Der Tag der Abrechnung

This may well be the best role Chuck Connors ever had outside of his regular TV series work. A griping tale of a man who leaves his wife to go off and make a fortune for her only to return 10 years later. A return that is met with rejection by the woman he left behind and a brutal beating and robbing that leaves the man branded as a thief. An action that sets him down a road of vengeance against the three men who robbed him and sets the entire town on edge. With excellent performances by Bill Bixby, Michael Rennie, Kathryn Hayes and Claude Adkins as a borderline psychotic who talks to his invisible friend "Whiskey Man." This one is definitely worth catching and of late has appeared many times on the Westerns Channel where it is shown uncut and without commercial interruption which helps to add even more to the movement of the story. A film filled with many great actors who are all sadly either gone or no longer practicing their craft today. All of whom give the viewer some of their best performances ever. As for during the 60s when this was made, it would have definitely had an audience in those drive-in theaters of yesterday. An excellent one all around.

"Ride Beyond Vengeance" is more than a typical western. Although produced on a low budget by television producers Mark Goodson And Bill Toddman ("The Price is Right") and featuring several names mostly familiar to TV audiences, it has a dynamic, if pessimistic script more concerned with character development than standard action--not that the film lacks action or violence.

Cowboy Jonas Trapp (Chuck Connors of "Rifleman" fame) falls in love with the beautiful Jessie (Kathryn Hays), very appealing in her first film, a wealthy girl out of his humble class. Against the wishes of her snobbish aunt (Ruth Warrick), she marries him, later faking a pregnancy to win her aunt's consent. But Jonas tires of living off of his wife's family, and eventually deserts her to become a buffalo hunter. 11 years later, with his self-made fortune, he sets out to return home, only to be set upon by three sadistic marauders, Michael Rennie, Bill Bixby and Claude Akins, who steal his money and leave him for dead. Rescued by a farmer (Paul Fix, Connors' "Rifleman" co-star) who nurses him back to health, Jonas becomes consumed by the desire for revenge. As fate would have it, all three men live close to Jonas' former home. Matters quickly get worse when Jonas reunites with his wife, only to discover that she is now engaged to Rennie.

Made on a three week schedule on an obvious sound-stage, "Ride Beyond Vengeance" succeeds in transcending it's shortcomings by the powerful acting of a first-rate cast. Connors gives his best performance, and he is well (if briefly) supported by Joan Blondell (as a gossipy townswoman), Gloria Grahame (a cheating wife having an affair with Bixby), Gary Merrill as Jonas' foster father, Frank Gorshin as an arrogant ranch hand, and Buddy Baer as a Bouncer. Buried way down the cast list is young starlet Marrisa Mathes, who is sympathetic and real as the grieving girlfriend of Bixby who reaches out to Jonas. But, next to Connors, the film belongs to Bixby, as a sadomasochistic dandy. James MaCarthur and Arthur O'Connell appear in a present day prologue to set the scene and narrate the story. The screenplay is based on Al Dewlen's novel, "The Night of the Tiger" and spends considerable time fleshing out the characters. Of course, violence rears it's ugly head here and there, but not so much as to put off the viewer. (It did, however, put off critics when it was released back in 1966) but it went on to garner a massive audience when it had its television premiere. Today, it seems better than it was initially given credit for, and remains well worth seeing. A widescreen DVD release is due out in December. It's about time!

This is a great little movie, with everything from a double-flashback story line to the contemporary prologue and epilogue. Chuck Connors gives his best performance, as the hard-bitten buffalo hunter, whom abandoned his new bride (Kathryn Hays) to make a fortune for her. On his return, he is robbed by a band of thugs (Claude Akins, Bill Bixby and Paul Fix). They rob him, beat him, and brand him! Connors spends the rest of the film obtaining justice, both from the thugs and from the woman he left behind.

The real acting kudos in this movie belong to Kathryn Hays, Gloria Grahame, Claude Akins and, most of all, Bill Bixby. Kathryn Hays sweet face belies the rage she feels at having been abandoned by Connors. Gloria Grahame is the older, still beautiful woman who cannot accept that her mature beauty is not appreciated by ladies man, Bill Bixby. Claude Akins produces a truly original portrait, a SYMPATHETIC psychopathic, sadistic killer. But Bill Bixby is the real revelation, as the narcissistic, masochistic ladies man. Bixby's performance is dowright hypnotic. The ending would be more satisfying in a novel than a movie; but, this film is well worth seeing.

