O Vale da Vingança

This really isn't the most exciting or original western ever made. It's a fair enough attempt and the frame work for many other later '50's westerns is already slightly present in this movie.

Real problem with the movie is its story, though its concept definitely sounds intriguing and strong on paper, it just doesn't ever become so in the movie. The drama is almost soap-like, with uninteresting affairs and other personal drama's. It's a muddled mess, that above all is uninteresting to watch. Luckily toward the end the movie and its story gets better, when the more soap-like drama makes place for better developed and layered drama. The movie gets more solid and it doesn't allow any of the earlier weaker drama to distract from it. It makes this movie still a decent one to watch, though it's not one that I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone.

Despite the simple drama, characters and dialog, Burt Lancaster still shines in this movie. He gives away a great performance and also plays a likable main character. Good to see that he also did westerns in his career. The genre fits him well. None of the other characters or actors are really good enough to leave a lasting impression.

It takes awhile for the movie to take pace and from the beginning on it isn't clear were the movie is trying to head to. It takes too long for the movie to take form, which makes the movie drag at points and also make it rather dull, to be frank. Not even some good old fashioned fight sequences can change anything about this.

The settings on the other hand look fine and the nature suits the movie and its atmosphere. The cattle driving sequences are without doubt the best parts of the movie.

Not bad enough to consider it unwatchable but not really good enough to consider it a recommendable movie either.

6/10

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Robert Walker plays Lee Strobie, a sleazy greedy son gone bad. His adopted brother Owen Daybright (Burt Lancaster) is always covering for him. Strobie gets Lily Faskin (Sally Forrest) pregnant and Lily's brothers (John Ireland & Hugh O'Brien) come gunning for Daybright since they found out he was the one who paid money to Lily for her trouble. They think Owen is the father when in fact it was Lee who got Lily pregnant in the first place. Lee also tries to hide this fact from his wife Jen (Joanne Dru) but she finds out about it, anyway.

Sound convoluted enough? Well it actually it works. This is an 'adult' western, not your average B programmer.

There's little gunplay except at the end when the Faskin brothers try to ambush and kill Owen during a cattle drive. Lee gallops away leaving Owen at the mercy of the Faskins. It's only then that Owen realizes Lee was in on this ambush too because he wants Owen dead so he can have the ranch all to himself.

The other ranch hands come to Owen's rescue and kill the Faskins, leaving Owen free to pursue Lee to the river where the inevitable showdown occurs. If you want to see what happens next, see the movie.

I love the scenery in this one. It's beautiful. Looks like Colorado but I could be mistaken and the IMDb doesn't give the location. I'd love to go out there, though.

It seems this MGM western is in the public domain since there are a lot of bootleg DVDs of it out there of mediocre quality. I saw it on TCM and it looks like it could use a remastering job since the Technicolor is all washed out and the sound fades out at times.

Unlike some of the viewers below, I liked it since it had a slightly sleazy element to the story. May even be worth getting on DVD if Turner ever decides to release an official version.

7 out of 10

Vengeance Valley is pretty good for a western starring Burt Lancaster and Robert Walker as brothers, one of whom adopted, whose rivalry leads to betrayal later on. Also liked the women played by Joanne Dru and Sally Forrest and Hugh O'Brian and John Ireland as the brothers of Forrest who want to kill the man who impregnated their sister. Lots of good scenes of cattle rustling and some exciting fight scenes come every now and then but there's plenty of good drama concerning the characters too. The Technicolor stands out in this location-shot picture. Loved the narration by Carleton Carpenter as Hewie. Worthy entry for any old movie western fan.

A wealthy ranch man has a son ;his wife died a long time ago and the boy ,now married to Jen ,gets Lily pregnant.And he's got an ominous plan about his father's valuable properties.Bad boy indeed.Fortunately ,there's another "son" Owen (Daybright,what a surname!),or a boy the old man treats like a son.Robert Walker plays the villain as he did in Hitchcock's thriller "strangers on a train" while Burt Lancaster is the nice guy,who can even take the blame for what his pal did.

The bad boy/ anxious father subject was much better applied on Anthony Mann's "Man from Laramie" in 1955,but Burt Lancaster makes this ho -hum western watchable.Pointless voice over.

"Vengeance Valley" (1951) is not just a great title for a western, but a well-made, intelligent feature that should please Burt Lancaster and Robert Walker fans. A cattle baron (Ray Collins) takes in an orphaned boy (Owen Daybright) and raises him. His own son (Lee Strobie) is about the same age. Although Lee resents Owen they generally get along and share a lot of coming of age adventures on the ranch. But as they mature Lee's (Robert Walker) resentment causes him to become a slacker and the classic prodigal son. After a long absence he returns with a wife, appears to have cleaned up his act, and reconciles with his father.

But Lee's past includes a girl named Lily that he got pregnant. Owen covers for him, but this causes Lee to resent his stepbrother even more. When he suspects that his father's ranch and his new wife are slipping away from him, he sets up Owen to be killed by Lily's two brothers. Although this prodigal son-Cain and Abel stuff is hardly original, the two stars are excellent in their respective parts. Lancaster reins in his excesses and gives a nice controlled performance, with his suppressed energy just visible enough to give Owen a nice dimensionality.

Walker in convincing as a two-faced villain, still motivated by childhood jealousy but able to conceal it from everyone but the audience. Walker is relatively forgotten today, but was the 1940's version of James Dean; although his looks and style are more like a young Robert Vaughn.

When not occupied with its melodramatic story, "Vengeance Valley" has the look of an extremely well-produced documentary, going into great detail about the process of a spring roundup and providing a lot of very scenic backgrounds. A ranch hand named Hewie (Carleton Carpenter) provides an informative voice-over. The film features some great cattle scenes, a lot of good riding sequences, and a couple well staged fights. Watch for an early appearance by young Hugh O'Brian-just a few years away from starring in television's "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp".

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.