Un paso al patíbulo

When this movie started today on GRIT, I didn't expect much. I expected good enough acting from Sterling Hayden and a solid "B" movie, but it was really much more.

I generally believe that over-selling a story makes the person reading my review like it less, what a departed friend of mine called "the contrapositive effect".

So no spoilers, no hints, just, as others have noted, if you like a good whodunit and like the Western setting, you should watch this movie. By the way, there was some A movie acting by a fine ensemble cast. One scene reminded me of Cary Grant's facial expressions in the final scene of An Affair To Remember. Acting without words. You can't beat it.

Westerns were all over the screen both big and little in 1957. Maybe that's why Sterling Hayden looks terminally bored as the "iron" sheriff. Too bad, because the script keeps us guessing-- who really did kill the stage driver. (Stage drivers are always getting killed in Westerns. But, more importantly, in most scripts they just amount to expendable story props. Nice to see some actual concern here.) Anyway, the screenplay (Seeleg Lester) shrewdly manages to stay one jump ahead of us in the guessing game.There's also real fire-power in the supporting cast. A lot of familiar faces of the time, from the always cranky Will Wright (the judge) to shabby aristocrat John Dehner (the kid's attorney) to professional hayseed Frank Ferguson (the other attorney), while even the young lovers manage not to cloy. There's even a Broadway actress, the formidable Constance Ford who mostly gets to stand around.

Okay, with these promising elements why did my rating service give the movie a one-and-a-half out of four, while I would give it a two. Well, there is Hayden who just can't seem to get interested in the story-line. I counted his changes of expression, but after an hour, stopped at two. Most of all, is director Sidney Salkow. He must have come cheap since there's little evidence he cares about building the suspense of the who-dunnit, or even getting the actors to move around when they speak their lines. It's sort of like a slow-motion result, always deadly for an action genre like the Western. Anyway, the movie was a payday for a lot of veteran performers, and a different kind of story-line, especially if you want to take up the cause of the lowly stage driver.

I was a bit disappointed when I discovered this feature. I expected more action. But It is no bad after all. A flat, somewhere oater western, with lots pf talk, trial, funny dialogue, and an inexpressive Sterling Hayden as ever.

But it seems to be a rare western.

Do not look for gunfights, violence or Indians in this one.

I must admit that Sidney Salkow used to show us more better action films such as Sitting Bull or Blood on the Arrow; I don't mention his pirates or other adventure movies.

In short, a unusual western that deserves to be seen.

The Iron Sheriff manages to combine both western and noir elements in its making. It also is a pretty good courtroom drama.

The title role of The Iron Sheriff is played by Sterling Hayden and as you can gather he's one strict enforcer of the law. That includes arresting his son Darryl Hickman who's been identified as the perpetrator of a stage holdup where the driver was killed. Hickman's been identified by a dying I. Stanford Jolley as the perpetrator, but Jolley has it in for Hickman because he's been getting too serious with his daughter Kathleen Nolan. With all the evidence against him, still Sterling Hayden goes on a quest to find the real culprit, especially after some exculpatory evidence is found.

There's a town full of suspects and each has their own agenda for or against the sheriff, something like the divided public opinion in High Noon in Hadleyville as far as sheriff Gary Cooper was concerned. The Iron Sheriff also is a much better telling of the same kind of story that was told in the John Wayne film Cahill, US Marshall. The Duke in his movie was bound by the parameters of his image and Sterling Hayden did not have that problem.

This western has some pretty good courtroom scenes with Judge Will Wright, prosecutor Frank Ferguson, and defense attorney John Dehner who may have turned in the best performance in the film. I have to confess that I was surprised at who the culprit eventually turned out to be.

If it's run again on TCM try to catch it.

Sterling Hayden plays a sheriff in the West whose son is accused to holding up the stage and murdering the driver. So many facts seem to point to this being true but what makes it so tough is that the sheriff needs to testify against his own kid! However, despite this, he spends his time trying to prove that, perhaps, this is still a mistake and some other person is actually responsible.

I watched this movie for one reason--Sterling Hayden. He was an amazingly talented and underrated actor who managed to bring a lot of toughness and realism to the parts he played--why he's pretty much forgotten today is beyond me. I am not just talking about his roles in bigger films like "The Asphalt Jungle", "The Killing" or "Dr. Strangelove"--but even his appearances in seemingly smaller films where he managed to make ordinary material seem extraordinary. However, this is a rare case where no matter the talents of Hayden, the film was a lifeless mess--thanks to a confusing and overly wordy script. It should have been a lot better and they should have trusted the actors to have been able to make the film work without all the needless twists and turns.