Represália

As Frank Madden, Guy Madison has a past more mysterious than Shane's. When he buys a ranch in the Midwest as part of a long-time dream to be a respected land owner, he encounters obstacles at every point.

George Marshall directs this B western with a master's touch. His handling of the mob scene, the near-lynching, the moving confrontation between Guy Madison and the Indian patriarch, and the final shootout are electrifying. Guy Madison gives one of his best performances in what is largely an unsympathetic role.

In 74 minutes this western makes a statement about prejudice against native Americans that is both moving and relevant today. A-budget pictures should be as good.

New ranch owner Frank Madden, half Indian but posing as white, arrives just as an all white jury finds the three white Shipley brothers who lynched three Indians innocent. There is soon trouble between Frank and the Shipleys who are using Frank's land to graze their cattle. When the brother of one of the Indian victims kills a Shipley, Frank is accused and put in jail. The Shipleys then organize a lynch mob and head for the jail.

Guy Madison delivers a great performance as a mixed race man caught in the middle, trying to act white though the only people showing him much kindness are from the race he wants to abandon. Pate and Platt are very good as two of the Indian-hating Shipley brothers. Pate's character is nearly as conflicted as Madison's, because he can't stay away from a pretty Indian girl (Kathryn Grant). Felicia Farr is excellent as a person who sympathetic to natives and falls in love with Madison.

This is tautly plotted, effective western that highlights prejudice. Don't expect wall to wall gunfights but a solidly told story that collates all the elements in a 70 minute running time. Good characterisation, cinematography and superb camera work is in display here.

As much as wide swaths of the western genre are supersaturated with racism as a defining feature of their storytelling, the premise here doesn't sound particularly enticing. As soon as we press "play" - woo boy, it's even worse than one supposes sights unseen. We can at least be grateful that the white settlers are accurately, definitively, and vehemently posited as appalling, toxic villains, which gives this feature a leg up on many of its brethren, but that doesn't make the ugliness of the tale any easier to digest. There's also the fact of white actors being cast as indigenous characters, but this is small fries compared to the saga of rampant, brutal, unchecked violence against native Americans, of mob rule and the same villains running roughshod over a town and its inhabitants, of a protagonist with indigenous blood who keeps his identity secret, and of the latent biases of even the most well-meaning characters coming out in due course. The genre does get tawdrier than 'Reprisal!,' but only when the storytelling betrays the prejudices of the filmmakers. For all that, though: words like "entertaining" carry too positive a connotation to use here, but even at its most sordid this is unquestionably, firmly compelling and satisfying.

In every other capacity this is as well made as we assume of mid-century westerns, including gorgeous if desolate filming locations, beautiful sets, lovely costume design, and appreciable stunts, effects, and action sequences. The cast give terrific, earnest performances to bring the terrible drama to bear, including not least Guy Madison and Felicia Farr, and even the actors portraying the villains certainly have to be commended for making their characters so irredeemably loathsome. From Mischa Bakaleinikoff's stirring complementary score, to Henry Freulich's smart, vivid cinematography, to George Sherman's sharp direction that capitalizes on all the potency of the saga, this is all-around superb. True, the overall production values may not represent the utmost cream of the crop, but for as strong as every component part is, the disparity doesn't truly matter. Above all, the adapted screenplay of David P. Harmon, Raphael Hayes, and David Dortort is terrific, serving up a dark, seedy, but absorbing narrative, and stark, electrifying scene writing and characterizations. Truth be told there's only one discrete flaw I see here, for though I don't know whether it can be chalked up to the screenplay or to Arthur Gordon's novel, one way or another it comes across as pure, contrived Movie Magic - the unspoken enforcement of A Happy Ending - for the last scene to conclude in the manner it does. That last sour impression is unfortunate, but still 'Reprisal!' is so excellent otherwise that it's far better and more worthwhile than not.

Strictly speaking a recommendation is tough to give simply because this is not an enjoyable picture; it's not something one watches then walks away feeling good about oneself. The awful real-life history of the United States is on full display in these seventy-odd minutes: the country's racism at large, specifically its treatment of white settlers versus indigenous people, and its living history of allowing the worst of all people to wantonly abuse and harm without any consequences. Not enjoyable - but no less worthy because of it, and in its own way, an important viewing experience for how unflinching it is in its depiction of these notions. I won't say it's a must-see, or perfect (the plot could have been fleshed out more, if we're being honest), but I will say that if you have the opportunity to watch, this is a western that stands taller than even some of its more widely celebrated kin. 'Reprisal!' is not an easy watch, but it's grabbing and deeply engrossing, and one can hardly ask for more than that.

Pretty good western if you can get past Guy Madison as part Indian. Hiding his Indian blood so he can own land, Frank Madden (Madison) gets in trouble when one of the vicious Shipley brothers is killed for which he's blamed, and a lynch mob forms.

Actually, there's more plot here than the 70-minute run time can accommodate. Add the two leading lady sub-plots to the Indian sub-plot to the Shipley brothers main plot, and you've got a lot of story complications. The screenplay does a fair job of integrating them, but there's still an overflow.

The real oddity is Michael Pate playing a white guy (Bert Shipley) instead of an Indian in a western where Indians are featured. In fact, he darn near made a career out of playing Native Americans, so I'm wondering if a cast member dropped out at the last minute such that he had to switch roles. Anyway, he nearly steals the film with a lively, colorful performance.

Also, veteran director Sherman manages to inject genuine energy into the several crowd scenes, especially the lynch mob march down the street that had me really worried for the hapless Madden. Then too, the Arizona locations add a scenic touch to a B-western that could have easily cut corners and stayed in LA. All in all, it's a decent, if crowded, little western with some interesting features.

It was interesting to learn that the origin of the film Reprisal! was a novel set in the post World War II south and it had to do with racial prejudice against black people. One can easily see why Columbia Pictures did not want to do an adaption in that vein. That southern market even in the beginning of the civil rights era was still a potent force. Ergo the setting was changed to the old west and the object of prejudice were Indians.

Saying that Reprisal! is still a very powerful film and one hopes that in theaters in the south some people did get a more subtle message from the film. In a role similar to the one that Robert Taylor played in Devil's Doorway, Guy Madison plays a mixed racial individual who is passing for white because that's the only way he can own his own spread. He's bought a ranch that has been used by a trio of some loathsome brothers named Shipley played by Edward Platt, Michael Pate, and Wayne Mallory who have a bad hatred for the red man.

When Madison is accused of killing Mallory the remaining two Shipley brothers stir the town into a lynching fever. After that the truth comes out all around.

In fact Pate like many a redneck only carries his prejudice so far. He has the hots for Kathryn Grant and the future Mrs. Bing Crosby is quite the fetching woman here. I can see how this portion of the story translates into the pre-civil rights era culture in the deep south. But Grant likes Madison as does Felicia Farr daughter of the town newspaper editor Robert Burton.

Even changing the location Columbia Pictures still made a fine drama about the evils of racial prejudice. It holds up well today.

And this film review is dedicated to the people of Lancaster, New York who just changed their high school football team name from Redskins. A little viewing of this film and Devil's Doorway might give some of those who are still angry at the name change some understanding as to how offensive that name is.