La lance brisée

Although a remake,this western strongly recalls the story of Joseph and his brothers in Genesis.After all,that's the hero's name ,and his brothers really sell him when they refuse to give more money to the bosses of the copper mine .Leonard Maltin wrote that it owes a deal to "king lear" too,the daughters becoming sons.Richard Widmark is the stand-out and easily outshines the "good" Robert Wagner and his two other brothers who are no more than walk-ons anyway.In his final confrontation with Tracy,he even surpasses the veteran :he succeeds,which is not a small feat, in making us believe that he had a very hard life and that he's not so bad after all.

"Broken lance" ranks among Dmytryk's best works ,more human than "Warlock" and a thousand times better than the latter days ' fiascoes such as "Alvarez Kelly" and the dreadful "Shalako".Released just after the brilliant "Caine mutiny" ,it compares favorably to it,in its own way.The opening is intriguing :we do believe ,for a short while,that Joe (Wagner) is the black sheep of the family ,and then , a long flashback -a device which is rarely used in westerns - brilliantly starting with the patriarch's(Tracy)painting in a deserted house ,tells the whole story.Also unusual is the rather long trial ,a reason for which some will classify the movie as talky,which is unfair,because so many qualities in a western are rare to find.Tracy's death is a real tour de force verging on supernatural.There's also a sensitive wistful performance by Katy Jurado ,as Tracy's second wife .

Edward Dmytryk was a skilled director. He showed plenty of memorable titles as in "Murder My Sweet" "The Caine Mutiny," "Warlock", "Raintree County"... where he showed narrative skill, a most correct direction of actors and impressive staging.

The one that concerns us: "Broken Lance" is, for our taste, one of his best films. Told from a long flashback that begins after Joe Devereaux returns to his old home after spending three years in prison, the narrative focuses on the eventful life of the landlord Matthew Devereaux (a superb and brilliant Spencer Tracy) and his difficult relationship with his children and unhappy with the environment that surrounds it. Matt is a man who loves nature and respects animals. It is also a just and loving husband with his Indian wife (Katy Jurado's always accurate Oscar nominee for this role), loves much the son she had with her (Joe), but the children of his former wife, now deceased, is intolerant and demanding. Their conflict develops into a crescendo that prevents us from a storm that seems inevitable.

Dmytryk will recreate every nuance of arrogance and the film emerges as a psychological portrait of great importance. Matt is contrasting as day. Defend the Indians and some even work for him. Your home is an earthly paradise and think, clearly, a man of privilege.But as in all light is usually a shade to Matthew is impossible to get along with their children and this makes the paradise into an inferno.

The river that crosses his land is a symbol of the flow of life: sometimes calm... sometimes with rocks impeding the flow. Sometimes of course... and sometimes murky. Remake of "House of Strangers" by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the story of "Broken Lance" refers to "King Lear" by William Shakespeare and even "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Materials, all of these, essential in the cultural baggage of any human being.

"Broken Lance" can also be made in any list of classic western movies.

This movie has a great cast with Spencer Tracy as the father and owner of a large ranch and and his sons played by Robert Wagner, Richard Widmark, and Hugh O'Brian as his sons. Tracy has been in charge a long time and has a lot of power that got E.G. Marshall elected governor. But everything starts going downhill when two of his sons are caught stealing cattle and Tracy kicks them out. The sons don't think they are being paid enough and Richard Widmark is the first one to turn on his father when he goes on trial for destroying a rival's property. Robert Wagner is the only one to stand up for his father and he winds up going to jail. Katy Jurado plays Tracy's wife and also was in High Noon and One-Eyed Jacks.

Saw Broken Lance last nite on Encore Western. It's my second viewing. I really enjoyed Spencer Tracy and Kathy Jurado. Tracy is worth the price of admission and Jurado's sad eyes never fail to draw me in. To those who say it's a play on Joseph & his Brothers, I'm sorry I don't agree. Beyond the superficial similarities, Jacob's sons wouldn't have dreamed of disobeying him, let alone harming him the way the Deveraux boys (Widmark, Holliman, O'Brian) do.

The film has what I believe to be the best film courtroom sequences ever, i.e. the cross-examination of Matt Deveraux.

Definitely worth seeing.

Pride, resentment, jealousy, and prejudice boil over in this complex grown-up western, featuring hard boiled performances by Spencer Tracy, as a tightly-wound cattle baron, and Richard Widmark as his hate-filled eldest son. Contrasting them are Robert Wagner and Katy Jurado as Tracy's virtuous (and favorite) youngest son and loyal Indian wife.

Right on target from start to finish, Broken Lance manages to squeeze three hours worth of epic drama into a lean ninety-six minutes. There's enough material here to have made a TV-miniseries.

As good as it was, in the end there were still a few unanswered questions. Did Wagner regain his birthright? How did he deal with his other two brothers and the governor? The film should have been fifteen minutes longer!