The Broken Land

To Put it in Perspective, Anthony Mann and Budd Boetticher put a "New Face" on the Western in the 1950's and Sam Peckinpah put an Amen to it with Ride the High Country (1962) and then Reincarnated the "New" Western with The Wild Bunch (1969). Peckinpah, it Could be Said, Ended the New Wave of Westerns and Started the New New Wave of Westerns. No Mean Feat.

While Hardly in the Mann/Boetticher/Peckinpah Camp, This Little Movie is Indeed a Bit Different from Standard Stuff in its Introspection of Some Off Beat Characters that Include a Brutal Dictatorial Sheriff, a Dim-Witted Likable Stiff, a Good Hearted Drifter, and Jack Nicholson as a Slightly Miscast Bad/Good Guy. Diana Darin is the Damaged Goods still Managing to Look Good and Emote Kindness.

Overall, Worth a Watch for Early Nicholson, a Good but Short Story, and Some Colorful Cinemascope Landscapes.

A young Jack Nicholson is the only reason to watch this film. Jack was 25 years old when he appeared in "The Broken Land." At first, I didn't even recognize him, or even his classic one-of-a kind voice. Jack's the only actor in the cast (veteran Kent Taylor comes in second) who can bring to life the lousy dialogue. With a 60 minute run time (the "director's cut" is 75 minutes, according to IMDb), at least it goes by quickly. Maybe this film was the bottom half of a drive-in double feature (if anyone remembers drive-ins). If one does remember drive-ins, there was undoubtedly more action going on in the back seat of Daddy's Chevy then on the screen. Could be grindhouse material as well.

I enjoy westerns but have noticed that about 95% of them have 3-4 different plots. Originality is NOT a trademark of the genre! Because of this, while "The Broken Land" is far from a great film, it IS original and kept my interest.

The film is set in some old western town. Soon you realize that the Marshal is insane or a total sadist. I'd vot for him being BOTH!! For him, the law is a meant to control everyone and soon he locks up one guy for having a father who was a crook! Then, he insists that a poor feeble-minded guy is a thief and is about to shoot him!! A stranger in town attacks the Marshal to stop this murder...and ends up getting locked up as well! And, it only gets worse!

While the film has a very nice plot, it was far from perfect...hence the score of 6. The actors were all no-names at the time (of course, Jack Nicholson has gone on to better things....or so I've been told). Most were reasonably good but not outstanding. The script also had a few loose ends such as the 'big revelation' from the lady at the end...which turned out to be not much of a revolation. Still, it IS original and kept my interest. Plus, if you aren't sure about investing your time, it's only a hour in length!

This short 1-hour Western movie centers on a drifter who comes to a small town and has run-in with its sadistic sheriff. A string of circumstances leads to running from a posse, robbery, and murder. Considering the limited length of this movie, it's a good story, the characters are likable, the dialog is literate, the performances are good (particularly Jack Nicholson), and it's well directed. If you collect Western movies, this one is worth having.

The story opens up with a drifter stumbling into a town ruled by a sheriff who trusted no one and would make certain that everyone in town lived or died by his rules.

Many people in the town would love to just up and move away but the crazy sheriff would some way convince them to stay.

There was also a woman who recently moved into town and had an affair with the sheriff and held some deep dark secrets about him, which made him want her to leave on the next stagecoach out of town.

Jack Nicholson was very young in this picture but just his appearance in the film makes it worth your while to watch and enjoy.