MissGoddess wrote:klondike wrote:Wow, I nearly forgot -
Chuck Connors, as the cruel, lurking, nasty, brutal, rapacious Buck Hannassey in
The Big Country!
(Or was it the Far Country?
- Nope, nope, wait, I'm
sure it was
The Big Country, cause it co-starred Burl Ives & Charles Bickford, 'stead of Walter Brennan & John McIntyre.)
Whew,
nearly had myself a "senior moment" there!
I find it so cool that a guy who could play the most upright, stalwart and loving father all those years on "The Rifleman" could be so convincing as the most snivelling, cowardly dastard in
The Big Country!
Well, if you want a "different"
Chuck Connors, please read on...The mention of heroes playing bad guys and your recollections of such reminded me of a movie called
Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966) that I saw one night last week, (thank goodness for insomnia, eh?) Directed by
Bernard McEveety (a longtime
Gunsmoke director), it stars
Chuck Connors as a buffalo hunter who leaves his upper crust bride (
Kathryn Hays, whose sweet beauty belies her character's rage) to earn his fortune before returning to her. On his way back to her a long time later, he is waylaid by a group who, thinking he is a thief, take his money, and, thinking themselves fine fellows for not hanging the man, proceed to brand and beat him. No, I'm not kidding, Chuck was "branded" at two different career points. Long story short, he awakens, realizes what has happened to him and returns to wreak his revenge on his enemies.
Connors is appealing, horrifically violent, and bitterly sad, but gives a performance that most actors could only dream of having a crack at during an average career.
Chuck when his character returns from the dead to his hometown.
The rest of the cast is unbelievably good too:
Gary Merrill plays his father,
Joan Blondell is a local busybody commenting on everything,
Paul Fix shows up without his teeth to do a great turn as a codger trying to nurse some pepper plants along in the unforgiving desert, and
Michael Rennie pops up as a banker with eyes for
Hays, (and a lot of secrets to hide). The top honors for the supporting cast, who, for once in their lives have truly meaty, flamboyant roles are
Bill Bixby (who is unbelievably good in a scary way),
Claude Akins as a sympathetic psycho who has an imaginary friend he talks to all day, and
Frank Gorshin, who has a fantastic scene of exposition that might have been a career making cameo a few decades earlier.
Now, a few caveats: this movie is
very violent. It's not the blood gushing kind of realistic violence, but it's almost nonstop and always so wild that you can't believe where the movie is going next. The budget was said to be under $400k and the shooting schedule was under a month. The sets are obviously something from a studio backlot, but the acting is so intensely vivid by everyone that it almost overrides the lack of production values. It has an interesting framing device for the story showing
James "Dan-o"
MacArthur in the present as a census taker visiting the town of Coldiron and interviewing barkeep
Arthur O'Connell about the background of the town and its people.
Maybe not a great movie, perhaps not everyone's cup of tea, (I don't usually like any violence, but this film drew me in inexorably), but absolutely fascinating. It is on dvd and is on the
Encore Western Channel this month at the times shown below in the Eastern Time zone. I hope that anyone who's seen this film will let me know their thoughts.
Sunday, April 13 9:15pm
Monday, April 14 3:30am
Friday, April 18 1:10am & 1:50pm
Monday, April 21 2:45pm