La captura

The Capture tries mightily but in the end it suffers from a meandering script which is too full of plot devices and contrivances. The result is shocking as it was directed by the great John Sturges, who directed some of the best action pictures ever made, including "The Magnificent Seven". It is a picaresque type of a story which might be called " the Adventures of a Guilt-Ridden Oilman". Lew Ayres in the lead role bounces from place to place, falling in love with the wife of a man he has killed while searching for the real payroll thief. As he is on the lam in the midst of his guilt trip, he is eventually discovered and must hit the road again. Eventually he ends up in the same straits as the man he has killed, even incurring an identical injury as the dead man.....

Sorry. I dozed off trying to recount the drab, preposterous proceedings. At best, it is a curiosity which is about 20 minutes too long and stretches the credulity of the viewer to the breaking point. Lew Ayres was good and Teresa Wright was excellent, but even so a question arises; Did they do drugs while writing scripts in the 40's?

This is an interesting drama that features a good leading performance by Lew Ayres and a story that combines action and a little psychology. The pace is uneven, particularly in the middle of the movie, and this keeps it from being better. But both the early sequences and the climactic chain of events work pretty well.

Ayres plays a former oil man who once captured a suspected criminal, and then felt responsible when the man died in custody. He starts to get involved with the dead man's widow, even as he is haunted by uncertainty over whether he had done the right thing. It sets up a number of possibilities, and it is given an added air of fateful inevitability by the technique of having Ayres's character tell most of the story, in flashback style, to a priest.

After a solid start, things bog down for a while in the middle, although Ayres and Teresa Wright do their best to keep it watchable. Eventually, though, it gets back on track, and the last few scenes tie things together and bring the story to a tense conclusion.

Wounded fugitive Lew Ayres (as Lin Vanner) finds refuge in the company of convenient priest Victor Jory (as Father Gomez); in the latter's home, he relates, via flashback storytelling, his unfortunate story. Mainly, Mr. Ayres' tale concerns his stay as ranch hand for new widow Teresa Wright (as Ellen Tevlin) and her son, Jimmy Hunt (as Mike). Despite revealing he was responsible for her husband's death (after a payroll heist) Ayres wins Ms. Wright's hand in marriage.

Most enjoyable during Ayres' sleuthing, after he weds Wright; during this time, there is a neatly directed John Sturges hanging. Still, this is a more unsatisfying than not film; it doesn't ever find a balance between psychological swerving talk, and occasional action. "Cisco Kid" Duncan Renaldo (as Carlos) can be spotted among the supporting players.

I purchased this as part of a 50 Movie pack of DVD's called Action Classics. While that is not the genre I'd call it, The Capture is well worth the time.

The first part of the movie deals with a US oilfield worker in 1935 Mexico. He hunts down and kills a payroll robber. The film then settles into the main part of the story. It is an introspective, psychological analysis of the consequences for himself, and those who remember the dead man. Its all about a search for meaning and truth.

The Capture left me with the feeling I used to get, watching the the short stories that were the staple of anthology drama series of the 1950's -- Twilight Zone, or Zane Grey Theatre -- but of course, this feature film has better production values than a TV series. I loved the innocent thoughtful stories that don't seem to be made any more, and The Capture is a fine example them.

Injured "Vanner" (Lew Ayres) arrives in a barn where he meets a priest. The holy man (Victory Jory) suggests he might be more comfortable in the house and upon arrival, listens to his rather complicated story. He used to work in the oilfields of Mexico when he apprehended a man he believed was implicated in a payroll robbery. The man was duly taken into custody but perished shortly thereafter. Though not responsible, "Vanner" is troubled. His engagement goes the way of the dodo and he quits his job, setting off for the small-holding home of the man's widow. Ostensibly just a homeless factotum, he meets "Ellen" (Teresa Wright) and her young son "Mike" (Jimmy Hunt) just as they have advertised for someone to help get their 300-odd head of cattle to market. Briefly, what now ensues is a sort of reversal of the "Shane" story, with she the distant and aloof character - a scenario that is only worsened when she declares that she knows who he is and forgiveness is far from her mind. Perhaps the solution is for them to work together as maybe just maybe, he got it wrong in the first place? This is actually quite a decent little thriller until the last fifteen minutes, which really don't make a great deal of sense at all and appear designed to maximise the dramatic conclusion rather than have the story add up. The acting and writing are all adequate and John Sturges keeps it moving along well enough - it's just that underwhelming denouement that really does let it down.