Starrett Robert Ryan decides to agree to Bruhn's demands for someone knowledgeable to lead them away from the law and the town, to safety. The guy delivers as a good or bad guy so you are in for a treat. Now, with the citizens of Bitters held hostage by Bruhn and his men, Starrett must somehow rescue his town and restore his broken reputation. I like the horses trying to travel in the snow for its realism. But the fighting takes a back seat to a new threat when a rogue cavalry captain, Jack Bruhn Burl Ives , rides into town with his band of thugs. Here you get a good glimpse of that native Indian philosophy.
Cowboys and ranchers have to put their differences aside when a gang of outlaws, led by army captain Jack Bruhn, decide to spend the night in a little Western town. While I was watching this scene, I was reminded that when scheming, evil-based and short on morals and character men who do whatever it takes to get ahead like to spend their money on what decent people spend it on only their guilt won't let them enjoy as men only beasts of the field. Think: we were made in the image of something better. Synopsis Set in an isolated, snow-covered town in the far West, this story has a renegade army officer named Jack Bruhn and his henchmen riding into the town threatening their worst to the men and women there. They all stood down when he made it a point, but after a while I began to question why they were so afraid of him.
I like the outdoor shoot, the snow, horses, weather and the stark reality of this. The Indians used to comment how these little yellow rocks made white men mad. One of my favorite beliefs that I stand behind is demonstrated in this movie. When you do, you no longer have a say so in your own life. I like Burl Ives and he does his Westerns justice.
That point is made in this film as well. Terrific choice of actors headed by tough guy Robert Ryan, folk singer Burl Ives and the beautiful Tina Louise with great supporting actors, Dabs Greer, Elisha Cook Jr, Jack Lambert etc. Robert Ryan can do no wrong either. Given his demeanor, the thought occurred to me that the town of Bitters might have been named after him. Where the film departs from a more conventional dynamic occurs in the latter part of the story when Ryan's character leads the outlaw bunch on a death march with the complicity of their leader Bruhn, who at that point pretty much knew that he was dying of a bullet wound. The one casting surprise in the story for me was that of David Nelson as the young outlaw Gene who had an eye for town girl Ernine Venetia Stevenson. Of course the argument that you are alive because you did goes to work as well.
For added pleasure, watch this with a chill and you will set the mood quite nicely. Blaise Starrett decides to agree to Bruhn's demands for someone knowledgeable to lead them away from the law and the town, to safety. If looks could kill, the men would be dead. In the quiet frontier town of Bitters, Wyo. Brilliantly photographed against a backdrop of snow, hills and forests, with wonderfully composed shots of both actors and scenery, this is a minor masterpiece.
Men on the move because they robbed a payroll stop by a town and terrorize it. From Masters of Cinema: Revered by the likes of and , the great director made some of the most gripping and unusual American films of the 1950s, and stands as one of his finest. Great story, unfolding slowly and with completely unexpected events occurring throughout. Good movie for a sandwich and a tasty drink plus a snack of choice to follow. In fact this movie does what I look for which is a story within a story making one want to follow the movie and plot screen by screen. With as many Westerns as I've seen, this is the first one that graphically depicts what a difficult time a horse can have trying to walk through a couple feet of snow.
Mortally wounded himself, Bruhn opts to take Starrett up on his offer in one last act of generosity toward the townspeople, sparing them the mayhem threatened by his men. Had it gone that way, the story might have been just as grim as the one we got to see. The best western I've watched in years. Ill-gotten gains gives no peace, closure or satisfaction only the illusion of these things. You see that today with tyrants, dictators, drug dealers, pimps and thieves. It is not what a man comes to have as much as how he came to have it.
Blaise Starrett Robert Ryan was creating a lot of resentment with his insistence on putting a stop to the fencing on open range land. I'm still not used to seeing Burl Ives in a Western setting, even though he's appeared in a number of them. Helping this along are the stars and supporting cast doing a great job in making us buy what they are selling no problem. Set against extraordinary winter landscapes,. A stark, cold-looking western starring Ives as the savage leader of a group of Army renegades who take over a lonely town. Pure animal nature in these men which should remind all who watch that men have work to do until the beast is not only tamed but disposed of. But once a band of brutal outlaws, led by the notorious Captain Jack Bruhn , enters and takes the townspeople hostage, the situation becomes a powder keg ready to blow.