Quantez, le dernier repaire

An offbeat and claustrophobic Western in limited budget with too much talking and a little bit boring, until a thrilling finale in which eventually the Apache Indians attack and pursue the thieves. Several bandits head for Mexican frontier decide to carry out a stopover and arriving in a ruined village in the middle of desert, called Quantez . They are the following ones : A unexperienced and green but eager newcomer gunslinger : John Gavin, a white man who was raised by Indians : Sydney Chaplin, a nasty and ambitous pistolero : John Larch, a beautiful woman with a dark past : Dororhy Malone, and the veteran and wise gunfighter : Fred MacMurray. Shortly after, there arrives a minstrel : James Barton who reluctantly joins the motley group of thieves . The cutthroats start to accuse and confront each other concerning the stolen loot and soon the gunplay and killing begins. Meanwhile, Apache Indians led by Michael Ansara are lurking around and about to attack. They rode to Quantez town.. Half-way to freedom but all the way to hell!!!

A classic and traditional Western in psychological trendy of the 50s in the wake of Yellow Sky or High Noon. Developed almost entirely at a lonely location in a desert, as it has much in common with a theatre play. The limited budget shows, and the whole psychologist thrill that you depend on the interior sets and relationship among them, the subsequent confrontation, as well as the excessive dialogues are not built up well enough. It is an offbeat Western which doen't work too well but has its moments of interest here and there . Stars Fred McMurray who gives a good acting as a good thief. This is one of a clutch of acceptable horse operas Fred made in the Forties , in the late of 50s and early Sixties, such as : A gun for coward, Good day for a hanging, Texas Rangers, The trail of the Lonesome Pine, At gunpoint, and this Quantez. Although he also played other genres as drama, adventure, warlike, Children fiilms as The happiest millionaire, The shaggie dog, Son of the flubber, The absent-minded professor, The princess come across, The Caine mutiny, Dive bomber, Above suspicion, The miracle of the bells, among others. He is finely accompanied by a fine cast as the recently deceased Dorothy Malone, the usual villian John Larch, the Charles Chaplin's brother, Sydney Chaplin and a fresh John Gavin, next to take a long career as a main star.

It contains colorful and brilliant cinematography in Technicolor by Carl Guthrie. As well as attractive and agreeable musical score by Herman Stein, Universal's regular , including enjoyable songs. As the song The Lonely One is sung by James Barton behind the credits, and the song True Love sung by Dorothy Malone. The motion picture produced by Universal Pictures along with Gordon Kay was professionally directed by Harry Keller. Harry was a good craftsman who directed a lot of Westerns and several episodes of TV series.

After a bank robbery, Heller and his small gang are on the run from the posse. The gang intends to cross the border into Mexico but their horses are tired. The outlaws decide to make a stopover in the town of Quantez to rest and feed the horses.

Heller is a brutal and cynical man who treats his woman, Chaney, with disdain and contempt. When Heller treats Chaney bad, Teach defends her, causing violent clashes between himself and Heller. Gentry has to step in and separate the two before they kill each other over Chaney.

When the gang reaches the town of Quantez it is shocked to see a deserted ghost town. Nevertheless, they decide to rest there for the night. Gato, the gang's scout, scouts around at night and finds an Apache spear with a message that anyone still found in town after sunrise will be killed. Gato realizes there are Apaches around but decides to keep this information to himself. With Apaches lurking around and Heller trying to kill Teach over pretty Chaney it doesn't look like the gang will ever reach Mexico.

Bank robbers holed up in a deserted ghost town? Apaches nearby - sounds exciting, but Quantez fails in the shoot 'em up department ( well accept the lively action-packed finale). However, it has an interesting dialogue, good characters and ok tension. What plays against it is too much gabbing and not anything exciting happening, but I still thought it was ok. Diverting enough if you have nothing to watch. I guess I liked its brooding atmosphere and the psychological discord in the characters - Fred MacMurray is excellent as always. Dorothy Malone sizzles. Shame the plot wasn't sharper and had more action.

