Hellgate

Veterinarian Sterling Hayden is wrongfully accused and found guilty of being a member of the confederacy raiders during the Civil War. He is sent to a prison in the desert under the command of Lieutenant Ward Bond.

It's a variation on Ford's THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND that spends most of its length on the prisoners' attempts to escape. Hayden is peripheral to most of the actual story, as is second-billed Joan Leslie as his wife. There's a lot of focus on Bond, who is excellent in his sadistic role; I kept wondering how close to reality it was, given his real-world involvement in the Blacklist.

The early part of this story is the routine innocent-man-sent-to-prison story. Once Sterling Hayden arrives at the prison, however, things improve because of the unusual nature of the prison. It's located in a canyon near the southwestern tip of New Mexico. The canyon walls are more than 200 feet tall and beyond them lies a waterless desert patrolled by Pima Indians anxious to earn a reward for capturing any escapee. Prisoners are kept in underground cells. Punishment consists of being baked in metal coffins half-buried in the sand, or being whipped at a teasingly slow pace which allows the pain of each blow to sink in before the next one is delivered.

Seeing how Sterling Hayden reacts to this environment and how he eventually overcomes it makes for a western which rises a bit above its standard materials.

The Moves4Men channel on British TV is providing me with some excellent films that I wouldn't otherwise have seen (as well as some recordings which I delete within ten minutes of starting to view). "Hellgate" is one of the grittiest Westerns I've seen, especially considering that it was released in 1952, when the rigours portrayed on screen were usually somewhat muted.

The characters sweat copiously, their clothes are filthy and they show evidence of having no access to razors - in contrast to too many action films where the actors remain remarkably clean and well-shaven.

One reviewer here has referred to Ward Bond being "inexpressive", but he certainly looked thuggish to me, and Robert Wilke was as malevolent as ever. Perhaps Joan Leslie was a tad too pretty? The way the film ended was a bit anti-climatic and I would have liked to see a bit more soul-searching going on before the concluding decision was made.

I'm very glad to have watched this film.

Sterling Hayden, along with Macho-Man Robert Mitchum, were Contemporaries that had a Certain Charm of "Biting-the-Hand"...

Because They were Both so Good at the Craft of Acting, the Method Style of Non Acting, that They Could Send Caution to the Wind and Present Their "True-Feelings" Without Blow-Back.

Hayden, Performed to Get Money to Sail Away from it All, and Mitchum Because He Felt the Acting Profession was a Thing that Real-Men Didn't Do.

This Movie, It is Often Pointed Out, is a Remake of "The Prisoner of Shark Island" (1936).

But, that Only Makes it an Anomaly, a Remake that is as Good as the Original.

Made in the Early 50's Before the "Western" Genre Sunk-In and Became Entrenched, along with Science-Fiction...to Dominate the Decade.

Because of that, there was a Plethora of Pictures that were so Mainstream and Inoffensive that the Dust and Dirt and the Hard-Edged Life in the "Wild-West" were Removed for Mass-Appeal.

A Lot of What Passed was Anything but Realistic or Reflective of the "True-West".

Not so Here. Everything is somewhat Authentic from Frame-One, and Continued Throughout this Minimalist Treatment of a Man Sent to a "Hell-Hole" of a Desert Prison for Something He Did Not Do.

A Fine Cast, with Ward Bond as a Brutal Warden and James Arness as a Cell-Mate more than Make Their Mark in this Remarkable "Western" that is Worthy of More Attention and Praise.

A Must-See for "Western" Fans...For All Others it's...

Worth a Watch.

Phew, I need some fresh air! Crazy dark distressing story of oppressive convict life for a wrongly convicted veterinarian.

Some clever angular shots, shadows and minimalist sets and props add to the torment of the suffocating story.

The acting is good and Ward Bond is great in this movie!

I prefer a bit more open range to my westerns but this film is definitely worth a watch.