El justiciero

This isn't your typical Western, but it isn't exactly "atypical" either.

This is actually more of a drama that just happens to be set in the West.

In other words, you could put this on a stage in front of a live audience, and probably get the same production.

And that's generally pretty good.

We have a story line that really isn't the story line.

The surface plot is Robert Taylor as a cynic who is trying to identify the fourth man in a robbery, a man we know early on played a very minor role, if any. The man is sentenced to be hanged.

He finds that people don't want to identify the man, Jack Lord with blond hair. It's much like "The Spy Who Loved Me" in that it is a quest to have a man killed who probably doesn't deserve it.

That's just the surface plot. In essence, Lord becomes the fourth character. The real plot is the romantic subplot that lays beneath the surface.

The woman in the triangle finds herself in emotional turmoil over betraying Jack Lord's character to the law, which is represented by Taylor and Fess Parker.

Parker is the younger, striking man who immediately sets out to make her his wife. Taylor is the older man who sets out to understand her and have a relationship.

In this, we have a switch. The younger man becomes the solid, steady force, and strangely devoid of romance. He is a tall, handsome, affable fellow. What women call "a catch" in public, but in practice, they just can't find what the all "chemistry" with.

Taylor's character, meanwhile, is full of charged emotion. While Fess is a "Earth", Robert is "fire".

The story becomes the story of female romanticism. It is a very credible depiction, whether we like it or not.

It isn't what I call a "great Western", but perhaps I judge it on the standards of usual action. It is actually a drama, one of those stage dramas that focus on a subject. It isn't dull, and the characters are three dimensional, like most golden age Westerns. It's very watchable.

This one has a flawlessly-written script by Dudley Nichols, the screenwriter of many well-known movies from 1930 to 1960 such as "Stagecoach" "The Bells of St. Mary's" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls". There's often a good moral lesson to be learned from a screenplay written by Nichols. The original story was by Luke Short, the author of many Western novels.

The cast is very good too with Robert Taylor as the "Hangman" Deputy Marshall, and several people who would later become familiar TV stars: Tina Louise, Jack Lord, Fess Parker and briefly, Lorne Green. And of course you can't go wrong with the direction of the great Michael Curtiz ("Casablanca") who, like Nichols, was nearing the end of his career.

I especially liked the story, it's deeper than most westerns, as it explores the themes of justice, loyalty, and forgiveness.

Movie casts a lot of 60s tv stars that make it hard to stop watching. Robert Taylor come across as a real dick to Tina Louise and is way too old for her. But she won't identify ex-boyfriend Johnny who's run a straight and productive life since being an unknowing accomplice to a Wells Fargo heist. Everybody in town likes fugitive Jack Lord. Even Sheriff Daniel Boone won't arrest him and falls for Johnny's ex-girl. So it's up to Taylor to "book him Denno". You'll recognize a lot of the actors and try to recall where you saw them before which makes it interesting to watch. Spent a lot of time looking up actor on IMDB.

This is sort of a crossroads film where some on the way up (Lord, Parker, Louise) cross paths with a Taylor whose career is winding down. As a western, it's not your usual "shoot 'em up."

Marshall Taylor, a man on a mission, arrives in town to arrest a murder suspect. The only problem is he doesn't know this man's identity. Enter Ms. Louise as the answer to his problem. Dangling a $500 reward for her identification of the suspected killer, he figures his problems are over. Only issue? They are just starting. With local sheriff Fess Parker and wanted man Jack Lord plus some other familiar faces in supporting roles, The Hangman is much more about dialog and character study than action. The ending was a bit awkward but the journey there an OK ride.

For me, the most interesting element of this film was Ms. Louise. I'd only seen her previously as the breathless Ginger Grant, trapped forever (or it seemed that way) on Gilligan's Island. She is definitely a head-turner in this, her third movie, and does a fine job as a somewhat down on one's luck widow who sees more to Taylor than he sees in himself. One never knows why some actors move up the food chain while others sort of stall out. Between this release and Gilligan's Island were a bunch of Italian movies and some rather nondescript US B-films so maybe getting type cast as Ginger wasn't as career crippling as one might presume. Personally, I'd love to know if her trajectory might have changed if she had avoided the Italian phase and been cast in some mid-level US films instead. She certainly didn't embarrass herself in The Hangman and while we might have had to do without Ginger, I'd like to have seen how she fared in more substantial roles.

This is a superb scenario for this western in the city where a Marshall (Robert Taylor), looking for a wanted man (who risks being hanged if he is found guilty), is confronted with the fact that he is appreciated by everyone in the city. To identify him, he uses an acquaintance, Tina Louise, who will be able to identify him. This one, Jack Lord, turns out to be a good guy that everyone loves. Our Marshall finds himself alone against the others who will passively help their friend to escape.

The richness of the scenario is in the interaction of the different characters. Between Robert Taylor, the professional who doesn't care about the person he is looking for, because he is just wanted to be judged (he is not a jury or a judge) and the other characters: Tina Louise, the witness who is supposed to identify him; the sheriff Fess Parker, who helps the Marshall by profession. All three will evolve during the course of the story and change or adapt their position and posture. The sheriff will help the Marshall at first, then not so much later. The sheriff falls in love with Tina Louise (there is reason to). The Marshall ends up saying that doing this is not necessarily something he is excited about and will change his position, perhaps to the point of resigning.

To these four main characters are added secondary characters, well existing and well written and that enrich the story: the mature lady who tries to seduce Robert Taylor; the colleague of Jack Lord who fights with him, for example.

Note a beautiful scene where Tina Louise gets out of her bath and goes to her room to get dressed, with Robert Taylor present in the room. A scene both visually rich and rich in dialogue.

Until the conclusion, not necessarily unexpected, but very nice. This is a good story, timeless, which could be adapted in an infinite number of contexts, and therefore remade.