Amazon.com: Western auteur Anthony Mann and aging Western icon Gary Cooper team up in this stark tale of a trio of train passengers stranded in the middle of the desert after a railway holdup. Taking responsibility for his helpless compatriots (Julie London as a sad-eyed prostitute and Arthur O'Connell as a garrulous but cowardly banker), craggy-faced Link Jones (Cooper) takes them into a veritable viper's nest in a desperate gamble. It turns out the respected town elder is a former member of the outlaw gang that robbed them, and he's welcomed back by patriarchal gang leader Dock Tobin (Lee J. Cobb) like the prodigal son. The other bandits are not so forgiving but humor the old man while plotting to unmask Cooper as a devious traitor in a battle of wits and wills. Mann returns to his favorite themes of family and betrayal with a dramatic twist and wrenches up the jagged conflict with the most spare imagery of his career: the trio hiking down an endless horizon of empty track, a lone ramshackle shack on the arid plains, the desolate ghost town where Tobin's planned bank heist turns out to be a pathetic fantasy. Mann's taut direction creates a tension that hangs in the air like the sword of Damocles over the stranded travelers and explodes in cruel, raw violence. Reginald Rose (12 Angry Men) wrote the literate if sometimes overly symbolic script, and John Dehner, Jack Lord, and Royal Dano costar as Tobin's angry gang members. --Sean Axmaker
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Brand: TCFHE/MGM EAN: 0883904107095 Format: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC Item Dimensions:100 Label: United Artists Languages:EnglishOriginal Language Manufacturer: United Artists MPN: M110709 Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: United Artists Region Code: 1 Release Date: May 13, 2008 Running Time: 100 minutes Studio: United Artists Theatrical Release Date: 1958
Customer Reviews
Gary Cooper, Super Duper
Released in 1958, this is the ultimate western. Good guy overcomes adversity, and bad guys. The hero has a beautiful admirer(Julie London), who cares for him even though she knows he is married, with children. She knows he has changed from what he was, into her ideal man. I must say this script seems to bear no woman's touch, as her dialogue and situations are definitely male oriented. Be that as it may, she professes her admiration & new feelings of woman-ness to him. Boy are the bad guys played ... Read More