The Broken Land

Very early Jack Nicholson vehicle that is nothing more than a quick B-western with some exotic Arizona Apache Zone locales. Evil small town sheriff Kent Taylor rules the community with an iron fist and several within the small landscape join forces to change things. Nicholson is way down the list on the credits as a young hothead who has an itchy trigger-finger and likes to solve things with a rifle rather than by talking things out. An extremely wishy-washy film that is shorter than most documentaries these days (the film is only about an hour in length) and sports no real recommendations anywhere across the board. Only memorable to see how Nicholson was before his "Easy Rider" days. Turkey (0 stars out of 5).

Featuring outstanding Arizona scenery in Cinemascope color, one interestingly written character (Billy), and Jack Nicholson in a young anti-hero performance, what is wrong with this Western? The answer is: Nothing is wrong. Having a budget that obviously consists of little more than pennies does not negatively impact this film much, except for some low-paid "discount" acting at times.

To me the most intriguing Westerns are ones that portray some aspect of the Old West based at least partly on fact. I put this film in that category as it does portray a phenomenon of those days, namely the existence of a few Sheriffs who were little more than legalized executioners.

The cast and crew just went out to Arizona and filmed this on the desert in a straightforward manner. It works for me.

To Put it in Perspective, Anthony Mann and Budd Boetticher put a "New Face" on the Western in the 1950's and Sam Peckinpah put an Amen to it with Ride the High Country (1962) and then Reincarnated the "New" Western with The Wild Bunch (1969). Peckinpah, it Could be Said, Ended the New Wave of Westerns and Started the New New Wave of Westerns. No Mean Feat.

While Hardly in the Mann/Boetticher/Peckinpah Camp, This Little Movie is Indeed a Bit Different from Standard Stuff in its Introspection of Some Off Beat Characters that Include a Brutal Dictatorial Sheriff, a Dim-Witted Likable Stiff, a Good Hearted Drifter, and Jack Nicholson as a Slightly Miscast Bad/Good Guy. Diana Darin is the Damaged Goods still Managing to Look Good and Emote Kindness.

Overall, Worth a Watch for Early Nicholson, a Good but Short Story, and Some Colorful Cinemascope Landscapes.

And what a delight to watch it in LBX please folks !!!! What a pleasure because it is so rare from an API production. The story itself is not that terrific, but for a B western, that's what I like, instead of the bland and standard yarns with the same character, as the likes of Bill Elliot or Roy Rogers.... Don't mind about Jack Nicholson, focus instead on this cosy tale, despite the fact that it won't bring anything exceptional, except the villain as lead character, but it is only a rare little gem, so unique and hard to find in LBX. And the acting is pretty good too for this kind of production, even the directing, from this unknown director. But I have always craved for evil lead characters, especially a rogue sheriff, played here by Kent Taylor.

This early 60s western would be totally forgotten if not for a performance by a young Jack Nicholson. The film barely clocks in at 60 minutes, IMDb timing notwithstanding, and its bare bones screenplay tries to to far too much in that brief span. Characters are thinly drawn and poorly (and bizarrely) motivated. Not much to recommend here except for Jack completists.