Jack Slade le damné

Jack Slade is a remarkably different western. The hero,is not handsome, but is very dirty and with each scene goes from the loved hero to the unloved bad guy. It shows the emotion of the gunfighter and his hatred for his job. I wonder if it is truly an honest western depicting the gunfighter. I am surprised it did not become a cult film. This movie asks the question. Are their really any good guys. The only real problem with the film is that the weapons used, do not fit the pre-civil war era.

This is a very bad western mainly because it is historically inaccurate. It looks as if it were shot on a back lot in California instead of where Jack Slade lived and died, Idaho, Colorado Territories, and Montana. It fictionalizes everything that is known about this mysterious 'bad man,' 'good man.' The script is horrible; there is very little direction, and lousy acting. Dorothy Malone is completely wasted as his wife. Mark Steven never seems to know how to portray this mysterious Jack Slade. In real life, Jack Slade was a very good stage line superintendent. He was feared by his local townsmen for his hard drinking. When drunk he would start fights and cause other problems in Virginia City, Montana. To insure that he could never terrorize them again, vigilantes lynched Jack Slade after he ignored their warning to leave town immediately. This is a horrible movie. I can not recommend anyone to watch this movie other than to see how Hollywood butches history at will, even to this day.

Their reviewer called it..."one of the most violent pictures ever to come out of Hollywood." The story runs thusly(Monogram synopsis): With a violent orphaned boyhood in Texas behind him, ex-cavalry trooper Jack Slade ( Joseph A. Slade), using a revolver given him by his foster father, Tom Carter (Harry Shannon), quickly builds a reputation as a "legal' gunman throughout the west. As district manager for the Overland Stage Line out of Julesburg, Colorado in 1859, his killing continues. His bride, Virginia Dale (Dorothy Malone), and his boss Dan Traver (Paul Langton), watch helplessly as Slade goes his violent way. The men he is after are outlaws, chief among them the drunken Jules Reni (Barton MacLane) whom Slade had replaced as the district manager for the stage line, and who has joined the gang of the Prentice boys...Rude (Richard Reeves), Tad (Duane Thorsen) and Ned (Ron Hargrave.) The Prentice gang holds up a stage, and Slade, Traver and others go after them and track the outlaws to a cabin and fire it during a gunfight, in which Slade accidentally kills Old Tom (Hank Patterson), who has been working as a cook for Reni and the gang. After this, Slade turns really bad, drinking heavily and not listening to Virginia's pleas. Traver is forced to fire Slade. He is drinking in a saloon when Reni and another gunman come in and Slade is trapped. Just as Reni gets set to let Slade have it, Virginia bursts in and kills Reni's partner with a small derringer. Slade's gun accidentally cuts down an innocent stranger as he guns down Reni. Wounded, Slade bids Virginia farewell and rides out of town.The aroused citizens demand that Slade be lynched, but Traver prevails upon them to let him follow Slade and bring him back for fair trial.

But Jack Slade ain't having none of that. The only Italian influence on this American Western is the influence it later had on some real bad Spaghetti westerns---there were only five good ones ever made anyway and all five of those would still benefit by some editing snips---,and the influence Mark Stevens (as Jack Slade) had on future western badman heroes. Stevens was great in a departure role,simmering Dorothy Malone burned the edges off some of the film frames...and Jack Elam (as Tobey Mackay)stole the few frames he was in as a badman with a fatalistic sense of humor. The major drawback is Barton MacLane's usual one-dimension badman.

It's pretty good for what it is, but in telling the tale of Slade, a hired killer for the stagecoach, the story slides too easily into sentimentality and easy ways to show things. It does have the essential theme, that Slade's humanity is lost in his profession, and this theme is effectively explored. Van Cleef shows up for a minute; fans of his showboating bravura acting style are bound to be disappointed.

That's the kind of western I prefer among many other ones. The western with a perfect anti hero, maybe not an evil dude, no, but very ambivalent indeed. Everyone will think about William Bonney's story watching this film, awith a Mark Stevens at his very peak. Dotty Malone is also at the right place in this gritty and violent western, among the best that Harry Schuster gave us. The basic scheme, a gunslinger to whom it is asked to get rid of the bad guys and then asked to "moderate" his actions, reminded me TOM HORN, but with a slightly different following events; though remaining dark and gloomy, gritty and pretty downbeat. A superb ending. I will always perfer this movie to RIO BRAVO, though the latest will remain a true masterpiere and this one, absolutely not. I just LOVE it. Period.