Le bandit

Decent but minor Mexico-set-Western about an enjoyable friendship-confrontation between Arthur Kennedy and Eugene Iglesias , while Betta St John turns out to be the third in discord . Nice but unexceptional Western adapted from a story written by Julian Zimet and loosely based on a short tale by Russian writer Maxim Gorky .This is the story of three people in love, a love that at the beginning doesn't affect their friendship, and about how their relationship evolving , but each person's relationship with the other two is complicated as it is not only based on their direct feelings for the person in question. It is In Mexico, at the dawn of the automobile and modern times , there a resourceful , jolly outlaw with anarchistic philosophy called Santiago (Arthur Kennedy) robs train freight cars , but things go wrong when he has just lost his intimate colleague. Stars Arthur Kennedy as the stranger who steps into the middle of an isolated farm and ends up befriending one young husband named Manuel (Eugene Iglesias) and his beautiful wife Maria (Betta St John) . The latter is a haplesss and hopeless woman who is mistreated by her hubby , while the drifter gets turned around by the simple farmer who subsequently becomes an ambitious person . Vera Cruz to Matamoros they stalked his desperate trail ! So close together ... only a bullet can separate them !

A good little drama that takes place in Mexico at the dawn of the automobile including thrills , loves stories , emotion , crossfire and better than the title suggests . An interesting a strange movie that allegedly inspired Jules at Jim by Francois Truffaut , in fact the relation among Truffaut's roles : Oskar Werner , Jeanne Moreau , Henri Serre bears a certain resemblance to Arthur Kennedy , Betta St. John and Eugene Iglesias. Furthermore , displaying colorful cinematography by Frederick Gately , as well as evocative musical score by Herschel Burke Gilbert. Film relies heavily on the peculiar relationship among three protagonists Arthur Kennedy , Betta St. John , Eugene Iglesias . But , really here stands out Arthur Kennedy , in fact , this is one of Kennedy's best characters from his long career , usually as a great secondary actor . There he plays an adventurous hustler having a taste of the good life who burglarizes trains and along the way falls in love with a poor farmer's wife. While Betta St. John is pretty well as the gorgeous but unfortunate spouse of the hardworking and eventually reedemed farmer finely performed by Eugene Iglesias .

Being nicely shot on location in Mexico and Mack Sennett Studios , Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California . The picture was professionally directed by Edgar G. Ulmer . He was a prolific filmmaker who made all kinds of genres , directing acceptable films and here providing an intense pace though it results to be some dated. Adequate and professionally shot , being filmed in short time . Edgar was born on September 17, 1904 in Olmütz, Moravia, Czech Republic as Edgar George Ulmer. He was a notorious and prolific director and writer. At his beginnings he was blackballed from Hollywood work after he had an affair with Shirley Castle -he eventually married her and she became known as Shirley Ulmer-, who at the time was the wife of B-picture producer Max Alexander, a nephew of powerful Universal Pictures president Carl Laemmle. That's why Ulmer spent the bulk of his remaining career languishing at "Poverty Row" studios. He signed a long-term contract there in 1943 after directing the "big-budget" Jive Junction (1943), being especiallly known for Satanás (1934), Bluebeard (1944) , Detour (1945) , The Strange Woman (1946), People on Sunday (1930) , Aníbal (1959) , The Amazing Transparent Man (1960) , Beyond the Time Barrier (1960) , among others. Rating : 6.5/10. Well worth seeing.

A low budget gives this western its strength : almost all the action takes place in Manuel's seedy farm and do not expect an action-packed yarn ;it's almost a crepuscular western for the automobiles appear .In its own special way ,it's also a parable desguised as western .

The great character actor Arthur Kennedy rarely got top billing ,and considering his talent,it was totally unfair.Made up as a Mexican ,with a fake accent , you hardly know him;his character is colorful: before his pal dies , he imposes an interminable religious solace upon him , justifying their dirty deeds by the Holy Scripts.

