Mit dem Tod im Bunde

No need to cover the plot beyond what has already been said. As has also been stated, in many ways this seems like a one-hour teleplay that has been expanded into a feature film. Though billed as a courtroom drama, most of the screen time is taken up with two romantic subplots and a third drama involving the relationship between Maharis and his mother (Jurado).

Maharis is bland as the lead, as are the two women in his life (this is more of a script problem than the actors' faults). Gene Hackman has a fairly small role as the sheriff, so doesn't really get to shine. The one standout, surprisingly, is Earl Holliman. He can often be hammy or wooden, but here he deftly alternates between sympathetic and despicable in the movie's one complex role.

The other standouts in the film are its period setting (early 1900s New Mexico), and the luminous photography by Robert Burks in his next-to-last film.

There is not much memorable about this film except for the performance of Earl Holliman. His panicked trek up the stairs to the gallows is so perfect, I'm surprised he wasn't nominated for an Oscar. Probably no one saw the movie but if they had, they'd be awed.

... , being the highlighted film on a night of films on Turner Classic Movies starring Gene Hackman who is nary to be found, but I'm OK with that because it was very good. The central figure is a newly appointed Hispanic judge in New Mexico, just twelve years after the territory has become a state. George Maharis plays that young judge, Ben Lewis. He is generally accepted by the legal community, but they have some doubts, some voiced some not, somewhat because of his inexperience, and somewhat because he is of Mexican heritage.

The central legal case has to do with a local real estate salesman found crying next to his recently murdered wife. (Earl Holliman as Brian Talbot). He is arrested for the crime, and although the evidence is completely circumstantial and Talbot never waivers in his declaration of innocence, he is convicted. The only penalty the law allows is death, and thus the older judge, who has been presiding, sentences him to hang, which is the only sentence he can give him. Ben can't help thinking that Talbot's past behavior, the fact that the whole town knew he gave his wife an STD that caused her to have a hysterectomy, the fact that she punished Ben for this by being openly promiscuous for years, was the real reason for his conviction.

The older judge then goes off on a fishing jaunt, thinking the work is done. What he doesn't know is that things are about to really get tricky. When Talbot is hauled to the hangman's noose, and I mean as in kicking and screaming, he makes Daffy Duck look like a profile in courage. He is crying and struggling all of the way, and then in his attempt to avoid that noose on the scaffold he falls off, taking the hangman with him. The hangman hits his head on a rock and then dies. Talbot is alright. So now they have to wait until the next day for another hangman.

In the interim the real murderer writes out a confession and commits suicide. Now the town needs a judge again, to absolve Talbot of the original crime, and to deal with the fact that he did cause the death of the hangman in clear view of two dozen people, and what penalty or charge should be attached to that action. With the older judge out of town and unreachable, it falls to young judge Ben Lewis to handle a case that might make the supreme court scratch their collective heads. After he receives briefs from both the prosecuting and defense attorneys, he is off to study case law, read the attorneys' briefs, and even discuss the case with legal scholars. Oh, and then there is that pesky conscience of his too.

I think this was supposed to be a film about the death penalty, about its finality and its justice, as viewed from the eyes of a man who has made it to the office of judge but is still not given his dues because of lingering prejudice. And that prejudice does not stop with the white community. Katy Jurado as Ben's mother is ultra traditional, very unhappy with Ben's current blue eyed blonde girlfriend, and wants him to marry a Mexican girl. I think Ben rightly sums it up when he says she wants to continue to rule over the house even after his marriage and knows an Anglo girl won't take being bossed around.

I'd give this film an eight if not for so much of the injection of Ben's love life into the film. I know this was 1967 and that Hollywood was just so excited that they could finally show couples in bed together, but Ben's behavior with women ultimately made him look like a - well not Tom or Harry, the other guy. And his ultimate decision in his love life had me going "What the...?". It just went against everything he had been saying and doing up to that point.

This film supposedly got Gene Hackman noticed, at least the TCM host said that it did, but I don't know why because he has few lines and plays his part like the supporting role that it is.

Thanks to Warner Archive for releasing this film on DVD this past September. It would appear that this film was an attempt to make a major film star out of TV actor George Maharis. His performance as the young, inexperienced judge was very well executed. Earl Holliman shines as the convicted suspect. This is film is noteworthy for an early performance by Gene Hackman as a police officer. His performances echos what would soon come later, in his role as Popye Doyle in "The French Connection," The romance portion of the film may be predictable, but overall the acting is well done, and the photography is great. The best selling novel "A Covenant with Death," by Stephen Becker is given fair treatment in this adaptation. I would defiantly recommend this film ***

Earl Holliman is really good in this movie. Often in films he came off as being rather stiff but if you fast forward to his moments in the film you are seeing the only virtues it's got.

Sold as a thriller it has very little thrills or courtroom drama either, it spends most of it's time with the young judge splitting his time in the sack with a white Blonde of a Mexican black haired girl, guess which one his mother prefers. There is a bit of frank talk but not much heat to these romanic elements and one long travelogue day in Mexico seuqence that tries to convince us we aren't just on the Universal Backlot the whole time.

Lamont Johnson had a long career doing good television work, but all his features feel like bad tv movies and this is no exception, even though it's shot by Robert Burks who shot many Hitchcock films this feels overlit and small scale, though it's supposed to be a period film all the costumes look like costumes freshly cleaned in between every shot.

Even Gene Hackman doesn't make any impression here. Really for the most part this tries to be a kind of light weight romance with the young judge bantering with his Mexican mom. Then once in awhile we cut abruptly to something related to the supposed race against the clock to save a man's life.

The film could have sordid elements but probably the censors at the time forbid this so there is nothing much to shake you out of waiting for the next commercial, which doesn't happen as it's not really the television movie it feels like.

Bafflingly happy to lucky Leonard Roseman score, as if told, hey let's push the romance.

The thriller plot is pretty goofy really but perhaps the few twists there might work if the movie was at all interested in being about the murder of the law. It might have had something to say. Who knows maybe they tried to keep too much in from the novel so everything feels undeveloped except the judge's romance and that hardly is about a Covenant with Death--something a rushed speech near the end mentions very briefly because, why should a movie with that title have anything to do with that subject matter.

A dud.