La pandilla maldita

This is an excellent western by Andre de Toth. It is mainly remembered for its final thirty minutes,an extraordinary ride in the snow ,where the director makes the best of black and white pictures while he's filming all the tired horses ...Hell freezes over.

But the first hour is absorbing as well with its depiction of an one-horse town lost in the snow,a dead end where one never really knows which ones are prisoners and which ones are guards .The "ball ",during which the four women are really having a bad time (particularly Tina Louise)is one of the most violent scenes ever filmed in a western .And all they are doing is dancing.It has to be seen to be believed! Robert Ryan is ,as always,excellent ,as a tired blasé man who just wants to live in peace.

A tough cattleman (Robert Ryan) in bleak Bitters, Wyoming, is willing to use deadly force to stop a rancher (Alan Marshal) who's fencing-in the area, but a band of rogue cavalry men led by Capt. Jack Bruhn (Burl Ives) interrupt their quarrel. Tina Louise plays the rancher's wife, Venetia Stevenson a girl in the town and David Nelson a reasonable member of the gang.

"Day of the Outlaw" (1959) is a B&W psychological Western shot in the Oregon Cascades. It's similar to Westerns from the same period by Anthony Mann and Budd Boetticher, not to mention just as good or better. The protagonist (Ryan) isn't a hero, but rather a tortured man ready to make a last stand; meanwhile Bruhn (Ives) isn't wholly corrupted and still has some sense of nobility. Several of his hardened men, however, have clearly crossed over into the dark side.

Tina Louise, who would play Ginger from Gilligan's Island in 5-6 years, is younger & cuter here while Venetia Stevenson is nimble and winsome. You might remember Venetia from her jaw-dropping role in "The City of the Dead," aka "Horror Hotel" (1960).

Director Andre DeToth was having personal problems at the time of shooting and it affected the mood of the set, plus there were other issues, like snowstorm delays, Ryan missing a week due to pneumonia and DeToth changing his mind about scene locations at the last minute, etc. Perhaps the biggest problem was that the budget was low and, when they ran out of finances, DeToth & crew just packed-up and went back to Los Angeles.

Producers & editors had to make do with what was shot, which explains some weaknesses here and there. Scriptwriter Philip Yordan lamented "what could have been."

The movie runs 1 hour, 32 minutes, and was shot in central Oregon at Dutchman Flat & Todd Lake Meadows about 20 miles east of the town of Bend in late November thru early December, 1958.

GRADE: B+/A-

From veteran director Andre De Toth comes an underrated and mighty fine winter western. It is a little too short perhaps and there are parts that could have been better paced, but these are minor problems really because Day of the Outlaw is actually very good. For one thing, it is strikingly photographed in stark black and white, and the snowy landscapes are nothing less than magnificent. The score is also a really nice touch, dramatic, beautiful and dramatic, and Day of the Outlaw is also well scripted, nuanced and powerful yet with an essence of bitterness. And in terms of effective scenes the climatic gunfight in the snow is quite remarkable to say the least. The story is evocative and engrossing, the direction is excellent and the acting is adept with Robert Ryan rugged and heroic, Burl Ives brilliant as ever and Tina Louise both alluring and appealing. Overall, underrated with a lot to recommend it. 8/10 Bethany Cox

This is an uncommon, stark western starring the versatile Robert Ryan in tough guy mode, as a ruthless cattleman at odds with homesteaders in a tiny, bleak western town. As he is about to settle a feud with a local farmer, Burl Ives and his band of sadistic thugs ride into town and hold the citizens hostage. As Ives tries to keep his men from raping the women, Ryan must find a way to save the town, and redeem himself in the process.

Beautiful outdoor photography and solid acting combine with an unusual story line to make this a very interesting, tense flick. The movie eschews the usual western cliches in favor of maintaining a somber, moral tone. Ives excels as an internally conflicted villain. And Ryan, as always, is the man.

Cowboys and ranchers must stick together when a gang of outlaws ride into town intent on causing trouble and abusing the town. Even though the outlaw leader, ex army Captain Jack Bruhn has them under some sort of control, salvation may have to come from the moody Blaise Starrett, who has his own secret agendas to deal with.

Day Of The Outlaw (poor title not befitting the quality of the film) is directed by André De Toth ("Ramrod", "Crime Wave" & "House of Wax") and stars Robert Ryan, Burl Ives & Tina Louise. Adapted from the novel written by Lee E. Wells, it's a film that is crying out to be seen by more people, especially those with an aversion to Westerns. For although grounded in Western tradition, it comes across more as a moody film noir piece in a cold wintry Western setting

The atmosphere throughout hangs heavy like a weighted burden, with this tiny tin pot town in the snowy swept mountains photographed starkly by Russell Harlan. This is some out of the way place that nobody but its small inhabitants care about (appropriately it's called Bitters), and even those that do are probably doing so more out of ill judged loyalty to having not tasted something else before.

Robert Ryan was a terrific actor, often only mentioned when talk turns to famous pictures like "The Wild Bunch" & "The Dirty Dozen", but it's with performances like here, or "The Set-Up" & "Crossfire", that he really puts a depth and critical layers to his talent. Burl Ives is also great, his weary and scarred Bruhn is almost in empathy with Starrett and the townsfolk, so much so, we are never quite sure just how this picture will end.

Tina Louise rounds out the leads, and apart from being an incredibly sexy woman, she does some great facial acting here, particularly during a section of the pic where the outlaws demand dances with the ladies. This is laden with a vile undercurrent, with Louise perfectly portraying the threat with acting gravitas. With astute directing and acting to match the bleak and sombre soaked story, "Day Of The Outlaw" comes highly recommended to fans of atmospheric enveloped cinema. 9/10