La Chevauchée des bannis

Outlaws make a stopover at a tiny frontier town, holding the residents hostage. The most notable feature of this western is its frigid, snow-covered setting, effectively conveyed by the stark cinematography. The plot concerning conflicts between ranchers and cowboys and the invasion of the outlaws is not terribly compelling but De Toth keeps it interesting enough. Ryan plays a disgruntled cowboy and, as always, he's worth watching. Louise, who played Ryan's Daughter-in-Law the previous year in her film debut in "God's Little Acre," here plays his love interest! Ives is fine as the leader of the outlaws. The score is nice.

I must admit up front that I am not a huge fan of Westerns and the biggest reason I watched this film was because it had Robert Ryan in it. For some time, I have thought that Ryan was one of the best "unknown" actors, as he appeared and even starred in quite a few films but most people today have no idea who he was. My admiration for him is because he looked a lot like an ordinary guy (since he wasn't overly handsome) but despite this, his performances always seemed so realistic. He really was a heck of a good actor and his work in this film is no exception.

DAY OF THE OUTLAW isn't a great Western but it is different enough from the average film that it seems fresh enough to merit watching. What I particularly liked is how the first 15 minutes or so of the film turned out to be not at all directly related to where the film went next. Not knowing the plot, this really took me off guard--and I like when a film isn't easy to predict.

I also liked the idea of a gang of thugs invading and holding a town hostage--though this idea has been done before in Westerns (FIRECREEK) and non-Westerns (THE WILD ONE). What made this one stand out more from the others is that this group wasn't just bad in the usual sense, they were moral degenerates--rapists and sadists, not just socipaths or thieves. Plus, the idea of a strong but wounded leader (Burl Ives) trying to control these sick freaks was fascinating--as was the final showdown.

All in all, a very good film and one you should try to find due to its intelligent script and excellent acting.

By the way, one reviewer said they felt Burl Ives was wrong for the part since in real life he was a nice-guy folk singer. Well, with gritty previous roles in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF and THE BIG COUNTRY, I would certainly have to disagree with the sentiment, as Ives played the heavy in movies about as often as he played a good guy.

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

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-

Underrated Western with some genuinely unusual features. As a long-time fan of Westerns, I've seen only a handful hardy enough to film in the mountains in winter. But the results here are riveting, especially in grainy b&w. Those bleak snow-scapes with the horses trying to plow across are a rare glimpse of trail blazing before the 4-lane highway. The toll on man and beast must have been excruciating. Those memorable scenes are, I believe, the movie's high point, and to the credit of the producers, I could spot only one minor exterior set to break the continuity. Then too, the weather-beaten town looks authentic as heck. I just wish IMDb had been able to identify the locations so I'll know where not to winter hike.

Unusual too is the absence of a good-guy hero. The two leads, Ryan and Ives, are both strong characters, but with a wobbly moral compass that wavers somewhere between low- down meaness and high-type nobility. In short, you never know what they're going to do. That makes for two interesting non-stereotypes to drive the plot. I expect one reason the film was passed over by critics is because of sexpot Tina Louise as an audience draw. Known more for her Amazonian measurements than her acting skills, she nevertheless does well enough here, while watching her get bounced around the dance floor, hair flying, is not anything you'll see her Ginger do on TV's Gilligan's Island. Speaking of vintage TV, there's Ozzie & Harriet's elder son David as a good kid who's fallen in with the wrong crowd, and a teenage Venetia Stevenson who looks and sounds more like a malt shop than a frontier town. Somehow, you just know they'll end up together.

Nonetheless, it's a payday for a lot of sturdy Hollywood veterans in supporting parts, including the always dependable Dabbs Greer and my favorite plug-ugly bad guy Jack Lambert. Then too, maybe you can figure out what Elisha Cook Jr.'s role is supposed to be, but who cares, just seeing the little fall-guy resonates across a couple of memorable Hollywood decades. And who better to manage scriptwriter Phillip Yordan's parade of shifting alliances than a central European like Andre de Toth, whose 1947 Western Ramrod remains another hidden gem. Anyhow, no movie that pits the steely Robert Ryan against the immovable Burl Ives can afford to be passed up, especially when stretched across an unusually polar landscape that still gives me the cold shivers.