A Time for Dying

Due to financial constraints this movie was shorter than planned. Thank goodness. A sad finale for both producer and director.

The plot for "A Time for Dying" is rather directionless. It also tosses in practically every western personality, location and cliche....as well as a super down-beat ending that will leave most viewers cold and disappointed.

The story is about a young man and young woman. Oddly, instead of the usual famous actors and actresses in the lead, these two are unknowns and. Richard Lapp, in particular, seems very much unlike leading man material. A variety of adventures occur to them...including Judge Roy Bean marrying them against heir will, a run-in with Jesse James and his band of outlaws as well as a run-in against Billy the Kid and his band of outlaws. And, it all ends very poorly.

There wasn't a lot I liked about this film. I did not like the writer tossing in all sorts of characters and places (such as Silver City) instead of focusing on story. I also didn't like the whole showdown on main street at the end. Fist, it didn't make sense. Second, such showdowns never actually occurred out west. I taught American history....and this sort of thing just didn't happen. Overall, a poor western with little to recommend it...no, nothing to recommend it.

By the way, you see a lot of saguaro cacti in the film. These are the very tall cacti...usually with branched arms. Well, such cacti only grow in mid-southern Arizona and Mexico. The film was supposedly set in West Texas and Nevada....and saguaro do NOT grow there like they do in the film.

What a strange little picture. Audie Murphy, like Randolph Scott, has a place in second tier western heroes that is unassailable. By second tier, that's not to denigrate either actor, just that they never attained the heights of movie stardom like James Stewart, John Wayne or later Clint Eastwood did in westerns. Sadly, this marked the final screen appearance of Audie Murphy, and only five minutes of the picture. The leading actor is Richard Lapp. Who? You might wonder why Audie Murphy decided as a producer to invest in this nobody. It's a mystery to everyone who's seen it. He came and went unnoticed. There's one really great performance in the movie with Victor Jory as Judge Roy Bean though, so all is not lost. Not as subtle and menacing as Walter Brennan's portrayal in an earlier film but over the top sort of great, announcing hangings with great glee and his dentures falling out. The director, Budd Boetticher, who made seven fine, even great minor westerns starring Randolph Scott, must have been drunk when he made this. There's no real explanation as to how this film went so badly wrong but I've given it 3 stars, one each for the beautifully clear cinematography, Audie Murphy as Jesse James (all too briefly) and best of all, Victor Jory.

Budd Boetticher directed many high quality westerns, but this effort as replacement director was not one of them. Firstly Lapp and Randall were relatively inexperienced and, while they have their moments they seldom inspired.

Producer Audie Murphy ran out of money and the film was severely cut. A rushed ending is noticeable.

This was Murphy's last acting role and he died before the film was released. His cameo as Jesse James is amusing. His two sons Terry and Skip are among the uncredited actors but neither have scenes with their father.

Lovers of the bizarre may check out Victor Jory's extraordinary turn as western legend Judge Roy Bean.

I of course speak of both Budd Boetticher the director and Audie Murphy, the most decorated World War 2 soldier and a famous western player in the fifties and sixties. Both offer us here their very last film; however I think Boetticher will make ARRUZA after this one. That said, this is a purely late sixties western, downbeat, gloomy, very badly done for a veteran and talented film maker such as Budd Boetticher. And that's also the second time in his career that Audie Murphy played Jesse James, the first one being KANSAS RAIDERS, directed by Ray Enright. When you have admired both actor and director, you can feel some diziness watching this one. But I feel tenderness for this lame film. I don't know why.