No Velho Colorado

"The Man From Colorado", filmed in 1948, portrays two men and how the trauma of the Civil War affected them, and those about them. Glenn Ford delivers a truly mesmerizing performance as a Civil War commander who is slowly being gripped by madness due to the violence of the War, while William Holden plays the part of a veteran of the same war, is able to cope with the aftermath, and yet, is unable to prevent his friend from sinking into degenerate madness.

After the war has ended, both men return to the same hometown to resume their lives. Ford is appointed as a federal judge of the territory, and he, in turn, names Holden as federal marshal. Ultimately, Ford's character sinks deeper into violence and glaring errors in carrying out justice, and Holden has to try and stop his former friend.

Don't let the age of the film deceive you, this movie does pack a message that can be applied today. An 8/10 viewing mark

The story is a fairly simple one. Col. Glenn Ford and Capt. Bill Holden return with a group of fellow soldiers to their home town after the Civil War has ended. Ford has been a pretty ruthless officer. The town has changed during their three-year absence. Their only source of livelihood were their gold claims, but federal laws converted those claims to private property and the mines were gobbled up by Big Ray Collins.

Collins backs Ford for the post of federal judge, and Ford appoints his best friend Holden as chief lawman. The disappointed ex-soldiers bring their case to Judge Ford who finds in favor of Collins. Judge Ford also marries the girl, Ellen Drew, whom Holden also loves. Well, frankly, the ex-soldiers are thoroughly browned off at the loss of their claims even though Big Ray gives them jobs at a barely livable wage ("digging out our own gold") before firing them. Some of the men become bandits preying on Collins' gold. Some don't. But all of them grow to hate Judge Ford for upholding the law, even coming to his house during a birthday party and insulting him in front of his wife and his guest, the friendly doctor, Ed Buchanan. "I don't blame [Collins]," shouts one of the angry crowd, "I blame you!" Ford throws them out.

The plot gets too complicated to describe in any detail but it can be summed up by saying that Judge Ford slugs Holden for telling him he's "sick inside" (people tell Judge Ford that he's "crazy" so often in this movie that it's no wonder he doesn't believe it). His punishments, while within the law, become outrageous. It isn't so much that he's on the side of Big Ray and the suits. It's that he's on his own trip. The movie ends happily, more or less, with Ford gone and Big Ray destroyed, and Holden riding off to Washington to see that the ex-soldiers and the rest of the town get their just due. He smiles at Allen as he boards the train and tells her, "I'll be back."

It's been pointed out repeatedly that "adult westerns" -- that is, those appearing after everybody started watching cheap Hopalong Cassidy movies on TV -- are a chronicle of their times. {"High Noon" is the most often cited example, although nobody seems quite sure of exactly which point of view the film took.) "The Man from Colorado" is no exception. Released in 1948, it's full of references to war veterans and the problems they experience after returning to their home towns. And Glenn Ford has clearly been twisted by his wartime experiences, as have some character in other late- or post-war movies -- William Bendix in "The Blue Dahlia" or whatever it's called, who keeps hearing "monkey music" in his head, or John Garfield in "Pride of the Marines," or Brian Keith in "Five Against the House," I think it was.

The topical references are the most interesting part of the movie, but they are grafted onto an otherwise routine plot. The movie is overorchestrated. If the characters sang their lines it would be grand opera. The wardrobe is undistinguished. The settings are cheesy. When an unjustly accused young veteran is lying against the wall of his jail cell, it looks like what it is: a plaster wall with bricks painted on it. But Makeup should get a medal. Glenn Ford has worn various dos during his career, from bookeeper to flat-top but nothing like this pompador.

Watch it if nothing else is on.

Best friends Owen and Del, along with local men, are mustered out of the Union army at Civil War's end. Trouble is Big Ed has grabbed the men's gold-bearing land while the men were gone, and now, as a judge, Owen has to enforce the law in Big Ed's favor. This splits the community into warring factions.

Gritty, character-driven western. We know at outset that Owen (Ford) is a flawed character when his Union detachment shells surrendering Johnny rebs. In fact, Owen hides his killer instinct behind an uptight rendering of authority, whether as a colonel or as a federal judge. Ford plays the authoritarian part so grimly (count the smiles—I stopped at zero), it's hard to see how the charming Caroline would be attracted to him. Nonetheless, the interplay between best-friends Ford and Holden is involving and forms the story's core. Alliances between the various factions are sometimes hard to keep up with, but are more unpredictable than usual. And I especially like that final maneuvering around the bridge that I didn't see coming.

Columbia Studios popped for a lot of extras, along with fine special effects, especially when the burning wall comes down. Funny, though, how mountainous Colorado looks like greater LA. Too bad Columbia didn't pop for sending the crew at least to Lone Pine and the Southern Sierras. All in all, it's a very different kind of horse opera that avoids the usual clichés, with Ford at his absolute grimmest. Clearly, however, he and Holden are on their way up the Hollywood ladder.

