La frustata

Donna Reed comes upon Richard Widmark at a place called Gila Valley where five men were massacred by Indians and one man escaped with $60,000.00. Three of the five men were identified, but none of the deceased is either Widmark's father or Reed's husband. Of course both are hunting for their respective relations.

The search yields some truths that neither one is willing to face up to. But both seek and find support and comfort in the other.

Backlash as a previous reviewer remarked is almost like a detective story set in the west. John Sturges gets some find performances out of his cast.

The two who stand out and steal the film from the stars are William Campbell as a punk gunfighter and John McIntire as the amoral outlaw leader in whose hands Widmark and Reed fall into at the end of their odyssey.

No studio backlots for this western, good location photography and a very nice plot distinguish this film. Catch it the next time AMC runs it.

then this movie is great one to watch. I really don't understand all the love for this movie, but accept that it is what it is.

For me, the script and screen writing is pure high school level. There is simply no rhythm to this film. The acting, given the quality of script, is not bad, though wasted. The relationship between Reed and Widmark develops implausibly. In fact, every relationship in this less than epic oater develops with with an expedition better suited to humor an audience than to lasso them into believability.

A sample: The scene where Widmark takes the dead deputy into Silver City is ridiculous. The "sheriff" (Ed Platt) doesn't even ask the circumstances surrounding the death of his deputy and makes force-less demands of Widmark to remove his gun. Next thing you know, Widmark and Reed are ordered out of town. For what?? Defending themselves?? What does not make sense here is that Platt is demanding accountability from Widmark and Reed, but none from aggrieved brothers of the dead deputy. Silly.

The whole film is loaded with these sorts of inconsistencies.

Reed is gorgeous and thus competes agreeably with the natural beauty of the western landscape where this film was shot.

A lot of stars perform in this effort, but not a lot of stars in my rating.

Anyone else but Richard Widmark, and BACKLASH might have been a forgettable, hollow mystery set in the old West. As it is, Widmark and a dark-tressed, feisty Donna Reed give this slight tale some real impact as two people searching for lost loved ones, Reed her husband and Widmark his father. The two missing men may have been among a group that amassed a small fortune in gold, then massacred by Apaches. The truths Widmark and Reed must face by the climax are tough to take, but these two prove tougher than they might at first appear. Getting to the truth ends up with the two of them caught in the middle of a range war between two ranches. John McIntire also does a nice turn as the supremely evil head of one of the warring ranches. Great outdoor photography lends the film an air of authenticity it might have missed on a studio sound stage or back lot. John Sturges directed.

This is an outstanding movie, particularly for Westerns filmed in this period, which included the mid-50's.

Widmark and Reed give excellent performances, as usual for both, and the remaining cast, particularly William Campbell and John McIntyre, do as well.

Campbell's brash "young gun" is a bit overdone, but that was a trait which was a virtual necessity from this type character in films 50 years ago. The only other aspect which detracted a bit from the story was Donna Reed's appearance. Traveling by horseback in remote, dusty areas, she looked like she might be dressed for a "Western night" sorority party, with makeup perfect and hair well-coiffed, perhaps by her sorority sisters, if not at the campus beauty parlor.

But again, this was an element of 1950's pictures, and didn't detract from the story. Here, there was more plot, drama, good acting, and realistic dealing with the plot's events than your likely to find in the usual 10-15 Westerns, combined.

"Backlash" is a conventional 1950s western, but it is sound and nice and has several merits. The director John Sturges (almost) never disappoints you. The entertaining story is a typical one by the great western-writer Borden Chase: plenty of twists of the plot, of surprises, of double-crossing, of complicated kinship relations between the many characters. The finale is rather original. The action scenes are very good: Sturges is a master of that. The cinematography is stunning: it renders with the full force of a glorious technicolor the wonderful beauty of the Arizona landscapes.

The job by the cast is first-rate. Richard Widmark is a great actor in every role: either as the good guy (here), or as the villain (in many other movies). John McIntire is excellent in his trade-mark role of the sneaky outlaw. But I was even more impressed by the depth of Donna Reed's talent. I remembered her as the paradigmatic loving spouse and mother in "It's a wonderful life". Here she's fully convincing in the role of the tough, cynical woman with a turbulent past. Donna seems even more beautiful and appealing in "Backlash" than in the Capra's movie (in fact she's really gorgeous). Is she so good to be able to improve her looks, depending on her role?

Predictably enough, "Backlash" oozes amiable cliches and naive flaws, which, however, almost increase the pleasure of us old western-movies-fans. First: what's the point of the title? No wips are seen along the movie. Widmark wrestles with an Apache sentry for some thirty seconds, without the Apache screaming to give the alarm to his companions. Where does Donna Reed keep the many beautiful dresses she wears? She travels on horse-back... And we have the usual geographical oddities of old classic westerns: the guys just cross a mountain and they pass from Arizona to Texas!

I like "Backlash" and I recommend it: see the movie, relax and have a good time.