Day of the Outlaw (1959)

Let's be realistic.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

An Andre de Toth western. Not my favorite. I've never appreciated Robert Ryan as an actor. Too somber, lacking in emotion, especially in westerns, for me. Burl Ives' character is very similar to that of Rufus Hannassey, in "The Big Country"', released the previous year. He treats his motley crew of desperados just like he treats his adult sons in the prior film. He functioned as their collective conscience and disciplinarian. One reviewer wondered what hold Ives had over his gang that made them stick with him and submit to his pronouncements. It would be nice if we had an inkling of how he accumulated this gang: all at once or individually. What they all wanted was a fair share in the $40,000. in gold from a stolen army payroll. It's not clear why several or all of his gang didn't demand dividing the gold at this point and perhaps scattering to make tracing them more difficult. It wasn't clear where the badly wounded Ives was leading his gang, other than away from the distantly pursuing cavalry. It was in the interest of the people in the small settlement his gang took over to do what they could(an operation by a veterinarian!) to try to prolong his life at least until he decided to leave, and give the people back their town. If he died before they left, the others clearly would have gone wild, since they had all the guns. We saw how wild they acted with the women during the organized dance, sometimes trying to force a kiss or hug, even with Ives watching.......I don't understand some things in the last part of the trek by the gang plus Robert Ryan through the snow, over a mountain, to hopefully throw off their pursuers. As predicted, Ives succumbed during this trek, leaving the others free to decide what to do. They don't want Ryan to die, ,because he's the only one familiar with this route. The number in the party gradually dissipates until only 2 gang members are still with Ryan. They stop for a while. Ryan distances himself and mounts his horse as if he's going to ride away. One shoots his horse, which falls down. Later, Ryan mounts another horse and starts back where they came from. One gang member picks up his rifle and aims at Ryan, as he passes by. But he holds his shot, then falters and collapses on the snow! He wasn't wounded, so I assume he passed out from exhaustion. Strangely, the other gang member didn't try to stop or join Ryan. What happened to the 2 pack horses that had previously turned around to go back where they came from? What happened to the gold? Was it mainly in saddlebags, or were the pack animals carrying it? When Ryan returns to the settlement, he finds that gang member Nelson, the mildest mannered one, had somehow walked through the deep snow all the way back to the settlement, after his horse had keeled over. Amazing! Was Ryan now prepared to renew his feud with sodbuster Hal Crane over putting up barbed wire fencing? Their duel in the saloon was interrupted by the arrival of Ives' gang......At one point, Ryan told Hal's wife that he felt he was no different than the gang members, only they didn't pretend to be anything else. Was Ryan's suggestion that the gang take this perilous route across the mountain a veiled suicide mission? See it at YouTube

This movie has a common plot. Man goes away to take care of business and comes back home to find the townspeople he helped look at him as the enemy. Basically a bunch of turnips. But this movie was not anywhere common as most of these coming home movies are.Excellent movie. This is a great example on how a good movie can be made without being over exaggerated when violence is a crucial part of the story. The way Robert Ryan took care of the bandits means that some one actually took time to think out of the box and not have the usual solution for these types of movies. I won't say what happens but it was a genius plan. The whole cast was excellent include David Nelson. Frank DeKova was no Chief Iron Eagle on F Troop. IMO Robert Ryan can do no wrong. I want to add Burl Ives was in this movie as the head of the bandits. People think of him and they think he is some type of children movie actor. Not the case Burl Ives IMO was one of the greatest character actors around and he usually played a not too nice of a person.

There's a fine off-beat (b/w) western hiding behind that generic title. In a small snowed-in outpost town, a land dispute between self-appointed lawmaker Robert Ryan and other residents is interrupted by the arrival of runaway cavalry soldiers and gold thieves (led by Burt Ives, who's very good, as is the whole cast). It's more psychological than action-packed, and never quite plays out the way you'd expect. Based on a novel by Lee Wells. With Tina Louise, Venetia Stevenson, Nehemiah Persoff, Elisha Cook Jr. (barely in it as a barber), Jack Lambert, Lance Fuller, Frank De Kova, Dabbs Greer, William Schallert, Betsy Jones-Moreland (LAST WOMAN ON EARTH), Arthur Space and Robert Cornthwaite. It would make a good bleak winter western double-bill with THE GREAT SILENCE. Yordan wrote that other notably weird western JOHNNY GUITAR, among others.Movie reviews at: spinegrinderweb.com

This excellent western has a very dark mood from beginning to end, you can call it a white noir film because of the ever present snow. Robert Ryan is Blaise Starrett, a man who wants open range and is going to kill Hal Crane, the husband of Helen (Tina Louise), because of barbed wire. When Jack Bruhn(Burl Ives) shows up with his gang, everything changes and they become prisoners in their own town. There is tremendous, violent impact in a scene where the women are obliged to dance with members of the gang. The situation becomes unbearable and Ryan will find a way out that might seem unreasonable at first, but when exposed by him to Bruhn will make a lot of sense. Andre De Toth directed many good westerns with Randolph Scott, but nothing compared to this one. Great cinematography in black and white by Russel Harlan, who also did The Last Hunt( there is something common in them). Good performances by David Nelson and Venetia Stevenson, both popular with teenagers of those times. A film not to be missed.