The Violent Men *** (1955, Glenn Ford, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G Robinson, Brian Keith, Dianne Foster) – Classic Movie Review 9832

The 1955 Western film The Violent Men stars Glenn Ford as John Parrish, a Union officer who returns from the Civil War a pacifist, but is stirred into violent action by ruthless Lew Wilkison (Edward G Robinson).

Director Rudolph Maté’s 1955 Western film The Violent Men [Rough Company] stars Edward G Robinson, who takes centre stage as Lew Wilkison, an unscrupulous, disabled cattle man without principles, who starts using violence to force ranchers out of the neighbouring valley.

Barbara Stanwyck plays his grasping wife, Martha Wilkison, in love with his brother Cole Wilkison (Brian Keith), whose liaison sickens their daughter Judith Wilkison (Dianne Foster). Glenn Ford plays John Parrish, an ex-Civil War Union officer who returns from the Civil War a pacifist, but is stirred into action by Lew Wilkison (Robinson)’s ruthlessness.

It looks like the perfect recipe for a superior, large-scale Technicolor, CinemaScope Western, but the story has been seen often before and sometimes to greater advantage, and Columbia Pictures’s B-movie-style production damps its impact. Though there are plenty of dramatic highlights, these big moments are interspersed with as many dull patches.

The routine results, though always entirely adequate as entertainment, let down the fine stars from whom something extra special is expected. Still, it is worthwhile for these four stars working at near their peak (especially the essential Robinson and Stanwyck), plus Richard Jaeckel in support as a bad guy called Wade Matlock, as well as for Burnett Guffey and W Howard Greene’s cinematography, the Arizona and movie ranch filming, and Max Steiner’s score.

Also in the cast are May Wynn, Warner Anderson, Basil Ruysdael, Richard Jaeckel, Willis Bouchey, James Westerfield, Lita Milan, Jack Kelly, Harry Shannon, James Anderson, Carl Andre, Robert Bice, Edmund Cobb, Frank Ferguson, Raymond Greenleaf, John Halloran, Peter Hansen, Don C Harvey, Thomas Browne Henry, Ethan Laidlaw, Kenneth Patterson, William Phipps, Katherine Warren, Walter Brewer and Robo Bechi.

The Violent Men was released on 26 January 1955.

The screenplay by Harry Kleiner is based on the novel Smoky Valley (aka Rough Company) by Donald Hamilton. Smoky Valley was first published in Collier’s magazine as a serial from December 1953 to January 1954. It was published in paperback by Dell in the US in 1954, and by Allan Wingate in 1954 in the UK in hardcover as Rough Company.

American author Donald Hamilton (1916-2006) created the fictional character of US government counter-agent Matt Helm, who appeared in 27 adventure/ suspense novels by Hamilton, first published in 1960.

Dean Martin as played Helm in The Silencers (1966), Murderers’ Row (1966), The Ambushers (1967) and The Wrecking Crew (1969).

Film adaptations of Hamilton’s work also include 5 Steps to Danger (1957), based on his 1948 novel The Steel Mirror, and The Big Country (1958).

The cast are Glenn Ford as John Parrish, Barbara Stanwyck as Martha Wilkison, Edward G Robinson as Lew Wilkison, Dianne Foster as Judith Wilkison, Brian Keith as Cole Wilkison, May Wynn as Caroline Vail, Warner Anderson as Jim McCloud, Basil Ruysdael as Tex Hinkleman, Lita Milan as Elena, Richard Jaeckel as Wade Matlock, James Westerfield as Sheriff Magruder, Jack Kelly as DeRosa, Willis Bouchey as Sheriff Martin Kenner, Harry Shannon as Purdue, James Anderson, Carl Andre, Robert Bice, Edmund Cobb, Frank Ferguson, Raymond Greenleaf, John Halloran, Peter Hansen, Don C Harvey, Thomas Browne Henry, Ethan Laidlaw, Kenneth Patterson, William Phipps, Katherine Warren, Walter Brewer and Robo Bechi.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9832

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com