Stranger at My Door

"Stranger at My Door" is a pretty good movie, though I must warn you...the ending is really schmaltzy and could have been handled much better.

The story is set in the American west...during the cowboy era. It begins with a group of bank robbers running from the law. The group decides to split up and the remainder of the film is about the notorious outlaw, Clay (Skip Homeier). He happens upon the ranch of a nice family and he asks to stay while his hobbled horse recuperates. Being that the man of the house is a preacher who believes in the innate ability of anyone to reform, he allows Clay to stay...and Clay makes it clear if the family goes to the law, he'll make them pay! What's next? See the film and find out for yourself.

The acting is good, the story interesting, the horse escape sequence very well made...and the film is one I was ready to give a 7 or even 8 to until it came to the ending. The ending, sadly, was so heavy-handed and silly that it left me quite disappointed.

This film is full of all kinds of surprises. I found it very sophisticated for a western. It's action packed but spiritual, too. And boy what a horse scene. It's a redemption story but in a most unique way. I recommend for the whole family.

The opening scene, bank robbery, reminds LONG RIDERS or any western speaking of James' gang during the Northfield Minnesota raid. I love this scheme of professional hoodlums, like a ballet, change horses, get rid of their clothes, share the loot before split in different directions. No useless dialogues, as clockwork, as in a parade. Whow !!!! That remInded me another film, not a western, But a French crime from 1997, J'IRAI AU PARADIS CAR L'ENFER EST ICI. No one will ever see the other opponents after the post robbery split; the story will focus only on one character, whose fate will - maybe - forever change. This Witney's movie is a false western, but an excellent oater, in the line of RG Springsteen's COME NEXT SPRING or Jacques Tourneur's STARS IN MY CROWN; a pastoral western. But believe me, even if that's not your stuff - that's my case - this petty movie is very surprising from someone like Bill Witney, far from his serials, without any stunt, action sequences - except the opening ones and the TERRIFIC scene with the mustang, the mad horse, an outstanding jaw dropping sequence, which you would never expect to see in a small film, even a western- a feature focused mainly on character depiction.

Skip Homeier is fleeing.a posse after he robbed the local bank. His horse goes lame and he pulls up at the farm of MacDonald Carey. Carey is also a preacher, building a church. Patricia Medina is his second wife, and Stephen Wooten is his son. Carey knows who he is, but agrees to have Homeier stay, looking at it as a chance to redeem a sinner.

There are subplots that come together, like Homeier trying to seduce Miss Medina, and a horse that is impossible to break. Despite the usual good handling by director William Witney, this Republic 'Shaky A' western is too neat and obvious for my taste. The scenes of Carey and Homeier trying to break the horse are well done. With Louis Jean Heydt (looking his age for a change) and Slim Pickens.

This rather sanctimonious Western is worth seeing, despite the delivery of awful dialogue delivered by Macdonald Carey about ' salvation '. The opening scenes are good traditional Western scenes, and then Skip Homeier on the run accidentally lames his horse and is taken in by a preacher and his wife, who the moment she sees him looks visibly sexually interested. Then the tension mounts to almost operatic splendour with a monster stallion literally attacking the lot of them ( sexual symbolism anyone ? ) and Skip Homeier gets them all hot and bothered ( that I understand as he exudes erotic charm). Then religion returns as it would in such a sexually charged film, denying what it desires, and the delirious over the top music adds to the manic feel of the film ( imagine Korngold doing a Wagner pastiche ). And not only does Skip Homeier give a fine performance and even puts Patricia Medina in the shade in every sense of the word. It is an excellent example of camp that John Wayne would have hated. There is even a ' miracle in it '. Well worth tracking down. The final lines reveal a sanctimonious return to probably save it from the Hays Code.