I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Crappy film

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This is a difficult cast to beat. Besides Glenn Ford, there is Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Rod Steiger, Noah Beery Jr. and Jack Elam. With this kind of cast plus a couple of actresses, this movie is loaded. The Paul Wellman novel gets a well done treatment here. Delmar Daves does a great job directing these folks.The story is one of women making trouble for all the men in the cast. One of them seems to be behind a murder, and in the meantime Rod Steiger stirs up everybody and murders a woman to boot. Ford and Steiger are the real star roles here, but Bronson makes a good impression in support.Borgnine and Ford are best friends, until late in the movie. Ford's character is a troubled one who ran away from his mother at age 7. The plot centers around when is he finally going to face major issue instead of running away. This is a very well done film and I highly recommend any Western fan to watch this one. For Glenn Ford fans, this one is an essential.

I saw this movie in 1956 in the Rany movie house in Durban, South Africa. I was 7 years old. Loved it then and enjoyed it today. Great escapism. The acting is still superb considering the actors did not go through the training that they do today. Glen Ford was my favorite actor in westerns. The girl still smolders. Did not see many of her movies thereafter. This movie, in my opinion, changed the format of westerns. Pity they did not use the spicy language of the times. The location is breath-taking, reminds me of the Alps I have just visited. I am a regular watcher of old westerns and its nice to see some of the old actors, all that have since departed this life, such as Rod Steiger, Charles Bronson crop up every now and then. Brought back some memories.

Skip it – This is a heart-warming western, but the plot has been recycled so often that you've probably seen it a dozen times. A mysterious man joins up with a ranch and impresses everyone with his cowboy skills. He quickly works his way up the ranks and wins the trust of the boss. But the man who wants to be foreman gets jealous and tries to turn the boss against him. That's it in a nutshell. This western does feature a great cast including Glenn Ford, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, and Rod Steiger. But if a plot is unoriginal, you need more than a great cast. You need action - and on that front, this movie does not deliver. There's only one significant gunfight to speak of. Most of the movie feels like a soap opera.

In the mid-1950's writer-director Delmer Daves made a series of superior westerns for Columbia studios. Too bad these films have not gotten their critical due from movie historians or critics. Perhaps it's because they lack the thematic continuity of a Buddy Boetticher or a John Ford to tie them together. Still each entry presents its own distinct virtues and all are greatly entertaining. If the compact, and tautly told "3:10 to Yuma" is the best of the lot, the scenic and sprawling "Jubal" runs a close second. This mid-series film features Glenn Ford's easy-going charm, a rowdy Earnest Borgnine, a luscious Valerie French, and the panoramic backdrop of Jackson Hole Wyoming. And in an odd piece of casting, which Daves seems fond of, method actor extrordinaire Rod Steiger appears as a treacherous ranch hand named of all things, Pinky! Following the dueling styles of Ford vs. Steiger is at least as interesting as the otherwise well-staged outbursts of gunplay.Judging from other entries, such as 1958's "Cowboy", Daves seems genuinely intrigued by the real life of cowhands. Thus the cowhands in Jubal are more vividly drawn and distinctively presented than their usual role as faceless stage props. The story itself features a fairly explicit (for its time) woman in heat (French), whose scheming shenanigans set off a plot- driving chain of events, while shifting alliances among ranch hands and settlers round out a sprawling and sometimes over-generous plot. And, oh yes, making a sudden appearance half way through, a lonesome Charles Bronson in a tacked on role that perhaps provided a needed payday, (Daves and Bronson had been together in the earlier, oddball essay "Drumbeat".) If none of this sounds good, then just sit back and take in the beautifully photographed alpine landscape that has salvaged many a western much less worthy than "Jubal".