La lancia che uccide

Spencer Tracy stars in this fine western of a tough cattle baron who is not above taking the law into his own hands to deal with rustlers and trespassers. The film also dwells on the internal strife within the family as three of the rancher's adult sons quarrel over the old man's mistreatment of them and resent his marriage to an Indian woman. The story is told in flashback and begins with the release from prison of Robert Wagner, Tracy's son from the union with his younger wife. The film is a quest for revenge by Wagner who blames his half brothers for Tracy's death while he was behind bars, with Richard Widmark being the leader and instigator against Wagner. Jean Peters appears as Wagner's love interest and Katy Jurado is Tracy's Comanche princess. Tracy's destruction of mining property gets him into big trouble and it is Wagner who takes the blame for Tracy and goes to prison instead of his father, which is the final break between the four brothers. The film was shot in CinemaScope and captures the beautiful expanses of the old west.

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.

Tracy is a believable cowboy, nicely balanced for handling a bull whip, riding dangerously the hills...

Tracy plays a despot, absolute ruler cattle baron "making the wrong move with the wrong people," using his force to restrain the pollution of his cattle's stream: "The river is on my land. You are on my land. You close this operation down."

His first three sons (Widmark, O'Brien and Holliman) were unanimously disappointing to him... He considered them cattle thieves, treating them harshly, without mercy... Only the fourth son and the youngest one (Robert Wagner) by his present wife, a Comanche woman played by the clever, quick-witted Katy Jurado has his affection and care... The other sons looks only forward to his demise so they may take control over his cattle empire...

Tracy — irritated and frustrated as a father — expends excessive reasons that arouses the sensation of hate provoking avaricious rebellion, and nearly destroys his younger kid Joe...

It was interesting to follow Dmytryk's study of racial prejudice against the Indian wife of a domineering white father... Interesting to compare the rough resilience of Tracy with his character—isolated by mortal danger in "Bad Day at Black Rock," a character enlightened with real feelings specially in guessing the conclusion... Somehow this is missing in Dmytryk's "Broken Lance" where the autocratic father seems so artificial, an unfavorable comment that can be aimed against the movie itself...

Widmark offers a fine performance as the unlikable eldest son, while Robert Wagner and Jean Peters manage the romantic interlude...

The screenplay, based on 1949s "Home of Strangers" wins an Oscar and the fiery-eyed Mexican star Katy Jurado was nominated for best supporting actress...

Filmed in CinemaScope and Technicolor and with great sceneries of the state of Arizona, "Broken Lance" remains a first-rate adult Western...

This is an enjoyable and luxurious remake from ¨House of strangers¨ in Western style . Cattle baron Matt Devereaux (magnificent Spencer Tracy as the ruthless wealthy owner who sadly contends his sons) is a widower who married an Indian woman (Katy Jurado , though plays Robert Wagner's mother in the film, she was only six years older than him in real life) . The Irish Matt is an egocentric and tyrannical self-made man that raises his family in an environment of hatred . He raids a copper smelter that is polluting his water . As Deveraux swears vengeance on those who have poised his stock . Half-breed son named Joe (Robert Wagner) takes responsibility for the raid and gets three years in jail . Serious conflicts arouse which split the family , as Ben Deveraux (Richard Widmark) attempts to divide the property among his brothers .

