Man Without a Star (1955)

Touches You

Thanks for the memories!

Memorable, crazy movie

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

I found this one on TCM. I had never heard of this particular western, but because of the presence of Kirk Douglas, put it on my DVR, not expecting anything more than a run-of-the-mill western. What a surprise! This is simply top-notch in all respects, acting, writing, direction, cinemaography. The main asset is Kirk Douglas, whose tour-de-force performance here reminds us of just what a truly great actor he was. He plays the role for drama, but there ae touches of comedy as well. The theme of the movie - the conflict between open-range grazing and fenced spreads - is historically significant and well realized here. At no point does the dramatic tension lag; the movie keeps you involved from beginning to end. My only complaint is the execrable habit of westerns of this period incorporating the infamous solo song over the opening and closing credits. If you can make it through listening to Frankie Valli, the movie is well worth watching.

Occasionally, things come up in a movie that you've never really thought about. Today, it was the introduction of barbed wire. It is a common sight in the countryside now and yet there possibly were arguments, fights and even killing when it was first introduced. I rarely ever see Kirk Douglas in a movie that I didn't enjoy. He is extremely watchable as the easy-going, banjo playing, drifter who takes the young Tony Curtis lookalike, William Campbell under his wing. Despite a couple of dodgy editing moments, this is easy viewing stuff and although a hard edge is simmering just below the surface, it is an enjoyable watch that frequently left me with a smile on my face.

Consistently shown these days on AMC, I managed to catch "Man Without A Star" this morning. Without knowing anything about the story, one might think it had something to do about a lawman without a badge, but here the title is used figuratively, and makes sense when cowpoke Dempsey Rae (Kirk Douglas) teaches his sidekick, Texas Jeff (William Campbell), on finding his way by following an evening star. In that regard, the 'man without a star' in the story would have been the direction-less Jeff Jimson, as Dempsey Rae always knew where he was going, even if conflicted about it.Douglas seems to be having a genuinely good time here, strutting his stuff on banjo much like he did in his film from a year earlier, "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea". Seeing it on TV, I didn't have the opportunity to pause and rewind, but it looked like Douglas finished playing his first song about a half click before the music stopped. I can still give him credit for his singing voice though.The story itself is a fairly typical open range tale that turns deadly once barb wire enters the picture - "When wire comes in, there's fightin' and killin'." A little more thought could have gone into developing Dempsey's stand on the issue; at first we're convinced he's dead against it, then he's putting up a fence in defiance of former boss Reed Bowman (Jeanne Crain). By the end of the story, he's heading into a further fence-less West, leaving behind Bowman, Texas Kid, and Madame Idonee (Claire Trevor). In hindsight, I would like to have seen more of Trevor in the story, maybe brawling it out with Bowman the way Dempsey and hell raiser Steve Miles ( Richard Boone) did, wouldn't that have been something?I liked director King Vidor's subtle humorous bits in the story, notably the running gag about a bathroom 'in the house', and Kirk Douglas combing his hair with the help of a goldfish bowl. And say, have you ever seen the Kirk Douglas dimple more pronounced than it is here?

MAN WITHOUT A STAR has to be one film the former Issur Danielovitch must surely wish he could erase from his resume. Douglas plays a ne'er-do-well ranch hand who ends up switching sides during a range war among two big cattle ranches. Jeanne Crain is the boss lady of the ranch he starts out on, and you can almost feel the beginnings of THE BIG VALLEY in this largely awful Western from the 1950s. Outfitted in stylish, form-fitting shirts, Douglas is simply terrible as the conflicted cowpoke. Talk about miscasting. Crain isn't bad as the boss lady, but she's no Barbara Stanwyck. A veritable army of familiar supporting players including Jay C. Flippen can barely keep this turkey afloat. The script stinks, the direction is aimless, the cinematography is wasted. If this was the kind of movie intended to keep viewers away from their TVs, I can't imagine it succeeded in doing so -- even though I understand it was a box office hit in its time.