Rating:  -
Robert Middleton was a big brutish character actor... We have seen him in "The Silver Chalice" opposite Paul Newman, in "Friendly Persuasion" opposite Gary Cooper, and in "Love Me Tender" with Elvis Presley...
In "The Proud Ones", he is at his best as the smooth-faced and smooth-spoken saloon owner who tries to have the lawman relieved of his job in order for the town to be wide open for wild business...
Middleton makes a considerable impression as Honest John Barrett, distinctive in his dishonesty and insincere manners... He is a thief ready for anything in order to control his lucrative interests, hiring cheap crooks like George Mathews (Dillon) who results a fraud according to his rules... We see him hiring dangerous gunmen willing to slay at any time like Chico (Rodolfo Acosta), who swears to the Marshal that he will kill him one day...
The film arouses profound suspicion that we are pushed to ask ourselves why a suspicious man like the Marshal had to shoot someone apparently unarmed from behind and can we justify his action?! ¿Is he, by any chance, a 'trigger-happy' murderer?
Jeffrey Hunter performs the mistaken cowboy involved in a sinful act to avenge his father's death with the wrong man... He never believes the rectitude of the Marshal who has a questionable past... Hunter accuses him of killing his father... 'It was either him or me', exclaims Ryan, 'but I never shot an unarmed man in my life.'
The climax of the film proves clearly and openly the whole truth to the tormented young man when he confronts Barrett in a showdown... The film wakes up our attention in its development when we discover that the proud Marshall is losing the power of seeing, a serious problem considered suicidal for a lawman who has powerful enemies...
With the lovely Virginia Mayo, the good jailer Brennan and the timid O'Connell, "The Proud Ones" is a solid Western, which remembers me a similar one, "The Lonely Man" with Jack Palance and Anthony Perkins...
Rating: -
the costumes were a bit too new and too fancy, the paint on the settings looked too new and too clean. a typical western storyline appeared maybe thousand times already but a pretty good one. the indoor lightings for all the scenes were too bright, strong and lack of depth, like watching a play on a stage. but still, a very good one.
Rating:  -
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment present "THE PROUD ONES" (1956) (94 mins Color), under director Robert Webb, produced by Robert L. Jacks, book author Verne Athanas, screenplay by Edmund H. North, Edward North and Joseph Petracca, musical direction by Lionel Newman . . . . .cast includes Robert Ryan (Marshal Cass Silver), Virginia Mayo (Sally), Jeffrey Hunter (Thad Anderson), Robert Middleton (Honest John Barrett), Walter Brennan (Jake, Jailer), Arthur O'Connell (Jim Dexter, Deputy), Rodopho (Rudy) Acosta (Chico), George Mathews (Dillon, Saloon Manager), Fay Roope (Markham), Edward Platt (Dr. Barlow), Whit Bissell (Mr. Bolton), Paul E. Burns (Billy Smith, Town Drunk), Richard Deacon (Barber), I. Stanford Jolley (Crooked Card Player), , , , ,our story has Robert Middleton making a lot of trouble for our hero Robert Ryan who is the Marshal of a small Kansas town...more trouble is coming when the trail herd cowboys arrive to gamble and possibly kill Ryan...can he depend upon Jeffrey Hunter for help or even the girl Virginia Mayo who knows Ryan is losing his sight and could be killed not caring...this builds to a climatic end with Jeffrey Hunter questioning if he should come to the aid of Ryan who killed his father years ago...don't touch that dial, you're about to find out!
Specal footnote, actor Robert Ryan (born Robert Bushnell Ryan on November 11, 1909, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American actor, imposing, ruggedly handsome lead who made his film debut in "Golden Gloves" (1940) and signed with RKO two years later...Ryan hit his stride in the late 1940s playing a string of psychopathic or hard-boiled types, the role that first put him on the map was as the anti-semitic killer in Edward Dmytryk's film-noir "Crossfire" (1947), and the over-the-hill pug in the classic boxing drama, "The Set-Up" (1949), directed by Robert Wise (which Ryan regarded as his favorite of all of his films) was practically dumped onto the market by RKO, though the studio soon found itself with an unexpected success when the film received good reviews, it was entered in the Cannes Film Festival, and it won the Best Picture award in the British Academy Award competition...from then on Ryan's speciality was tough/tender roles, finding particular expression in the films of celebrated directors such as Nicholas Ray, Robert Wise and Sam Fuller...on Ray's "On Dangerous Ground" (1951) he portrayed a burnt-out violent city-cop finding redemption whilst solving a rural murder. . other important films were Anthony Mann's western "The Naked Spur" (1953), Sam Fuller's uproarious Japanese set gangland thriller "House of Bamboo" (1955), "Bad Day at Black Rock" (1955), and the socially conscious heist-movie "Odds Against Tomorrow" (1959). He also appeared in several all-star war films, including "The Longest Day" (1962) and "Battle of the Bulge" (1965)...in his latter years, Ryan continued playing key roles in major films, most notable of these were "The Professionals" (1966), "The Dirty Dozen" (1967), and Sam Peckinpah's highly influential brutal western "The Wild Bunch" (1969), Ryan was memorable as William Holden's buddy-turned-nemesis, then came "Lawman" (1971), "The Iceman Cometh" (1973)...he married Jessica Cadwalader on March 11, 1939, and they remained married until her death from cancer in 1972; they had 3 children, Ryan died from lung cancer in New York City the following year at the age of 63.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