I'm going to go against the positive few reviews so far posted here. I was very disappointed, and found it the poorest of "gang in a ghost town" Westerns that I've seen. Pity, because the cast was reasonably strong. About the only interesting thing in it was what I thought was John Larch's resemblance to Gary Cooper.

None of the characters is at all likable and most of the could be a stage play, with so much action confined to one room. These aren't necessarily bad things for a film, but all the talking and no action was tedious, as were the white characters turning on each other and the inevitable interaction between Chaney and each of the four gangsters.

I nearly turned off my recording of the film but struggled through to the ending, which was OK.

A western that has way too much talk, but the talk does draw some deeply etched characters is Quantez. Had they pumped it up with a bit more action this could have been a classic. That is despite Fred MacMurray who really never felt right in westerns. He does all right by this one however.

The hot tempered John Larch leads a gang of outlaws fresh from a bank robbery takes his three men fleeing a posse. His henchmen are Fred MacMurray an experienced outlaw who doesn't talk much about himself, a young fast draw in John Gavin who is from the east and Sydney Chaplin a man raised among the Apaches in whose country they have to pass through. And he also brings his main squeeze Dorothy Malone for those cold desert nights.

The outlaws arrive in the freshly deserted town of Quantez, deserted because the Apaches under Michael Ansara have made it most uncomfortable to live. What to do, but take stock of the situation and formulate a plan to get across the desert.

So while they're stuck there, the true character of all comes forth. All of them are chafing under the leadership of Larch who once again is playing a rather arrogant, loudmouth individual who is a fast gun, but has little else to recommend them. And of course there's the presence of Malone who just by being there is giving them all an itch that Larch won't them scratch.

Only one other speaking part is in this film that of James Barton who plays a wandering painter and who has an extra horse they might need to make it across the desert. It would be smart if they all stuck together until the Indian crisis is passed or they're all dead, but Larch won't let that happen.

It's plain that MacMurray should be the gang leader, but he has reasons why he's not and for that you see Quantez for.

Quantez is a bit verbose, but the characters are interesting to say the least.

Quantez is directed by Harry Keller and written by R. Wright Campbell and Anne Edwards. It stars Fred MacMurray, Dorothy Malone, James Barton, Sydney Chaplin, John Gavin and John Larch. A CinemaScope production in Eastman Color, with music scored by Herman Stein (supervision Joseph Gershenson) and cinematography by Carl E. Guthrie.

A gang of robbers hole up for the night in the ghost town of Quantez. But what is the greater threat to their well being? The Indians out in the hills? Or each other?

Maybe you get to be a killer? But you will be sick to the stomach because of it.

A smartly written and acted psychological Western, Quantez deserves to be better known and appraised. This is all about characterisations and the hot bed situation they dwell within, the emphasis on dialogue and interactions as suspicion, passions, racism and treachery show their hands. Standard characters do apply, the girl with a past she's not proud of, the loose cannon, the greenhorn kid, the duplicitous one and the guy with a secret tucked away. There's even a late addition of a wandering minstrel (Barton), splendidly calling himself Puritan. These characters are well blended for narrative strength by Keller, the director keeping things on the slow burn, an impending sense of implosion permeating proceedings. Technical aspects are smart, the exterior filming, when the film comes out of the claustrophobic confines of the ghost town, is most pleasing, while the Eastman Color is gorgeous and never garish. Cast score well, notably a stubble and grungy MacMurray, a pretty and emotionally fragile Malone and Larch, who is unstable and enjoying his chance for villainy.

Except for a fist fight, an opening pursuit and the odd moment of macho posturing, the action is saved for the excellent last quarter, so first time viewers after a high energy Oater are advised that this is not the film for them. But for those who like some psychological discord in their Westerns, where plot dynamics are simmering until the denouement, then seek this out if you can. 8/10