Due stelle nella polvere

A stagecoach bound for Jericho is ambushed by Alex Flood (Dean Martin). He's a bad man and he takes over the town with his brutal gang. He hangs the stagecoach driver for shooting one of his men in self-defense. Stagecoach owner Molly Lang (Jean Simmons) tries to save the driver but fails. She happens to be Flood's ex and he still holds a flame for her. A wounded Ben Hickman (John McIntire) and his former deputy Dolan (George Peppard) arrive in town to take partial ownership of the stagecoach line with Molly. Molly had informed Ben of her dire situation but Dolan was unaware and is unconvinced of joining her. Flood is demanding 51% of everything including the stagecoach.

It's interesting to see Dean Martin play against type. He's actually pretty good at playing evil. It's an interesting tense stand-off for the first half of the movie but I kept wondering about Dolan's plan if he had any at all. I really like Flood losing the poker hand to Dolan. It would have been even more interesting if the losing was deliberate as a way of enticing him to leave. On the other hand, I don't like the inciting incident with the deputy tearing up the stagecoach. It's too haphazard and rescuing a damsel is too bland. A better inciting incident would be killing Ben. That would lead to Dolan going on a revenge war against Flood and that would be a better movie. Once Dolan killed a deputy, Flood would have hung him without a trial. That section do not make sense. It's not until the saloon shootout that the movie finds its violence. It's a long time coming and about thirty minutes late. The shooting is still a little old fashion but at least, there is plenty of it.

Compelling tale of an ex-deputy and his nemesis who is hired by a widow to protect her from revenge-seeking outlaws . In the Old west there are always the men who live breathe violence and the women who hold their breath . A ¨town tamer¨ , ex-sheriff and now professional gambler named Dolan (George Peppard) along with his old pal (John McIntire) come hired by Molly Lang (Jean Simmons) who owns the stagecoach line to rid the baron land named Alex Flood (Dean Martin)and his hoodlums (Slim Pickens , Steve Sandor) . Dolan as ex-lawman brings peace for the townspeople , meanwhile Alex takes the justice on his own hands , hanging enemies and appointing marshals and orders warnings , as wearing of guns or other weapons in town is banned . Flood is a whole villain determined to kill Dolan , he owns the Palace Casino, Saloon , General Store and lands . But the town council afraid the raw methods carried out by Flood and reunite , when Alex aware he orders to burn the place . At the end the kingpin landowner appears and attempts to murder Dolan with his own means .

This is a tremendously exciting story of an ex-deputy-for-hire who had only one more killing to go. It begins as a sluggish , slow-moving Western but follows to surprise us with dark , rudimentary characters and solid plot . The tale is almost grim though full of clichés, a pacifier and his old partner come to a town just in time to make sure its citizenry but later the events get worse . The action is brutishly cruel as when Dean Martin slaps and hits Jean Simmons. The highlights of the film are the facing off between Peppard and Slim Pickens and the climatic showdown on the ending at the saloon and the town. Phenomenal and great role for Dean Martin as bad guy , he's the whole show. Vivid and lively musical score by Don Costa and atmospheric cinematography by Russell Metty. Watchable results for this offbeat Western.

The motion picture is professionally directed by Arnold Laven . Laven formed a production company along with Jules Levy and Arthur Gardner. The first Levy-Gardner-Laven movie was 1952's "Without Warning"'; in the decades since, they have produced and directed dozens of additional features . He's an expert on Western genre as cinema as television as he produced and directed several TV series including "The Rifleman," "Law of the Plainsman," , "The Big Valley" . And directed acceptable Western films as ¨The glory guys¨, ¨Geronimo¨and ¨Sam Whiskey¨.

Dean Martin as producer offered wisely to George Peppard a good guy's role to catch him to the picture, still stay with Jean Simmons as romantic pair, but put all this on the table is quite clear that the whole thing survives for few good scenes only, like the whip fight between Peppard and Pickens was bloody and impressive, another is when they playing poker, it's seems that Martin was loosing on purpose to Peppard leaves the town and at last the final showdown at the desert when Dino tried to ambush him, with those shaped blondie hair on the front face as long trademark, Simmons didn't added too much, Mcintire was average appearance, l'd to watch it twice to reach a final conclusion over it, watch out when Dino was involved in something, he can try to sing during in kitsch way...avoid!!!

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First watch: 2011 / How many: 2 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7

Off beat casting of Dean Martin as the town tyrant who, among other things wants the stagecoach line that his former lover, Jean Simmons, currently owns. In steps George Peppard, playing a former deputy, who comes to town and eventually gets caught up in things when his better sense tells him that he shouldn't stay. Simmons plays a hand in this. Slim Pickens, who usually played good guys, played one of Matin's henchmen. The film gets rather violent--especially the fight scene between Peppard and Pickens-which begins with Pickens using a whip. Acting was quite good. I liked Don Galloway and John McIntyre in supporting roles. It was a bit of a stretch to believe Martin as a total villain--but he pulled it off quite well

Dean Martin owns 51% of everything in town, except former lover Jean Simmons' stage line. When he and his hired guns start squeezing her, she writes former marshal John McIntire. He shows up, but remains abed while George Peppard scouts out the situation.

This metaphorical western about the corruption of society by business interests makes use of symbolic values of B westerns, and balances the traditional B Western values of action with some decent speeches, with Dean Martin playing the darker edge of his screen persona in the midst of his Matt Helm era. Miss Simmons also gives a fine performance that reinvigorated her career. She and Peppard have a great drinking scene. Yet there are issues with this movie that are disturbing, both in the way that the film makers seem to have forgotten how to make a western -- the score by Don Costa is overly dramatic in a TV-Western manner that makes it seem that the events are less important than they should be within the movie, and cinematographer Russell Metty shoots the action sequences with a zoomed-in telephoto lens that makes those passages weightless.

The net impact is that the film makers feel the movie is simultaneously more important and less important than it is. Perhaps the only way to get this film made was to populate it with major talent in front of the camera. Certainly the actors take the subtext seriously. It's too bad the people behind the camera overburdened a good story with unnecessary technique, making this an interesting and watchable western, but little more.