BIOS:
1. Robert Ryan (aka: Robert Bushnell Ryan)
Birth Date: 11/11/1909 - Chicago, Illinois
Died: 7/11/1973 - New York, New York
2. Virginia Mayo (aka: Virginia Clara Jones)
Birth Date: 11/30/1920 - St. Louis, Missouri
Died: 1/17/2005 - Thousand Oaks, California
3. Jeffrey Hunter (aka: Henry Herman McKinnies Jr)
Birth Date: 11/25/1926 - New Orleans, Louisiana
Died: 5/27/1969 - Los Angeles, California
4. Robert Middleton (aka: Samuel Messer)
Birth Date: 5/13/1911 - Cincinnati, Ohio
Died: 6/14/1977 - Hollywood, California
5. Robert D. Webb (Director)
Birth Date: 1/08/1903 - Kentucky
Died: 4/18/1990 - Orange County, California
Want to thank 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment for releasing "The Proud Ones" (1956), the digital transfere with a clean, clear and crisp print...looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage era of the '40s & '50s...order your copy now from Amazon or 20th Century Fox Entertainment where there are plenty of copies available, stay tuned onceagain for top notch wonderful character actors of the cinema brought back so many wonderful memories of the times when film makers cared about you who purchased a ticket and came back for more...just the way we like 'em.
Total Time: 94 mins on DVD ~ 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment #2233901 ~ (5/23/2006)
Rating: -
First of all, the director Mr. Robert D. Webb was quite at home with westerns so he delivers the job. ("White Feather" in DVD is still one of my unfulfilled dreams!). As for Robert Ryan (he does great here!) and Mayo (a girl with a past!) they're the perfect match for a romantic and mature affair.
Well, since this one was released in 1956, one can't avoid to notice some "coincidences" or maybe "clichés" regarding other famous western movies:
1. From "High Noon" (1952) - consider the main idea - a marshall alone to face hired killers. Arthur O'Conell/Lloyd Brigdes play similar roles, denying help at first but reconsidering later. Remember that a kid was the first and only to offer help to Cooper/ Will Kane.
2. And what to say about Howard Hawks' "Rio Bravo" (1959). The same conflict. The only help comes from an ex-bad girl in a hotel (Feathers/Angie Dicknson), the jail keeper - the same and good old Walter Brennan and the extra hired helper, Colorado (Ricky Nelson) who also brings girl's eyecandy - as Jeffrey Hunter does - they even dress alike. Only Jeff was more familiar to the gender.
About Jeffrey Hunter, being a fan, I've watched many of his movies and I think he didn't do so well while playing such a divided character as Thad Anderson. When he grabs Mayo at the hotel room, he's totally not himself and very far from the gentlemen type, unreproachable person he was (and that won him the part of Christ in KOK). He pushed too much and that particular scene results so unnatural. On the other hand, there's no doubt that his unic presence on screen adds a plus to this - at the time - B Western. Nowadays, however, this might be one of the best re-releases from the last two or three years.
3. In Rio Bravo the bad guy's name was Burdett and here we have a saloon owner named Barrett.
4. Let's not forget the city drunks Paul E. Burns/ Dean Martin. If you compare you'll find more resemblances. But the point is that "The Proud Ones" is from 1956 while "Rio Bravo" was a release from 1959.
Oh, yeah, someone said Richard Widmark and Jeff had already played the same roles or similar characters in "The Red Skies Of Montana" (1952).
To sum up, who cares about originals when we have all these amazing actors, CINEMASCOPE and great colors to amuse us. Buy all those DVDs, watch as many times as you can and enjoy yourselves while you find out which one was the best performance.
Still to say: there isn't a single bat, spider, mummy, +fast or +whatever to beat films like the mentioned above. Not even with all the gd d"effects" in the world!
Rating: -
Big screen western with good cast and interesting story line. Lawman Ryan is nicked in a gun fight and starts to have vision problems that inhibits his ability to deal with the bad guys. He has to rely on the son of a man he killed in a questionable gunfight in his past to aid him when the going gets tough. Robert Ryan is fine as the town lawman, and Jeffrey Hunter gives an adequate pre Searchers performance as the offspring of the man Ryan killed. The great Walter Brennan is all but waisted in a small role as deputy as is Arthur O'Connel. Villan Robert Middleton as always, is smooth and greasy and provides the worthy evil advisary whom Ryan has had past run ins with. All in all, not a classic, but an intersting and satisfyingly entertaining western film footnote. I'd rate as 3.5 stars but will round up in deference to the release of the film on DVD.
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