L'alba del gran giorno

In the last days of RKO and Republic Pictures with the B western having gone on to television, the westerns that those two small studios were putting out were not for the kiddie Saturday afternoon trade. Great Day In The Morning is a western with a few adult themes thrown in, Robert Stack is most definitely not bashful around the women, he won't be satisfied kissing his horse.

The plot Great Day In The Morning takes place at the beginning of the Civil War. The film has plot elements of three classic westerns, Hondo, Virginia City, and The Far Country. Robert Stack's character of Owen Pentecost is a whole lot like James Stewart in The Far Country. Stack is a southerner, but he's not doing anything for the newborn Confederacy without being well paid.

As for the women, Stack has two to choose from, pioneer lass Virginia Mayo and saloon girl Ruth Roman. In fact Ruth Roman is playing pretty much the same part she did in The Far Country. Like in Hondo, Stack is forced into a gunfight with a recalcitrant miner and later on winds up taking the miner's son David MacDonald under his wing.

And of course like Virginia City it's all about that Southern gold only here the southerners are the good guys. Not all the northerners are bad like regular army colonel Carleton Young and Captain Alex Nicol, but the two chief villains are Roman's partner Raymond Burr and hotheaded former army sergeant Leo Gordon.

Burr is an especially hateful character, he's got two things he hates Stack for, politics and the fact Stack's beating Burr's time with Roman. Burr was always a big heavy man, I met him during the early Eighties in New York, but in his early days he kept his weight down to some degree, if you've seen the original Perry Mason series you well remember that. But here to play the part of a character named Jumbo and he's as big here as I remember seeing him in person and in the later Perry Mason films. In fact Raymond Burr's performance is the most memorable one in Great Day In The Morning.

There's enough action for the traditional western fan, but there's a lot of sex in Great Day In The Morning as well. Jacques Tourneur keeps the film going at a good clip. Both traditional western fans and those who favored the adult western soon to be popping up on television will like Great Day In The Morning.

Great Day in the Morning was the last western directed by Jacques Tourneur. It's based on a novel by Robert Hardy Andrews and features Robert Stack and Virginia Mayo in key roles.

The action of the film takes place right before the beginning of the American Civil War. Directly from the start of the film we're introduced to the main character of Owen Pentecost (Robert Stack) who is trying to defend himself when attacked by the Indians. Things start to get pretty bad, but group of people appears headed by Sarg. Zeff Masterson (Leo Gordon) and saves his life. But when Masterson discovers that the man he's just saved is a Confederate, he resents himself for doing so and only is stopped from finishing Owen by his colleague Stephen Kirby (Alex Nicol). Soon they arrive to Denver, Colorado, where everything indicates that the war is ready to break out any moment. But Owen Pentecost more concerned about himself and about the real purpose of his coming to Denver, which is a load of gold that was dig by the confederate miners and is ready to be transported to the south to help the Confederate cause. The delay might ruin everything, and this is what Owen counts on, planning to take advantage of the situation for his own benefit. This is where Boston (Ruth Roman) enters the scene. She is beautiful woman who falls in love with him and having her own opinion about what Owen's future should be makes him a town's saloon owner and herself his associate. Meanwhile the time passes by and the Civil War breaks out with Confederates attacking Fort Sumter and urgent transportation of gold to the south becomes a matter of vital importance. That is where Stephen Kirby reveals his true identity as a Captain of a Union Army and gathers a group of volunteers intending to stop moving out the gold.

Great Day in the Morning can be hardly called a classic, but nonetheless is quite a good western worth to take a look at. 7/10

Southerner Robert Stack wins a Denver saloon and bar girl (Ruth Roman) from crooked card dealer Raymond Burr on eve of Civil War. Trouble is that southerners are outnumbered in Union-leaning Colorado and need Stack's help to get big gold shipment to Dixie and the war effort. But Stack's only out for himself and is now in fat city with a saloon and a girl. So what's he going to do.

Good core plot, great Colorado scenery, ace director (Jacques Tourneur), and an A-picture budget, yet the results are mixed. For one thing, it looks like Stack's getting the big star build-up since he has to romance not only bar girl Roman but good girl Virginia Mayo too. That's about one girl too many for even the best Western. Here Mayo's part is really unnecessary and drags down the pacing. Besides, do we really care which movie star he ends up with. Still and all, it's fun to watch the girls' bra's duke it out in best 1950's uplift fashion. Also, subplot of orphaned boy (Donald McDonald) adds to what becomes a sprawling story that strays too far from the solid core.

Nonetheless, the cold-eyed Stack makes for a convincing gunman, while no movie with character great Leo Gordon could be a loss. Here he's in a typical role as a Union rowdy ready to fight at the proverbial drop of a hat. He's always reminded me of an early Lee Marvin, with the same virile presence and clarity of personality, but without Marvin's range. Also notable for fine support from the hulking Peter Whitney, a familiar Hollywood face for many years. His quiet scene with Stack remains the film's most intelligent and powerful.

The movie was made during that period when Hollywood had not yet learned to live with TV. Note that even budget-minded RKO comes up with a wide-screen process to show off the spectacular scenery that can't be done on TV. I expect the competition also accounts for the star-heavy treatment that ultimately crowds the plot and slows down events. But with a tighter script and leaner casting, this could have been a first-rate Western, especially considering the wonderfully done final scene.

As Westerns go this qualifies for entertainment. All Westerns teach us about history some do it better than others. Many Westerns entertain while teaching. Some do a better job than others. This one educates but falls a little short on quality film watching but is worthy for effort. After all, you have some name-brand players here and they carry the film nicely from scene to scene. We get some gold rush input, pre-civil war activity, and of course drinking, card-playing and shoot em ups with bad and good guys plus the Southerner versus the northerner dynamics. There is virtually no character development. You just have to accept what is going on in the screen and enjoy it. The ending leaves us with mixed feelings only because it is both good and bad. I like to snack while watching and this movie is good for sunflower seeds as you casually watch with a tasty drink to clear the palette. Mount-up and let's ride

This western starring the inimitable Robert Stack is quite good, overcoming a somewhat weak and syrupy script, which nonetheless contains some classic lines (my favorite is: When I first stepped out into the world, a drunkard took one look at me and shouted: 'the elephant is loose!' since then, an elephant has been my good luck charm. What's the secret to your remarkable charm? ANSWER: A complete indifference to Elephants.")

Not Jacques Tourneur's best film, but his direction is good and the technicolor outdoor fight sequences (especially the dramatic opening sequence, similar to that in Johnny Guitar) are beautiful.