Back in the day William Holden and Glenn Ford both had a unique contractual arrangement with Columbia Pictures. When unknown Bill Holden was up for the lead in Golden Boy, Harry Cohn cast him in return for Paramount selling 50% of his services to Columbia. Holden served two studio masters at the time he was making The Man from Colorado and would for another decade.

Glenn Ford was Columbia's bread and butter leading man at the time and right after The Man From Colorado, Cohn sold half of Ford's contract to MGM and Ford also had two studio masters.

What it meant for these two was that all projects had to be cleared through both studios and that Holden and Ford if they did an outside loan out would also have to be cleared from both. Not that their respective studios didn't keep both these guys very busy.

Holden and Ford had done a well received western, Texas, for Columbia back in 1941. Texas was a rather lighthearted film about two cowboys turning to different sides of the law in post Civil War Texas, though it did feature the death of one of them.

The Man from Colorado is also a story about the activities of Union Army war veterans. But The Man from Colorado doesn't have any light moments whatsoever. It's pretty grim tale about one of them developing a real taste for sadism and killing as a result of the war.

Ford's the sadist here, it's one of the few villain parts he ever did and it works I think because he is so against type. He did very few parts like this, Lust for Gold is another, but his public wouldn't accept him in these roles.

Some of the town businessmen led by Ray Collins just look at the war record and decide Ford would make one fine federal judge. A real law and order type. They get a lot more than they bargain for.

In Texas Holden had the showier role of the young cowboy who take the outlaw route. Here however he's the best friend who stands by his former commanding officer even though he both sees the man has issues and Holden loses Ellen Drew to Ford. Holden takes the outlaw path after giving up his marshal's job when Ford starts running roughshod over due process.

The other really standout performance in this film is that of James Milliken who plays one of Ford's former soldiers who turns outlaw and in fact humiliates him in one of the few funny moments in The Man From Colorado. Ford conceives a burning hate for him that results in tragedy all around.

Ford and Holden were considering another joint project in 1981 when Holden died. I would like to have seen that one come to pass.

Try to see The Man From Colorado back to back with Texas.

The end of the Civil War is nigh and one last pocket of Confederate resistance is holed up at Jacob's Gorge. Knowing their time is up they hoist the white flag in surrender. Union Colonel Owen Devereaux sees the white flag but orders the attack anyway. Returning home with his friend and colleague, Capt. Del Stewart, Devereaux grows ever more erratic by the day, his friends, his loves and all who cross him, are sure to pay if they can't rein in his madness.

Starring Glenn Ford as Devereaux and William Holden as Stewart, directed by Henry Levin, The Man from Colorado, from a story by Borden Chase, is an intriguing psychological Western. The story follows the theme of a man ravaged by war and his inability to let go of the anger and mistrust gnawing away at him. Perfectly essayed by Ford as Devereaux (great to see him donning some bad guy boots), the film is rather grim in context. Light on action (no bad thing here at all) it's with the dialogue driven characters that Levin's film really triumphs. Having both become lawmen, it would have been easy for all to just play out a standard oater as the two friends are driven apart by not only their different levels of sanity (Holden's Stewart is an excellent counter point to Ford's blood thirst), but also the love of a good woman (Ellen Drew's petite Caroline Emmet). However, Chase's story has other elements to keep it from ever being formulaic. There's a deep political thread involving power and those entrusted with it, while the treatment of returning soldiers is firmly given prominence. Here the "boys" return after 3 years of being knee deep in blood and bone, to find that their claims are no longer valid. Snaffled by a greedy corporate type, thus as the "boys" look to the law for help?...

As a story it has substance of depth, how nice to also find that there are smart technical aspects to harness the screenplay. The Simi Valley location work is fabulous, most appealing. William E. Snyder's cinematography work is top draw, arguably his best work in the Western genre. It's fair to say that even a "c" grade Western can look nice if given a good transfer, but when the Technicolor print is good, you can tell the difference big time, and this piece is first rate. The dusty orange and browns of the scenery fabulously envelopes the blue uniforms, while the green and gold glow lamps are vivid and shine bright as if extra characters in the piece. Even Ford's greying temples have a classy sheen to them, almost belying his characters anger. All Western fans simply must hone into High Definition TV because although we always knew how fabulous these pictures looked, now it's another dimension of rewards unbound.

As the finale comes in a blaze of fire (welcome to hell!), The Man from Colorado has achieved the two essential Western requirements if it wants to be taken seriously - one is that it looks gorgeous, the other is that it has strong thematics to drive it forward - this has both. Hooray! 8/10