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Anyone else but Richard Widmark, and BACKLASH might have been a forgettable, hollow mystery set in the old West. As it is, Widmark and a dark-tressed, feisty Donna Reed give this slight tale some real impact as two people searching for lost loved ones, Reed her husband and Widmark his father. The two missing men may have been among a group that amassed a small fortune in gold, then massacred by Apaches. The truths Widmark and Reed must face by the climax are tough to take, but these two prove tougher than they might at first appear. Getting to the truth ends up with the two of them caught in the middle of a range war between two ranches. John McIntire also does a nice turn as the supremely evil head of one of the warring ranches. Great outdoor photography lends the film an air of authenticity it might have missed on a studio sound stage or back lot. John Sturges directed.

Donna Reed comes upon Richard Widmark at a place called Gila Valley where five men were massacred by Indians and one man escaped with $60,000.00. Three of the five men were identified, but none of the deceased is either Widmark's father or Reed's husband. Of course both are hunting for their respective relations.

The search yields some truths that neither one is willing to face up to. But both seek and find support and comfort in the other.

Backlash as a previous reviewer remarked is almost like a detective story set in the west. John Sturges gets some find performances out of his cast.

The two who stand out and steal the film from the stars are William Campbell as a punk gunfighter and John McIntire as the amoral outlaw leader in whose hands Widmark and Reed fall into at the end of their odyssey.

No studio backlots for this western, good location photography and a very nice plot distinguish this film. Catch it the next time AMC runs it.

Backlash (1956) is directed by John Sturges and adapted by Borden Chase from the novel written by Frank Gruber. It stars Richard Widmark, Donna Reed, John McIntire & William Campbell. It's shot in Technicolor by Irving Glassberg on location in Tuscon, Arizona.

1870 Arizona, and Jim Slater (Widmark) is searching for the truth about what happened to his father during the Apache ambush at Gila Valley. This brings him into contact with strong willed Karyl Orton (Reed), who courtesy of her missing husband also has an interest in the events of that raid. Missing family members and missing gold, the can is now open and worms are pouring out every where.

It's about the writing and the characters here. From the off it should be known that this is no high octane actioner. We are dealing in a mystery, with what amounts to a detective story played out in a Western theme. It's a touch unusual but never less than interesting as Chases' unconventional script gives birth to a myriad of characters, some complex, others just stock genre story fleshers. There's some clichés spliced within the piece, but they are off set by some nice twists in the story. And while this is no Anthony Mann/Borden Chase psychologically tinted production, it doesn't cop out with its big decisions. Glassberg's cinematography is first class, really vibrant and bursting out from the screen as they nicely film it on location of where the story is set. The cast is real strong. Widmark is excellent as the tough as nails hero and Reed looks stunning whilst neatly essaying a prickly femme fatale type. McIntire gives another classy supporting turn and Campbell is enjoyably OTT as hothead gunslinger Johnny Cool.

The principals have all done far better work in the genre, but this is a nice change of pace for all of them. It's unlikely to raise the pulses of the action seeking fan, but for those of a more literary persuasion this should hit the spot. 7/10

Where does Donna Reed keep the many beautiful dresses she wears? She travels on horse-back...

I would like to submit the fact that Donna Reed never wore a dress in the movie Backlash. As a matter of fact in the early part of the movie she was in slightly tight trousers and for the remainder of the movie she was in culottes.

She did use her blouse to dress Richard Widmark's wound earlier and one must wonder where she got a blouse to wear for the rest of the movie. But, who's counting.

But that doesn't matter with regard to the above comment as Donna Reed was an extremely beautiful woman who always acted to the extent that was required of her. She did so very well in this movie even though she only contributed a blouse from her saddle bag to dress Richard Widmarks wound.

Was the scene where she dressed Widmark's wound believable? No, of course not. Was it sexy, yes very much so. Was its sexiness out of order for the fifties? Of course not.

You put the beautiful Donna Reed in a movie and leave out her sexiness and you have committed the most grievous of sins.

It was a good movie.

Doufus

Given the pedigree of its makers--director John Sturges, producer Aaron Rosenberg, screenwriter Borden Chase and novelist Frank Gruber--one would have expected BACKLASH to be a bit grander in scale and offer more memorable action scenes. Instead, it's a more intimate tale, executed like a crime drama with the emphasis on investigation and unfolding of secrets. Richard Widmark plays Jim Slater, a Texan looking to uncover information about his father's death, particularly the identity of the man who left his father and four other men to die at the hands of an Apache war party in a remote place called Gila Valley. The missing sixth man left with $60,000 in gold, ostensibly from a mine, which means that relatives of the other dead men, including a pretty widow and the notorious Welker brothers, are gunning for the same man, but with an eye towards retrieving the gold. Eventually, Slater finds his man, only to learn a shocking secret he wasn't prepared for, propelling the drama to a whole new stage and a violent confrontation with oedipal overtones.

Much of the film is spent simply tracking down people who may or may not have known the dead men or the elusive sixth man. The final section, where all the questions are answered and all the unresolved familial issues addressed, is the most exciting part of the film and well worth the buildup. Ultimately, however, it's still essentially a contrived Hollywood melodrama punched up with expert scenes of violence. As such, it pales next to other works by the same creators, most notably the trio of Anthony Mann-directed westerns produced by Rosenberg and written by Chase, WINCHESTER '73, BEND OF THE RIVER and THE FAR COUNTRY, which placed their heroes in far more complex moral dilemmas.

Nonetheless, BACKLASH is blessed with a great cast of tough guys acting hard and drawing guns at the drop of a chair. William Campbell practically steals the show as hotshot young fast-draw Johnny Cool, looking sharp in a black hat, waist-length black leather jacket and red neckscarf. Harry Morgan and Robert J. Wilke, old hands at this kind of thing, play the ill-fated Welker brothers who have a propensity for forcing the widow, played by Donna Reed, to sit down and have whiskey with them. Onetime gangster heavy Barton MacLane appears in a sympathetic role as a grizzled army sergeant whom Widmark seeks information from and winds up assisting in a fight with Apaches. Roy Roberts turns up as a powerful rancher seeking to wage a defensive range war against the mysterious Frank Bonniwell who turned up out of the blue with $60,000 to buy up land and equipment only to start rustling other ranchers' cattle. John McIntire plays Bonniwell, adding to the actor's rogues' gallery of memorable bad guys (see also WINCHESTER '73 and THE FAR COUNTRY). Donna Reed is quite good as the opportunistic widow who can't quite determine if she's more loyal to Slater or the gold.

Trivia Note: William Campbell's character name, Johnny Cool, was the name of a 1963 crime thriller starring Henry Silva as the title character. Silva had earlier appeared in another tough 1950s western, THE TALL T (1957), in which Skip Homeier played an outlaw character named Billy Jack, which was later the name of a 1971 counterculture hit starring Tom Laughlin.