Un piede nell'inferno

Alan Ladd plays Mitch Barrett, who after having his home and lands in Atlanta destroyed during the civil war heads with his pregnant wife west for a fresh start. The two make it to a western town where Mrs. Barrett and the baby die for want of medicine that cost $1.87. Simmering with hatred, Mitch never forgives the town...particularly the sheriff, general store owner and hotel owner. The three of whom he holds personally responsible for his wife's untimely death.

Cold and meticulous he plans his revenge, amassing four partners to help him with his plan. I appreciated the end...but overall thought Alan Ladd's acting lacked interest or emotion. He was so flat it made the revenge theme hard to follow. The story and plot were interesting...but Alan Ladd's flat performance ruined the film for me.

Alan Ladd wasn't much of an actor. If you don't believe me just take a look at his mediocre performance in the very mediocre western "One Foot in Hell" which was directed by the little known James B Clark and also featured Don Murray, (terrible), and Dan O'Herlihy (slightly less terrible), in prominent roles. The only thing it has going for it is a plot that differs somewhat from other run-of-the-mill westerns. (It's more akin to a gangster picture). Ladd is the sheriff who plans to take revenge on the town that let his pregnant wife die, by robbing the bank. Handsomely shot in Cinemascope by William C Mellor it passes a couple of hours painlessly enough but you're not likely to remember it ten minutes after seeing it.

Definitely agree with the many IMDBers below who feel that the most notable thing, by far, about this psychological western is Alan Ladd's descent into darkness. Pretty sure I've never seen Ladd be this rotten. That it works is tribute to Ladd's skill as an actor, a talent often buried beneath a ton of bad to mediocre movies. Every so often, as in "Shane", "Blue Dahlia" or "Glass Key", it would rise to the surface and it's interesting that those three films also feature Ladd in a shadier hue than usual, although nothing compared to his portrayal of vengeance driven evil here. With his ridiculous derby hat and dead voice and deader eyes his character is truly creepy.

Dragging the film down is a clunky script by Aaron Spelling (yes, THAT Aaron Spelling) and Sydney Boehm that asks you to buy that a town can turn from moral corruption to redemption on a dime, based on a scolding from Larry Gates' saintly doc. And the love scenes between Don Murray and Dolores Michaels start at cloying and work their way down from there. Also, in a sure sign of bad writing, potentially interesting subsidiary characters, like Dan O'Herlihy's articulate killer and Barry Coe's sadistic killer, remain potential rather than fully developed. There is a scene that suggests these two have a shared past but, unless I missed something, we never find out what it is. (That's called a story hole, in case you're wondering).

Ladd sure lingers in the mind, though. Enough to give this film a B minus.

As Mitch Barret : Alan Ladd exacts a merciless vendetta on small town inhabitants by becoming a sheriff. As Mitch manages to turn an implacable sheriff . Along the way , he joins forces with other people : Don Murray , Dan O'Herlihy , Barry Coe , Dolores Michaels to carry out a twisted plan. One Foot in Hell one Hand on a Gun one day a town would never forget . One Foot in Hell is one whale of a Motion Picture ! It is one of the most exciting , one of the most powerful human epics in the story of the West !

This is the thrilling story of the day hell came to town wearing a badge well starred by Alan Ladd , being one of the last movies , actually the last was The Carpetbaggers 1964 and subsequently dying of alcoholism. Alan Ladd starred some notorious Westerns as Branded , Drum Beat , The Proud Rebel , The Iron Mistress , Badlanders and his big hit : Shane . Based on a Playhouse story , called The last man with interesting script from Aaron Spelling and Sydney Bohem who produced , too . There is a good studio character , including a large plethora the roles with especial peculiarities , such as a drifter , a pickpocket , a Saloon girl and a drunkyard . Along with Ladd there appears a lot of familiar secondaries providing nice interpretations such as : George Coe , Dan O'Herlihy , Don Murray Larry Gates , John Alexander , Robert Adler , Karl Swenson , among others.

It displays colorful and glimmer cinematography by William C Mellor . As well as evocative and stirring musical score by Dominic Frontiere . The picture was well directed by James B Clark . This good filmmaker was an artisan who usually shot episodes for popular TV series as Batman, High Chaparral, Lassie , Daniel Boone The Monroe , Voyage to the bottom of the Sea , Firehouse , Loner and occassionally making feature films as A Dog of Flanders , Villa ! , Sierra Baron , Under Fire , Misty and My side of the Mountain. One Foot in Hell rating : 6,5/10 . Notable . The flick will appeal to Alan Ladd fans . Well worth watching .

Alan Ladd's last western is this strange little item that did not get much play back in 1960, confined to second place on double bills. He should have done this one earlier when he was a much bigger box office name.

Ladd plays a settler traveling west and his wife comes down with some prairie malady. Going off to the nearest town he gets a prescription for a $1.87 worth of medicine. But then he runs afoul of some of the town louts and gets delayed long enough so that his wife sickens and dies.

The town fathers feel real sorry for him. In fact they feel so bad that they offer him the job of deputy sheriff. But when the sheriff dies and Ladd becomes sheriff it's the first step in an elaborate plan for revenge on the town. He hates each and every citizen of this place because of the death of wife Rachel Stephens.

Ladd puts together a gang in secret to rob the town bank at a proper moment when it's bulging with cash. Among others in his scheme are drunken cowboy Don Murray and working girl Dolores Michaels. Murray's part is very similar to the one he had the year before with James Cagney in Shake Hands With The Devil. In fact if you've seen that film, you know what happens in One Foot In Hell.

What could have been a great comeback role for Ladd goes for naught. I'm not sure it was his drinking at the time. More like it was wife Sue Carol who at this point was mismanaging his career. And face it, his day had past.

But next to what he was about to do over in Italy in Duel of the Champions, One Foot In Hell comes out like Stagecoach. It's not a bad film, as good as any of the B westerns that Audie Murphy was doing at this time. Still had he been 10 years younger and the film had been distributed differently, say with Paramount's studio power back in the day when he was their biggest star, One Foot In Hell could have been a classic.

As it is, it's not bad viewing. Note the script was by an up and coming television giant, Aaron Spelling.