Splendid Revenge Western.

jpdoherty

20th Century Fox's THE BRAVADOS (1958) is another fine fifties Cinemascope western from the studio's vaults. Coming near the end of the decade it was produced with the usual Fox widescreen expertise that was displayed so well previously with such gems as "Garden Of Evil" (1954), Broken Lance" ('54),"The Tall Men" ('55) and the beautiful "The Last Wagon" (1956). Solidly directed by the ever reliable Henry King it was stunningly photographed by the great Leon Shamroy in lovely Mexican locations and the splendid screenplay derived from the novel by Frank O'Rourke. Also the initial setting of a border town is remarkably attractive thanks to the splendid Art Direction of Lyle Wheeler and Mark-Lee Kirk.

A brooding unsmiling Gregory Peck is Jim Douglas who arrives in the small town of Rio Arriba after a long ride to attend the hanging of four outlaws ("you rode over a 100 miles just to see a hanging?" the Sheriff asks.). Douglas believes the four are responsible for the rape and murder of his wife and is here to bear witness to their execution. But when they escape from the local jail - taking a young female hostage (Kathleen Gallant) with them - Douglas sets out after them in a relentless pursuit ("I've been after them for six months - I'm not going to lose them now") and eventually arbitrarily kills each of them one by one except for the last who proves to him that the four could not have murdered his wife after all. Peck is superb! He gives one of his strongest ever performances. The fury in his eyes and the all consuming hatred and desire for vengeance is powerfully palpable in his gritted teeth portrayal. Others in the cast are good too. The ill-fated Stephen Boyd as the leader of the four ("I have a weakness for women"), the also ill-fated Albert Salmi ("every man is entitled to one weakness - mine's cards"), the nervous half-breed perfectly played by Lee Van Cleef ("please don't kill me! I done some bad things but I never murdered anyone") and a young Henry Silva as the Indian who knows instinctively that Douglas isn't far behind ("He has the eyes of a hunter"). Herbert Rudley too gives a good turn as the Sheriff and in the female lead is British actress Joan Collins who really doesn't have very much to do except look gorgeous. Curiously she plays an unmarried Mexican rancher by the name of Josefa Valarde but her accent is straight out of London's Park Lane. Hmmm!

Nevertheless the whole thing also is perfectly punctuated by a terrific score by Alfred Newman and Hugo Friedhofer. Newman's main theme is a driving and pulsating march theme first heard under the titles over a medium tracking shot of Peck on horseback at full gallop against the night sky. The music splendidly points up and instantly establishes the determination and resolve of the protagonist. Newman also wrote a lovely gentle Mexican guitar cue for the Collins character Josefa which gets a ravishing full orchestral rendition for the finale. Friedhofer contributed to the dramatic scenes, the musical supervision was by Alfred's younger brother Lionel and the orchestra was conducted in Germany by Bernard Kaun.

THE BRAVADOS is an all round enjoyable western and is a favourite among cultists. Not as good as Peck's best western ten years later - "The Stalking Moon" but still a good story of revenge and retribution in a beautiful looking well written well acted and well scored Cinemascope production. Another Fox winner!

score 7/10

jpdoherty 6 January 2010

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2186922/