Fantastic!

Best movie ever!

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Blistering performances.

Right up front I have to say I liked Gregory Peck's character, and the story in general had the makings of a good revenge Western. However I can't get past some rather large plot holes in the story that leave me puzzled even now as I write this. Jim Douglass (Peck), on his arrival in Rio Arriba, states to the sheriff (Herbert Rudley) that he's traveled a hundred miles from Winthrop to witness the hanging of the four outlaws. Now if it was better explained how he covered all that ground I wouldn't be so perplexed. However Douglass's ranch was only four miles away! The Padre (Andrew Duggan) knew that, and even told Josefa Velarde (Joan Collins) how to get there through the San Marcos Pass.Which brings up my next point - how would the sheriff of San Arriba be unaware of such a large ranch so close to his town? Or have never heard of the owner? Is it possible the sheriff never had to leave town during the execution of his duties? It didn't make sense to me.So as one point leads to another, the inconsistencies continue to pile up. Rio Arriba didn't strike me as a very big place, and the outside view of the local church offered a structure in keeping with the town's size. However once you got inside, it was as big and as ornate as a cathedral! On top of that, the church was packed for services in the middle of the week, and in a screen freeze of the choir I counted twenty eight boys singing! Where would they all have come from? I don't know, all of this stuff kept intruding on my paying attention to the story.Had all this stuff been dealt with a bit more carefully, I think the irony of Jim Douglass's mistake would have been a lot more thought provoking. As it is, I've never seen Lee Van Cleef grovel in a Western before, and to say that the gunning of Bill Zachary (Stephen Boyd) was one of the strangest looking showdowns I've ever seen in a Western is an understatement. The icing on the cake here was when the Indian Lujan (Henry Silva) managed to convince Douglass that he and his outlaw friends had nothing to do with the murder of his wife. When it finally dawned on Peck's character that the Butler did it, well that about did it for me too.So I guess this is one of those rare occasions where I liked the story while watching it, but upon reflection of what transpired I've managed to talk my way out of it. Well maybe not all the way. Like I mentioned earlier, I liked the way Gregory Peck carried himself in the story, and Joan Collins' character didn't irritate the way I thought she would. Now if I can only figure out what the title had to do with the picture.

This Western from 1958 is surprisingly not dated. The locations are beautiful. The story is good, believable and well paced. No crazy Western antics and over heroic things. The cast is top notch which should make you want to tune in. No crazy heroics or silly dialog.Gregory Peck plays a farmer whose wife was killed. He has been chasing after a bunch of outlaws who are about to be hung. But they escape with a hostage and he goes after them. Joan Collins plays an old flame and she is not out of place at all. Stephen Boyd plays one of the outlaws.There is a modern twist and moral. Better than many Westerns that came after it.Worth watching.

"Classic" is truly an accurate term for this strong script and powerful story presented by superlative actors and director and accompanied by one of the most dramatic and memorable scores of filmdom."The Bravados" has stuck in my mind since the first time I saw it, as a child, primarily for the score by Lionel Newman. His work here is one of the very best non-Elmer Bernstein scores. (Here is a sampler of Bernstein's music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6__oixvAak.)Gregory Peck is a given. To my knowledge, he never gave a bad performance, and, in fact, I can't even think of a bad movie he was in.Probably "cowboy" is not the first characterization one thinks of in connection to Mr. Peck, but he was a good one when he essayed a western role.Another actor, this time one in a role completely different from any other, is Joe DeRita, mostly known, of course, as "Curly Joe" in the Three Stooges.In fact, he is quite a fine actor. Watch "The Bravados" just to see him and you will be getting your money's worth.Other actors, playing sheriff, bad guys, deputies, and others, are all among the top players in films, even if only a very few of them became the household names they should have. Excellent, all of them.There is one directorial, or perhaps writing, flaw, one made often by Hollywood, as far back as its earliest days: A guard up on a hill is shot down by a bunch of galloping horsemen firing pistols. Pretty nearly impossible, in real life, but I guess it's a convention generally accepted -- except by me and by viewers really knowledgeable about firearms.Otherwise, the directing is, as one expects from Henry King, pretty much right on; and the writing, script by Philip Yordan from a novel by Frank O'Rourke, gives us something Hollywood so often elsewhere got wrong, the impact of religion.I was lucky enough to watch this at YouTube, in a pretty good print, except for some jerkiness, that was rudely interrupted by commercials!Still, otherwise it was free, and there is another version there that one must buy or rent and still another in a wrong format that makes it almost impossible to read the credits. If you go to YouTube, pick carefully, but do, somehow and somewhere, watch "The Bravados."

When Jim Douglas rides into the town of Rio Arriba he is told they don't want any strangers in town till after four criminals are hanged; he states that he has come to see them die and after surrendering his guns he enters town anyway. The sheriff asks him why he wants to see the men hang but receives no answer and when Douglas goes into the jail to see the men none of them recognise him. That night while the town is in church the men are broken out of jail and flee with a young woman as hostage; the sheriff is wounded so his deputy leads a posse after the escapees. In the morning Douglas joins the posse and they track the men as they head for the Mexican border. As they go Douglas manages to corner the bandits one by one and each time shows his captive a picture of a woman; they all claim not to have seen her but he doesn't believe them. Back in town a friend of his, who he hasn't seen for five years learns his story from the town priest; one day Douglas had returned home to find his wife had been raped and murdered; the gang had been identified by a neighbour and Douglas had been after them ever since. When Douglas finally corners the last of the escapees he learns a shocking truth; one that will affect him for the rest of his days.I've always associated Gregory Peck with the mild mannered lawyer Atticus Finch from 'To Kill a Mockingbird' so it came as a shock to see him playing a character hell bent on seeing four men die; perhaps it is that surprise that made his performance seem so powerful. While Peck's performance carried the film the supporting cast, which included Joan Collins and Lee Van Cleef, did a fine job. The story of a man seeking revenge might be one of the oldest but that doesn't mean it is always cliché; the ending added an excellent twist that I'm sure would have taken me totally by surprise if it hadn't been hinted at on the blurb on the back of the DVD case. With many classic westerns the setting is almost as important as the story and this is no exception; the locations are stunning in a way that makes the action believable. When I sat down to watch this I expected something fairly average but was gripped from start to finish; I'm surprised this film isn't better known as it is a fine example of the genre... if you like Westerns this is a must see.