Jeanne Crain is one of those women who comes off even better in jeans than she does when she's wearing a dress.Coming after "Ruby Gentry" ,which gave Jennifer Jones one of her most intense parts and depicted a mad passion à la "duel in the sun" ,"the man without a star" is a male story though .Kirk Douglas carries the movie upon his strong shoulders and he succeeds in giving a subtle performance ,in a portrayal that shows every side of his fragility and despair ,under the guise of good humor and unlimited self- confidence:the scene in which he shows his chest packs a real wallop;the things we learn about his family tends to indicate he is not the man we thought he was .His pairing with Texas displays echoes of Howard Hawks' "the big sky" (1952):the users who have seen that movie will notice the similarities between the final scenes.The "father"/"son" relationship is common in westerns (see also Ray's "run for cover").
Review of Man Without a Star
