The Broken Star (1956)

Best movie of this year hands down!

One of my all time favorites.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

SYNOPSIS: A marshal is unconvinced that his deputy killed a man in self-defense. He asks another deputy to investigate.COMMENT: Excellent. There's no reason why a conventional western should not also incorporate a murder mystery, so full credit must be given to the taut, well-characterized script provided by John C. Higgins (author of T-Men). True, Lesley Selander's direction is a cut or two above his usual capable (though hardly major league) standard, whilst William Margulies has lensed some striking location photography. Paul Dunlap too has also risen to the occasion with a powerful background score. What will interest the fans is that the action sequences are vigorously staged. Bill Williams even seems to be slugging and fighting without use of a double. The rest of the players, led by Howard Duff are nothing if not thoroughly convincing.

Lesley Selander knew how to make a precise, no frills, western. Here, there is something different from the "run of the mill" b movie, the main character is the bad guy, Frank Smead (Howard Duff), the Deputy Marshal. He kills a man to get 8000 dollars,and tries to come out with a good story , pleading self-defense. Contrary to most westerns of this type, (where the hero is an outlaw) the spectator's sympathies do not go to Smead, but to whoever is going to uncover his malignant plot. There is Nachez (Joe Dominguez), a witness, who can not tell what he saw because he does not speak English, Conchita the sexy girl who sings "I hate you" ,with a whip, in the "cantina", played by Lita Baron (was married to Rory Calhoun). There is also the big shot, W.C. 'Doc' Mott, Coroner, (William 'Bill' Phillips) who threatens Smead while orienting a square dance. Besides having an unusual plot, there are good action scenes, which make this an entertaining western.

An obvious western version of a story that was done twice in 1954 (as SHIELD FOR MURDER and PRIVATE HELL 36--with Howard Duff!) where a good lawman goes into business for himself.This has all the elements: ruthless crime boss, two hired goons, a blackmailer, desperate escape and even a sultry chanteuse singing in a nightclub -er- saloon. Duff's playing is typically stoic, but this adds a bit to his bluff, duplicitous character (the kind Fred MacMurray used to play in DOUBLE INDEMNITY and PUSHOVER)and the rest of the cast does quite well under Selander's assured (well it certainly should be assured by this time!) direction. I particularly liked Douyglas Fowley as the crooked blackmailer. The scene where he and Duff negotiate -- each obviously planning a double-cross -- has a fine, greasy tension to it.

It could be I'm overdosing on movie Westerns, this one just didn't seem to have any life to it at all. Maybe it was Howard Duff in the lead role, not your usual Western hero. Or maybe the story was just too lackluster. There did seem to be an attempt made at introducing forensics into the solution of a murder committed by Duff's character, Deputy Frank Smeed, in the opening part of the story. The coroner says the fatal shot was fired from an angle looking down on the victim, while Smeed's description of his 'self defense' position was from the ground looking up. That's as far as it went though, as no trial was going to make it into the picture.The positives here really have nothing to do with the main story. Lita Baron shows up as a singing cantina senorita with a whip! as part of her performance, making me believe she might have made it past the first round on American Idol. Then there's that wild saloon brawl between Deputy Gentry (Bill Williams) against the two henchmen Messendyke (Joel Ashley) and Van Horn (John Pickard). Fairly well choreographed and energetic, it could be a top ten contender.What it boils down to is Frank Smeed symbolizing the broken star, a corrupt lawman who tries to take the money and run. It's eight thousand dollars in gold, but the owner will spend ten times that to get it back. This isn't likely to turn out well for Howard Duff, translating Spanish badly and running out of luck at Lost Doggy Creek. Better stick with the cop shows.