The Young Land

Patrick Wayne is the sheriff of the town town in this section of California with a jail. Sort of. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo has been signed, and California is now American. But there's been no official appointment, so he's just making it up as he goes along. So after he arrests Dennis Hopper for shooting down a Mexican, he's surprised to find judge Dan O'Herlihy riding into town with Deputy Marshal Cliff Ketchum. After the jury is charged and they retire to come to a verdict, the Mexicans gather to see what American justice looks like. So do Hopper's friends.

There isn't much subtext to this movie, and director Ted Tetzlaff runs things that way, with a competent cast that includes Yvonne Craig, Ken Curtis, and Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, all indulging in stereotypes of various sorts. Hopper is excellent, of course, as is Curtis as another bad man who fled to California and is appointed deputy to guard his old friend. Winton Hoch shoots wide vistas in Technicolor, and Dmitri Tiomkin picked up and Oscar nomination with Ned Washington for best song.

I got The Young Land in a one of those 20 western packages and was not expecting much out of it, especially since the lead was a very young Patrick Wayne. Let's face it, no sane film maker would have given him a lead in any movie if he weren't the Duke's son. I expected him to be perfectly awful, but he didn't live up to my worst expectations. He was what used to be termed charitably as "adequate". Well, almost so.

But the movie had such good production values and such a good supporting cast for young Wayne, it was thoroughly entertaining. The best surprise in the works was a Dimitri Tiomkin score. Also excellent were the sets, the cinematography, the costumes, and the props. The down to earth dialog, the characterization, the dress, and the props all combined the give it an authentic look and feel, even though it was not actually authentic in detail. For instance, all the revolvers were correctly cap and ball models, but not the ones that were available in 1848. Amusingly, Wayne was shown loading his rifle in the muzzle, which was appropriate to the time period, but the rifle was obviously a Sharps, which was a breach-loader! Never mind-- E for effort in that department.

Wayne's supporting cast was the movie's best asset. Denis Hopper did his usual disgusting, whining psycho. He was a one-note actor, but he did that well. Yvonne Craig as Wyane's Spanish girl friend was merely decorative, but she was very good at that, I should say! Dan O'Herlihy as the no-nonsense judge dominated the proceedings in more ways than one. Ken Curtis showed that he had possessed quite a range as an actor back in the days before he turned into Festus Haggen. But the actor who really stole the show was Cliff Ketchum, as the quiet but deadly marshal, the judge's right hand man. He was truly authentic. He reminded me of one of those old time rural Texas lawmen I used to know when I was a kid -- scrawny, dried-up, past middle age guys. They didn't look like much but could be tougher than any punk who might come along.

The Young Land had good production values, a great score, a good story, colorful characters, and just the right mix of action and drama. This enjoyable oat-burner was a bargain at the 25 cents I paid for it. Which is more than I can say for some of the lasagna-burners keeping it company in that 20- western pack.

Immediately following the "Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo" in 1848 the territory known as California passed from Mexico to the United States of America. Since almost all of the people living there had been citizens of Mexico there was some apprehension among them concerning how they would now be treated. So when an American gunslinger named "Hatfield Carnes" (Dennis Hopper) kills a Hispanic man the residents of a sleepy village are extremely anxious about whether justice is served. To complicate matters this village has a very rowdy group of American outlaws who feel threatened at the thought of one of their own being tried in a court of law. On the flip side there are also vaqueros riding in from various parts of California to make sure that Hatfield pays for his crime. As a result the unofficial sheriff "Jim Ellison" (Patrick Wayne) is thrown into the middle of something that is rapidly becoming very ugly. At any rate, rather than reveal the rest of the story and risk spoiling the movie for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this film turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The acting was pretty good and I especially liked the performances of Yvonne Craig (as "Elena de la Madrid") along with the aforementioned Patrick Wayne. All in all, this movie wasn't too bad and I rate it as slightly above average.

This is a restored version of this interesting feature, actually completed in 1957 by Buena Vista (Disney) but canned for two years until Columbia rescued and released it, supposedly based upon an historic incident, and there is a good deal to appreciate here, in particular excellent camerawork under the aegis of director Ted Tetzlaff, known essentially as a cinematographer. The scenario places the action in the newborn state of California in 1848, relating of a homicide trial with the defendant, played by Dennis Hopper, accused of murdering a local Mexican/Californian during an observed gun duel, after which he is arrested by the local unofficially appointed and unarmed sheriff, portrayed by 18 year Patrick Wayne. One of the better of a blessedly rare genre, The Didactic Western, YOUNG LAND's primary motif becomes a question as to whether the United States system of justice will serve up fair verdicts for non-English speaking citizens, with the efforts of an imported State judge (Dan O'Herlihy) to organize a proper trial inside a sheep barn being particularly engrossing as the judge is not accustomed to such rude courtroom surroundings. Thanks to a rather large budget, art director Jack Okey creates a Mexican village including a plaza, cantina, jail, and other buildings, and Tetzlaff, favouring long shots shows the players in full along with the location settings, all used to good advantage in glorious Technicolor through strong performances by Hopper, O'Herlihy, Ben Stroud, and Ken Curtis as a fugitive converted into a deputy.

An American gunslinger kills a Mexican man in California immediately after the Mexican-American war.

The killer is arrested and put on trial for murder with the Hispanic population waiting to learn of American justice.

Sounds like Miami today.

Heavy handed directing. No so good acting, even though Dennis Hopper is the main character.

I never thought he was such a great actor. He prove it here.

If anything, this movie serves to prove even in 1959 the left was churning out propaganda.