Reviews

Everyone here seems to agree..a hidden gem. Saw it on TCM recently, and could not have enjoyed it more. It's from a different era of Hollywood film making. It's from when they took their time with a scene. Imagine that.

One example of this, was when Maria Schell, who had earlier been found badly sunburned and blind, was about to find out, by removal of her bandages, if she could see or not. Part of what made this suspenseful was that when she was first found, her eyes were closed, and then she was bandaged for the ensuing scenes while recovering. We had not seen her eyes.

We were also about to see her cleaned up...so in essence, we had little idea what she looked like. Cooper takes time getting the lighting in the room right, and then explaining things to her, while she sits there with her bandages on and listens. The removal of the bandages seemed to take forever. Great suspense! Not Hitchcockian, but a different kind of suspense, wondering, not only if she would see, but what she would look like. You just hoped that she was going to be beautiful when you finally saw her.

And of course, with those blue European eyes, she was angelic. The music didn't hurt this moment either. I was certainly tearing up. Maria Schell was just a beautiful woman, and played a sweetness to her role that made you fall immediately in love with her.

Cooper played a flawed man, which made his role as a doctor who genuinely cared about his patients, very real. Also interesting, was watching the edgy relationship between him and his 'servant' develop. You could tell this young man did not like him at all at first, but was slowly becoming very fond of him. Somehow, you wanted that to happen.

Gary Cooper just got better and better as he aged. There was something about his tiredness, coupled with his strength as a man, that made him just fascinating to watch. He had one of those Hollywood voices that most male actors today don't have (I'd hate to be an impressionist today), that made you hang on every word.

George C. Scott had his chops early on, even though this was one of his first roles. Very scary part. You just knew, that somehow, he was going to do something awful later in the picture. His tiny role, in the beginning, had that impact. He probably could have played Patton the week after this film was done. He was that powerful already.

Karl Maldon must have had fun doing this one, playing such an erratic, manic, ultimately unsavory guy. You just never were sure if he was going to turn out to be good...or bad. Good script writing there, but the acting also made that happen.

I could go on, but let's just say that it's so cool to watch an old movie you've never seen before, and feel like you just want to tell everyone about this new great movie that YOU just discovered.

I first saw this gem when in high school, with two other buddies. It was showing at a local college for free, so being three geeks with nothing else to do, off we went...what we saw, was a movie riddled with scenes that never ever leave you, ever!! Funny, that one of my buddies last name happened to be Curtin (like the Tim Holt character), so for weeks afterward's, whenever the other amigo and myself would run into him, we would just have to yell.."Couiten!....Couiten!!....COUITEN!!!!!" a la the unforgettable scene where Bogart is in a panic, trying to find the erstwhile Tim Holt.

Another favorite scene is when Tim Holt, who turned in a very believable, professional performance, sees the Gila monster go under a rock, which just happens to be the hiding place of Bogarts share of the gold. Holt starts to turn the rock over when Bogart sees him and thinks he is stealing his booty. While holding a gun on Holt, and calling him a liar and a thief, Bogart starts to nervously reach under the rock, and Holt says.."Go ahead Dobbs, I want to see this!...they never let go do they Howard? Even if you cut'em in half, they hang on till sundown. But it doesn't matter much to the victim, cause he's already dead...." Just a great scene! Suspense to the max!

And something about the scene where the uninvited prospector is killed by bandits, and Holt along with Huston, reads aloud, a letter from his wife they find in his wallet. To see these three, hard bitten men, who only minutes prior were planning to kill this man to protect their secret, now saddened by his death, and clearly moved by the letter, is so poignant, and unexpected, it, along with the music, can move one to tears.

I could go on, but those who have seen it know what it is I'm trying to say, and those who haven't....just see it! Walter Huston is worth the effort, to see what a real actor is. For you kids who have heard the "No stinkin badges" line, and are brave enough to watch a black and white movie, yes, this is where it came from....

Wow, what a surprise. Regardless of what I expected, here is what I got...confusion, claustrophobia, tour de force acting, laughs, intrigue, action, and yes...arousal...the arousal coming from the talky kissing scenes involving the very sexy Terry Moore and her scientist boyfriend. One just wants to push him aside and take over where he started. Goofy plot, where virtually every customer in this diner seems to be somehow involved with spying. Especially puzzling is comparing the very Americany, bad boy, fun loving persona of Lee Marvin, to that of his eventually revealed, anti everything American spy. But then again, I've never met a spy. Maybe they're all fun like that! Or maybe I've seen too many 'normal' spy movies. Still, one has to see this performance by a young Marvin. He absolutely makes it clear that as an actor, he has always had it. Even as a very young man, he still has that 'voice' and can be very scary at times. While watching this movie, I found myself thinking, that when Marvin was a fighting marine in real life on those Japanese held islands, his fox hole buddies must have felt pretty safe with him around. Just a strong, strong presence. Best thing about this movie is the racy dialogue, which is mostly very believable, and truly has you wondering what they are going to say next, while trying to figure out the depth of the relationships between the main characters. Can't believe I have never heard of this movie. It's a good one.

Good flick. I DVR'd it the other week, watched it last night, and when the cast names appeared at the beginning, I was like, well now, all right! And not at all disappointed by the acting. With Van Johnson, acting was like falling off a log, always great. Dewey Martin was VERY convincing as a wounded pilot, just on the brink of passing out each minute during the return flight. This was the high point of the movie. I have never seen Keenan Wynn more appealing, as he usually plays over the top characters. This time he was very likable, and more importantly, he got across his message, which was very candid for its time. The message being that this was not a popular war, or even necessary, therefore heroics were not necessary. Motivation is very important when fighting a battle. Walter Pidgeon is always just pleasure to watch. Only thing I didn't like, was when watching the 'Christmas film', on comes the family of the just killed pilot, Wynn. This was a little over the edge, with all the cute little kids singing silent night, and clearly designed for some contrived tear coaxing. Plus, you knew it was coming. And, although back then it wouldn't have mattered, seeing Beaver Cleaver hamming it up on the clip was very distracting, actually funny. I kept waiting for Eddie Haskell to amble on in. Something about the ending was missing, but can't say what. Just found it empty. Great fun to watch though for a first time.

I had never seen nor heard of this movie, though it was made in the year of my birth. Typical of many westerns of that era, with some stolen themes, mostly from 'Shane', such as the subtle interest between the stranger and his new friends stay at home wife, and the brewing battle that you just knew the stranger would reluctantly join, it still had many twists and turns that were not given away. Egen was likable, but could have used a little more character development. However, his quiet acting approach mostly seemed to work well with the movie, and there was just enough action to let you know that this gunman knew his trade, and make you eagerly await the next show down. Dorothy Malone was fine, but she looked like she had spent all day at the beach, and was ready for a night out. She could have looked a little more 'frontierish'. The most interesting part of the movie was the friendship between our hero, and the gunman sent to kill him, a great touch. The music was very haunting throughout, and added to make this movie a hidden gem. Very enjoyable movie.