The Proud Ones

A slightly above Average Fifties Western with Robert Ryan, Technicolor, and Cinemascope the main reasons to catch this rather uninvolving misfire. Things come alive now and then that propel the dreariness and flat handedness to an interesting level. For example, when the Marshall lectures the Town Counsel and says..."you'd sell out for a copper penny, with your $40 Boots and your $12 Hotel Rooms...I couldn't look in the mirror without vomiting". The Movie breaks toward the edge a few times with some taut gun-play and suspicious motives, but it also lingers and has some very uninspired moments. The target practice piece and some other wasted Screen time with the Love Interest, a Family Man, and Walter Brennan who just sort of sits around. The Script is also not very convincing with its Back Story, but this is worth a view if nothing much to make it stand out among its Betters. But is a notch above a Western Programmer or the plethora of others from the Decade that are much worse.

Another great performance by the vastly underrated Robert Ryan. The entire film has a nuanced and adult tone, completely lacking from Rio Bravo, which seems to be a rip-off by Hawks. This film belongs in the company of High Noon, The Ox-bow Incident and damn few other Westerns for the intelligence and seriousness of the script. Ryan's performance alone makes this film watchable and undated, 50 years after. How many other films can say that? Also worth mentioning are the performances of Virginia Mayo as a hard headed business woman, and Walter Brennan. Brennan with hardly any lines of dialog, manages to do more with a newspaper for a prop, and with looks between him and Ryan, then most actors can do when they're chewing the scenery.

A good western with all the ingredients for us to savor plus Robert Ryan? Horses, shootings, bar scenes, whiskey, marshalling, love interest and more await the lover of the western ways. Add to this a good story well told and directed. Take note in this film how devoted the Marshall is and how greedy the towns-folk are. In those days if the law didn't take a stand then lawlessness had its way. Its one or the other and this comes through here. On greed, it attracts its own kind plus it brings its own problems for money made through greed always has a catch to it. The acting holds well, the director loves his work and so much so that your emotions will be stirred and to the viewer what more can you want? Have a decent snack of your choice plus a tasty drink handy and don't rule out beef jerky if you really want to capture the times. Enough talk...saddle up and lets ride

My brother gave me this movie for Christmas because he knows I love Robert Ryan. There's just something about middle-aged character actors from the "golden age" of Hollywood that appeals to me; they're so cool and tough in ways that modern actors just can't match. And this movie did not disappoint me. Ryan is great in it. He's macho and wise but also vulnerable. There were times when I was genuinely worried that the bad guys would get the upper hand over him. In fact, quite a lot of this movie is suspenseful. It has many unexpected twists, not only in terms of "surprise" action but also character development. The constantly evolving relationship between Ryan and Jeffrey Hunter is a particular source of interest. Even the mandatory love interest - Virginia Mayo - gets a lot of solid character development, though she does disappear from the movie for somewhat long periods of time. Best scene? When Ryan rips into the cowardly town council. It's simply awesome.