People are voting emotionally.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Given the choice between Gary Cooper, Richard Widmark, and Cameron Mitchell, who would you choose? Richard Widmark, duh! Watch Garden of Evil to see if Susan Hayward is as smart as you are. In the film, the three Americans are shipwrecked on the coast of Mexico, on their way to search for gold in California. Susan Hayward storms into town and offers $1,000 a piece if they ride with her back to a collapsed goldmine and rescue her husband. At first, Dick and Gary are only interested in the money, but soon they join Cameron's camp and start to notice the beauty of their travelling companion. I love Susan Hayward, so I was looking forward to some seriously steamy scenes with her and hunky Richard Widmark, but it wasn't that kind of a movie. There are battle scenes against the Apaches, a mysterious storyline, and a love triangle that will keep you on the edge of your seat, but that's all. While Susan is tough and sexy, Gary is monotonous and boring. The fact that he's even in contention is a puzzlement. If you like Suzy or Gary, or 1950s westerns, feel free to rent this one. It's not my favorite though, probably because I've only liked Gary Cooper in a couple of films, and this isn't one of them.

No wonder we never got more than a fleeting look at the supposed Apaches, lofting arrows into the members of a rescue party. The director must have recognized that his movie would be laughed at by anyone with an elementary knowledge of Native Americans. While the fade out provides some hope that the characters played by Gary Cooper and Susan Hayward might find some happiness together, with or without any gold they managed to scavenge, this tale is basically a tragedy. The supposed main purpose of the expedition into hostile Apache territory: to save the life of Susan's husband((John Fuller), injured in a mine shaft cave in, is a failure, due primarily to interference by Apache, rather than to his death before they arrived. The additional goal of bringing out enough gold to, at least, pay the high wages of the rescuers, is left unanswered, as survival in the presence of the Apache became the overriding concern. It would have been nice to add a scene at the end, where Cooper and Susan discuss their future, and show some romantic feeling for each other. Left as was, he aren't even sure if the Apache have given up hope of killing them.....The expedition was also a tragedy for the Apache families of those slain by the expedition members, although this is given no consideration.Susan reminisces that the Mexican who gave her a map of this region called it 'The garden of evil', partly because of the Apache, but also partly because a volcanic eruption had covered various previous gold mining operations, killing the miners. Furthermore, as dramatized in this film, the dangers inherent in mining are a significant risk. Fuller knew that he was much slowing down the attempt to leave Apache country alive. Thus, he rode off by himself to await his fate at the hands of the Apache. Interestingly, the Apache tied him upside down on a stone Christian cross, his body shot full of arrows. Perhaps this had a symbolic significance, assuming the Apache were familiar with the significance of the cross as a Christian symbol.Presumably, the ship that brought these 3 adventurers to this backwater village of Puerto Miguel, was primarily a freighter, as we see no hint of other passengers being deposited on shore while the engine is repaired. As they were on route to try their luck at finding gold in CA, probably , this was 1849 or 50, very early in the age of steam travel across oceans. Although they claimed they were strangers to each other, it's difficult to imagine that they had not struck up some familiarity on such a long voyage, as the presumed only passengers. Once ashore, they were drawn to the cantina where the beautiful Rita Moreno was singing a romantic song. But, they seemed more interested in the American played by Susan, who sauntered in later, looking for a few brave souls to help her get her husband out of harm's way. Only one Mexican signed up: the one who claimed Rita as his girlfriend. Presumably, he wanted to bring back a big paycheck and perhaps some gold with which to impress Rita. As things turned out, the other Mexicans were smart to pass up the opportunity for riches.There are a number of dialogues of interest, most taking place at the mine. Susan's husband(John) goes on a tirade about how all women are only interested in how much gold(in the broad sense) their husband can bring home to satisfy their fancies. Susan claims she no longer loves John, but is willing to risk her life and that of others to extricate him from his otherwise fatal situation. Perhaps she does this largely out of guilt over bringing him to this evil place to try to strike it rich. This should bring up in our minds the question of how much risk to the lives and property of others is justified in attempting to rescue a person, with the consideration of what are the chances of a successful rescue. Some of us have to make such decisions rather frequently.Filming took place in several Mexican locations. See it in color at YouTube.

Beautiful location photography and a good score by Bernard Hermann...and that about warps it up for GARDEN OF EVIL.Gary Cooper seems very bored with his part.Richard Widmark seems there for a vacation and doesn't want to get too worked up, either.Cameron Mitchell and the Mexican dude really get excited over their thinly written parts.And Susan Hayward, once again, gets a part that suits her non-acting ability.Do Cooper or Widmark get any close-ups in this film? Almost everything in the film is a medium or long shot. They get chased by Apache Indians, but there is no visual way to really prove it. The camera seems about a mile away.This is one of those vapid tales that seems to write itself in a rolling and banal manner.Hayward comes charging into town to get help for her trapped husband in a gold mine. The boys ride out with her and it takes half the film for them to get there - perhaps a 3 or 4 days ride. It takes about 90 seconds for them to rescue him (Hugh Marlowe). They stay around the gold mine for a while and then ride back to town with Apaches on their trail.And that's the picture.These characters have little emotional involvement to involve *you* in the film. Why is everyone in the film so pre-involved with the other characters? They don't know each other. They have little or no history together. Does the film want us to believe that Susan Hayward is that alluring that these men become near instantly attached to her? She has nothing to offer except gold and sex.The film is little more than a beautifully colored cartoon with nicely staged horse-riding sequences and gorgeous panoramas in Cinemascope.

My $10.99 three DVD set "Fox Western Classics" just arrived on Nov./18/2008. My first pick to watch was not Rawhide or The Gunfighter, the two black and white pictures in the collection, but rather the Technicolor, Garden of Evil.The DVD print of Garden of Evil in the collection was gorgeous, unlike TV viewings of that movie I have seen. The "Fox Western Classics" DVD version of Garden of Evil reminded me in terms of picture quality of the first time I saw Garden of Evil, on a theater screen when it was originally released in 1954.The movie itself is a fascinating story of greed, fear, honor, love, and lust. The on location scenery in Southern Mexico is spectacular (as seen on the DVD I referred to). The last 31 minutes of the movie in my opinion are the best. Those 31 minutes feature the 6 principle characters in the movie trying to save their lives by fleeing from the apaches who are following them and trying to kill them. Some of the six don't make it and are killed by the Apaches. To see who survives and why be sure to see the movie. P.S. The prints of Rawhide and The Gunfighter the other two westerns in the collection are also very good.