However, Santiago may embody the Devil ,coming to tempt a couple of innocent peasants ,resigned to their modest fate; when one meets him, Manuel hopes for a better future ,but through his hard work ;the lure of gain appears later when he accompanies his new friend who calls on his boss to recover his wage ;in parallel, the wife is sexually attracted by the bandit and his depiction of an idealized Vera Cruz makes her dream of a storylike life,far from the lousy life she leads with a rather indolent hubby :when one meets her by the river ,she 's daydreaming ,humming a melody , perhaps waiting for something which never happens ...Relatively speaking ,religion plays an almost Bunuelesque role.

By and large , the intimate scenes are much more successful than the (rare ) eventful moments: the hanging of the boss, the rumble,the final settlement of scores .

An excellent little western that shows what can be done with a good story, little money, character actors and inspired direction(i.e. with no studio interference). The story unfolds in a slow but well-controlled tempo and proceeds to show how greed changes a kind-hearted man and his family into vicious money-hungry people. Edgar Ulmer, a much underrated but top-grade director, knows how to bring out the deepest and most secret feelings of his characters, through the excellent direction of his actors (Arthur Kennedy gives the best performance of his career) and create tension and the right atmosphere. On the level of John Ford's "Wagonmaster"! Should be seen and enjoyed more often. Makes you want to see more of Ulmer's works. Andreas-27

The movie's not a western in the usual sense. Instead, it's more like a pondering of character and life-styles set in modern Mexico. Manuel and Maria are in an arranged marriage, she being passed along like a piece of property, he being a budding farm entrepreneur. They are above all "respectable", and the feeling is that this is what holds the marriage together.

Then, into their settled life arrives escaping train robber Santiago. But he's not a typical robber. We know that from his buddy's moving death scene. There Santiago shows something of a poetic sensitivity, proving he's not without his own sense of values. In fact, he's more a free spirit than a criminal type, even giving away much of his loot to deserving strangers. Ironically, however, he appears unfree to be anything but free!

It's Santiago's free-wheeling effect on the young couple's brittle marriage that makes up the storyline. Kennedy, of course, was one of that era's premier actors. Here, his bravura performance effectively dramatizes Santiago's free spirit gusto. On the other hand, as the young couple, Iglesias and St. John appear over-the-top at times. Perhaps that can be rationalized by their emotional release from repressed lives. Nevertheless, the emoting does at times distract from story advancement.

The notion of respectability is also pondered here. What the screenplay seems to be saying is that conforming lives are okay as long as one's humanity is not sacrificed in the process. In his own eccentric way, this appears the lesson Santiago imparts to the young couple. At the same time, religion gets much the same treatment, while criminal Santiago acts poetically as a kind of secular priest in easing his dying confederate into the great unknown.

All in all, the movie's distinctive features come more from blacklisted writer Zimet's offbeat screenplay than from cult director Ulmer who's required to film in Technicolor instead of his b&w forte. Nonetheless, the movie's fully deserving of the Ulmer brand-- an offbeat 80-minutes that manages some depth over and above its tacky 50's title.

There is something very likable about this low budget, "poetic" story of an aging outlaw who comes upon the small farm of an ambitious peon and his willful wife. The atmosphere is a bit thick perhaps, constant philosophizing in a "poetic" Spanish accent, with a guitar playing in the background. But Kennedy is particularly good as the outlaw, worldly-wise and mellow with flashes of toughness, anger and cynicism. The other players carry their weight well enough, though Iglesias sometimes goes a bit overboard with his characterization of the naive, greedy young man. There's not much to the story, but it's well told. Here, certainly, is a film that, whatever its ultimate virtues, is unique. Though the subject makes it a Western, the style (as well as the Mexican setting and the apparent thirties time-frame) makes it something completely different. This is the sort of film one expects from Ulmer's reputation; small but personal. I really did like it, but I don't know if I would go as far as Francois Truffaut: "Poetic and violent, tender and droll, moving and subtle, joyously energetic and wholesome... reminds us inevitably of Renoir and Ophuls."