Ride Beyond Vengeance casts Chuck Connors as a returning buffalo hunter returning to his wife after an eleven year absence. Sounds a whole lot like the plot premise for the Iliad and Connors does go through some trials just like Ulysses did.

Eleven years earlier Connors married Kathryn Hays who faked a pregnancy to get her aunt Ruth Warrick to consent to the wedding. Hays is a few steps up the social scale from Connors. Anyway he hauls out and says he'll make a fortune and return.

But like Ulysses he stays away and on his return is set upon and actually branded with a running iron. The three who do it are a pair of bottom feeding sadists Bill Bixby and Claude Akins and also Michael Rennie who's a rich man courting Hays because he and everyone else think her husband is dead.

Connors ain't dead and when he wakes up he's going to take care of business the way Ulysses took care of all of Penelope's prospective suitors.

This no frills B western has a fine supporting cast to Connors and Hays. In very telling bits are Joan Blondell as a bordello madam and Gloria Grahame as an unfaithful wife having an affair with younger Bill Bixby. It's a flashback to the Forties and Fifties when Grahame was the big screen's number one trollop.

As for Bixby and Akins the two of them are incredible studies in villainy. Akins who in his big screen career played some of the biggest low life villains ever really hits rock bottom here. He overacts outrageously, but all to good effect.

Bixby is the first one who Connors catches up with and his devolution as a human being may contain his finest big screen performance. Later on Frank Gorshin in a small bit himself gives a description of Bixby's final moments that will unnerve you for days.

Ride Beyond Vengeance is one brutal and savage western which no way would have made it in the days of those cowboy heroes for Republic. This is one western recommended highly for adults and forbidden for little kids.

This is a darn fine movie, but it does not have the character development that many are claiming. The town, and the movie as a whole, has many odd characters, but we don't know much about why they are odd. We simply know that they are odd. Even Bixby is not developed. He starts as a psycho. He's a psycho in the middle. And he's a psycho at the end.

The character development is substantial on Connors (the good guy), Rennie (the bad guy), and Hays (the good guy's wife who is now with the bad guy). But is it good character development? Not really.

Connor's character could fall in love and marry, but he wouldn't have let the Aunt influence his marriage or his wife. He certainly would have left his home and wife as he did, but he never would have let himself get into that situation in the first place.

Rennie did play a guy who could turn bad, but he didn't play a stupid man. He wouldn't have let things get so far out of hand. At almost every turn, Rennie could have stopped Connors. Yet somehow, he lets things get worse and worse. Rennie's character was smart and knew how to manipulate people and situations. He could have killed Connors. He could have hired someone to do it. He could have returned the money anonymously. He could have framed anybody, living or dead, as the thief. He could have just stayed home. Even if he had just stayed home, it would have been enough. Stay home, Rennie, stay home. Let the town deal with Connors.

Hays played a woman who could fall in love with Connors under the right circumstances, but the character she played would not have fallen in love unless Connors was rich and/or if Connors had the approval of her aunt. Her character was weak and could never stand on her own. At least, that is who she was early on when a weak character was necessary. Later in the movie, she became strong and hard. I guess her aunt told her to do that. At the end, she became soft and warm towards Connors. I guess her aunt must have died by then. She was at least as psycho as Bixby from what I can tell. I'm sure she spent her remaining years taking care of her houseful of cats and screaming at anyone who used her sidewalk.

How come Connors was smart enough to save all that money, but he was too dumb to get a bank draft? How come Connors really hoped that he would be able to get a shave when he entered that campsite, but he was too dumb to stop anywhere along the way and buy a shave? How come Connors wanted so much to see his ex-wife, but he didn't even think about spending any of his money on a bath, a shave, and a set of clothes? Bixby and Akers went on and on about how bad Connors stunk. Are we supposed to believe that Connors thought his high-born wife wouldn't mind the smell? There are only two characters that are necessary to this movie: Connors and Akins. It would be the exact same movie if Bixby, Rennie, O'Connell, Hays, Blondell and the rest were replaced, rewritten or discarded. It is a simple story of vengeful good versus pure evil. Jimmy Stewart played that role several times. So did Eastwood, Wayne, and most of the other macho stars. First the star has something bad happen to him. Then he spends the rest of the picture trying to set things right. At the very end, good triumphs over evil. It works well because, when the whupping starts, the audience is really rooting for the good guy.

So why is it a great movie? Because it is a great western with great actors. There are many fine actors in this movie, and they all do a stand-up job. It is excellent. If you like westerns or dark film noir, you will like this. It is a much better movie than Johnny Guitar.

But, just like in Johnny Guitar, you can pick apart the plot and character development without even trying.