Hombres violentos

In contrast to his usual roles as a loner or "stranger in town", Randolph Scott plays a very successful rancher, but doesn't really fit the patriarch mould, though he does get to wear a fancy waistcoat.Like other commentators, I thought that his practical joke at the beginning was foolish, and that the way the chip on bad guy Wick Campbell's shoulder grew was a bit unbelievable. And it was way into the film that I started to wonder about the "Ten Wanted Men" of the title. When the imported bad guys massed for the final shoot-out I tried to count them, and they did seem to number ten.

I wondered if the version I saw on British TV had been subject to editing, such was the jerky plot, but the original runtime of 80 minutes was accommodated by the 85-minute viewing slot (including a couple of commercial breaks). The relationship between Maria and Howie seemed to happen instantaneously, and the "ten wanted men" turned up in town almost spontaneously.

It was good to see Skip Homeier acting against type; he's nearly always a bad guy who gets killed; here he's even slow to rise to provocation from one of Campbell's heavies. I was half-expecting him to turn out bad but...

Leo Gordon stole quite a few scenes from Richard Boone, who didn't perform that well. He had the most complex role in the film, with a chip-on-the-shoulder, somewhat pathetic infatuation with a young girl, and a really mean streak.

Lee van Cleef didn't have much to do. "High Noon" apart, his filmography up to now had been unimpressive, but his day was coming.

Quite apart from his misplaced sense of humour at the beginning, Scott took a foolish risk by walking into the bad guy's saloon by himself, and where were all his ranch-hands in the final confrontation? Without them, he had an unimpressive set of allies in the siege. Earlier he had recalled how he had won his land from the Apaches despite them burning him out four time, so perhaps he had a strong sense of indestructibility. John Wayne would have carried off the role better.

Moonraker

Randolph Scott made a lot of good Westerns'; this was not one of them. Even with a stellar cast of Richard Boone, Scott, and Marshall Dillon's Deputy, the story? (which was written obviously less than an hour), is so weak, that these veteran actors couldn't rescue it. Even the inclusion Lee Van Cleef without his mustache doesn't help. The rest of the troupe was pretty awful, and that included Joselyn Brando, who unlike her younger brother was a terrible actress. The use of dynamite as an equalizer was also pretty lame. I gave this four stars only because Scott was my father's favorite actor. Even dad would have recognized this turkey for what it was; a misfire.

I think a 7 out of 10 is not a bad rating for a movie, given how many deserve a 1 or a 3. Ten Wanted Men starts off with one big thing in its favor - it is a beautiful movie to watch. The color of this film is rich and true and it makes most every scene a treat for the eyes. The story itself is reasonably good - I found myself engaged in it fairly early when Campbell gets into it with Howie Stewart. (This is the second movie of Homeier's where he played someone named Howie.) I like Randolph Scott a lot but I'm also a Homeier fan, and he had a good part in this movie. Unlike his usual bad guy roles, here he played a good guy who still had the opportunity to shoot a gun and break out of jail and such. Lee Van Cleef had only a small role, really, but was very good in it. Denver Pyle was about as nasty and evil a character as I've seen him play. As far as the story goes, I would have liked to see Scott use the dynamite to greater advantage against the bad guys; they had it coming.

So, this is not the greatest movie ever made, but I think it rates a seven at least. If you like Westerns, you won't regret watching this one. Just the great color is a selling point, but the story itself isn't bad at all.

Ten Wanted Men (the title hints at something far more dramatic than is actually in the picture) is a serviceable, but instantly forgettable Western from the Scott-Brown production company. Directed by jobber H. Bruce Humberstone, with a screenplay by Kenneth Gamet (from a story by Irving Ravetch) and filmed in Technicolor out in Old Tuscon, it feels (and is) lifeless and poor on structure and execution.

With some misplaced humour and a cobbled together plot, this ultimately ends up as a time filler for Randy Scott completists only. There's some enjoyment to be had from watching our Randy lob dynamite around, and Leo Gordon steals the movie as menacing villain Frank Scavo, but sadly it never comes together to make a worthy mark. Which when you have cast list that contains Randolph Scott, Richard Boone, Lee Van Cleef, Skip Homeier and Dennis Weaver! then that's a crime as much as it is a shame. 4/10

The rancher John Stewart (Randolph Scott) welcomes his brother and lawyer Adam (Lester Matthews) and his nephew Howie (Skip Homeier) that have just arrived in the pacific Ocatilla to implement law with a party in his ranch. Howie flirts with the Mexican Maria Segura (Donna Martell) and the greedy Wick Campbell (Richard Boone) that has raised the girl since she was orphan tries to force her to live with him; however John Stewart protects Maria and she moves to his ranch. Campbell hires ten gunmen to work for him; he first kills John's neighbor that was going to pay a debt with him to have his lands; then he rustles John's cattle with the gunmen; frames Howie in a duel in the bar and he is arrested in jail; and kills Adam Stewart in a lonely road. When Campbell believes he has destroyed John Stewart, the outlaws turn against him and loot Ocatilla. But John Stewart is alive and ready to payback.

"Ten Wanted Men" is that type of western with many clichés of the genre but also entertaining. The fifty-seven year-old Randolph Scott is still convincing in the role of an old cowboy that became a successful rancher and needs to use weapons again to protect his family, his friends and the town he helped to build. Lee Van Cleef in the beginning of his career has a minor role as an outlaw and Richard Boone and Leo Gordon perform the typical villain. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Arizona Violenta" ("Violent Arizona")