This over-the-top film contains intense drama , racial slur , familiar confrontation with dramatic taking on among father-sons and being beautifully realized . Interesting screenplay by Richard Murphy , based on a story by prestigious Philip Yordan . Good and agreeable Western that details the dissolution of a despotic cattle baron's family with King Lear's Shakespeare touches . The picture with exciting plot displays elements of Greek tragedy and a touching finale . It results to be a peculiar version about confrontation between father and brothers ; theme to be treated in other Hollywood films such as ¨House of strangers¨ (1949) also written by Philip Yordan , being directed by Joseph L Mankiewicz with Edward G Robinson (Spencer Tracy role), Luther Adler (Richard Widmark character) , Efrem Zimbalist (Hugh O'Brian role) and Richard Conte (Robert Wagner role) . Spencer Tracy's tour-de-force performance in the climactic courtroom scene was so powerful that it completely captivated the onlooking film crewmen . Richard Widmark as the oldest and meanest brother , in a smaller part that you'd expected from his billing , is nevertheless excellent as a bad guy . The other siblings are played by naive young Robert Wagner , tough Hugh o'Brian and slow witted Earl Holliman . Romantic interest is supplied by the ever vivacious and lovely Jean Peters who married Howard Hughes . Besides , an excellent plethora of secondary actors as Katy Jurado , E.G Marshall , Eduard Franz . Musical score well composed and conducted by Leigh Harline is impressive ; including catching leitmotif and enjoyable sounds from Western . Colorful and evocative cinematography in Cinemascope by Joseph MacDonald .

The motion picture well produced by the great producers Sol C. Siegel , Darryl F. Zanuck was stunningly directed by Edward Dmytryck . A veteran filmmaker, Dmytryck is one of Hollywood's most prolific directors who started his career in the early 40s . He was a craftsman whose career was interrupted by the activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), a congressional committee that employed ruthless tactics aimed at rooting out and destroying what it saw as Communist influence in Hollywood . A lifelong political leftist who had been a Communist Party member briefly during World War II, Dmytryk was one of the so-called "Hollywood Ten" who refused to cooperate with HUAC and had their careers disrupted or ruined as a result. The committee threw him in prison for refusing to cooperate, and after having spent several months behind bars , Dmytryk decided to cooperate . Dmytrick's biggest film was ¨The Caine Mutiny¨ , but he also realized another mutiny film titled : ¨Mutiny¨ with Angela Lansbury . Edward was an expert on warlike genre as ¨Back to Batan¨ , ¨Battle of Anzio¨ , ¨Young lions¨ and Western as ¨Broken lance¨ , ¨Alvarez Kelly¨ , ¨Warlock¨ among others . Rating : 7 , better than average . It's recommended for Western enthusiasts and Spencer Tracy fans .

BROKEN LANCE is a run of the mill Western elevated by Spencer Tracy's unfailingly high acting standards. Screenplay is OK, with an ending that requires much suspension of disbelief, and with a vested anti-racism message which, back in 1954, must have been unusual and even necessary.

Film critic Leonard Maltin sees it as Shakespeare's King Lear in the male version and in the West. He may have a point, though one could argue that the parable of the prodigal son also comes to mind, except that that son is of mixed race (Wagner) who is returning from doing time, and brother Widmark resents him to the point of short-changing him in terms of inheritance.

Widmark begins well enough but gradually goes wide of the mark, and by the end his character is overblown with self-pity, hatred, greed, envy, and many other sins, to the point of trying to shoot his half-brother (the whole sequence is pathetic and lets the film down badly). Needless to say, by comparison Wagner comes across as an angel, not least because he has done three years in jail by taking the blame for a misdeed by his father, Tracy, thereby sparing the latter that time behind bars.

That situation in effect gives Wagner the plum part in the movie but, sadly, apart from the moment when he throws a wad of money into a spitoon, he misses the opportunity. I would have loved to see Marlon Brando in that part.

Katy Jurado, playing Tracy's second wife and the daughter of an Indian chief, is Wagner's mother. Her weak acting is particularly exposed when she comes face to face with Tracy.

The other two brothers hardly have a thing to say, and sound dumb when they open their mouths. Jean Peters is beautiful, which is a plus, but her role is rather limited. The actor who plays her father is convincing, but his part is too short to be noteworthy.

Photography and settings are first class, and give this movie a kind of GONE WITH THE WIND look at times. I have now seen this film some five times, and to me it ends with Tracy's death. The remaining 20+ minutes are painful to watch without him, especially the thoroughly unbelievable sequence where Widmark tries to do Wagner.