Torpedoed by a crass central performance
There is a minor tradition of remaking crime movies for the Western genre."The Badlanders"is a retread of "The Asphalt Jungle"while "Colorado Territory"is a remake of "High Sierra".
"The Fiend Who Walked The West"is "Kiss of Death"in Western clothing and is almost a splendid movie.Hugh OBrian is "Daniel Slade Hardy" a decent gangster/outlaw who wants to go straight and turns to criminality only to keep his family fed.While in prison he confides in his deranged cellmate "Felix Griffin"the location of a cache of stolen money.Griffin on release tracks down and kills one of the robbers and slays his mother before terrorising Hardy's wife.Hardy is set free-in the guise of an escape-to bring the now out of control Griffin to justice
The problem is not the script,direction(by the under-rated Gordon Douglas)or the acting by seasoned performers like OBrian and McNally(playing the sympathetic lawman but a performance of utter inadequacy by Robert Evans as Griffin.Where Richard Widmark in the original induced fear and loathing all that Evans evokes is a desire to laugh.Pouting prettily and assuming sub James Dean stances does not constitute acting and merely suggests a poor imitation of an poor actor.(The influence of James Dean on screen acting was wholly negative)If your villain comes over as a pouting pretty boy who needs a sound spanking then your movie is in trouble
Its atmospheric,violent for its day and all the ingredients bar one -a credible actor in the pivotal role are in place.This lack mars the whole piece
"The Fiend Who Walked The West"is "Kiss of Death"in Western clothing and is almost a splendid movie.Hugh OBrian is "Daniel Slade Hardy" a decent gangster/outlaw who wants to go straight and turns to criminality only to keep his family fed.While in prison he confides in his deranged cellmate "Felix Griffin"the location of a cache of stolen money.Griffin on release tracks down and kills one of the robbers and slays his mother before terrorising Hardy's wife.Hardy is set free-in the guise of an escape-to bring the now out of control Griffin to justice
The problem is not the script,direction(by the under-rated Gordon Douglas)or the acting by seasoned performers like OBrian and McNally(playing the sympathetic lawman but a performance of utter inadequacy by Robert Evans as Griffin.Where Richard Widmark in the original induced fear and loathing all that Evans evokes is a desire to laugh.Pouting prettily and assuming sub James Dean stances does not constitute acting and merely suggests a poor imitation of an poor actor.(The influence of James Dean on screen acting was wholly negative)If your villain comes over as a pouting pretty boy who needs a sound spanking then your movie is in trouble
Its atmospheric,violent for its day and all the ingredients bar one -a credible actor in the pivotal role are in place.This lack mars the whole piece
- lorenellroy
- May 28, 2002