Le ranch maudit

Was skimming through some videotapes I'd made from past TV broadcasts yesterday and, lo and behold!, came across one I'd recorded (but failed to label, oops!) of this title from an American Movie Classics broadcast quite some time ago. It was uninterrupted by commercials and promotional tidbits AND it was letterboxed, as any widescreen film, of whatever quality, deserves to be.

Ever since AMC opened the floodgates to commercial advertisers, dispensed with presenters like Bob Dorian, Nick Clooney, Cesar Romero, et al., and generally cheapened this venue into an unwatchable rival to the worst of its cable TV bedfellows, it has made the presentation of a widescreen film in the letterbox format a rarity on a par with, let's say, a politician telling the truth and/or admitting a mistake.

"The Night of the Grizzly," though it's not a work of deathless cinematic art, is a good example of what entertained us almost forty years ago: a good cast, a serviceable script, modest but not skimpy production values, and direction that builds the tension to a genuine climax, all without fiery explosions and violence that brutalizes its potential audiences

I'm in complete agreement with another reviewer in that this Paramount production might well have been done by the Disney Studio. It certainly has that look and feel about it. But that doesn't mean that The Night of the Grizzly can't be enjoyed by adults as well.

Clint Walker and Martha Hyer are a pair of marrieds with children, one of them being a teenage niece. He's a sheriff who's now retired and they've inherited a ranch from his late brother.

Unfortunately the ranch is also loaded down with a financial obligations they've inherited as well. They have a rapacious neighbor in Keenan Wynn who'd like the property with a pair of lunkhead sons, Ron Ely and Sammy Jackson.

But that's not all facing Clint and Martha. There's a local grizzly named Old Satan who's terrorizing the ranches and farms in the area. He's doing far more damage to them than anything Keenan Wynn and his sons are doing. Actually Wynn for a screen villain is a rather mild one, he much prefers working with finances to get what he wants than any violence.

There's one more in the mix here. Leo Gordon has one of his best screen roles in this film, in fact he steals the film whenever he's on screen. He plays a bounty hunter and former deputy to Walker who served two years in prison due to his killing an innocent man and Walker's testimony of same. He's been hired to kill Old Satan by Wynn, setting the stage for the climax.

The Night of the Grizzly does have some very nice outdoor camera work, no studio shots at all in this one of a dwindling group of B westerns.

It's unfortunate that there is no market for films like The Night of the Grizzly any more.

Big Cole (Clint Walker) is an ex-lawman who wants a peaceful existence as a rancher heads to Wyoming along with his family formed by wife (Marta Hyer) and children with aim to begin a new life in wild country left him by a relative. He faces off opposition from a neighbor (Keenan Wynn) who wishes that land for his own sons , and especially is threatened by a killer grizzly bear, nicknamed "Satan", that goes on a murderous rampage , attacking his family , friends and keeps killing Cole's livestock. Big Jim Cole had come to the rim of Hell and nobody but nobody was going to push him over! The story of a night lengthened by a thousand terrors!...Big Jim Cole Had Come to Stay!!!

Nice Western contains adventures , thrills , brawls , swoops , an enjoyable family life and colorful outdoors well filmed by top-notch cameramen . A decently paced , well made and decidedly action Western in which normal human lives are intertwined correctly with just that proportion of natural tragedy that have haunted families in the old West . Clint Walker gives a good acting as Marshal "Big Jim" Cole who turns in his badge attempting to forge a new life in order to settle on some land inherited from a relative . The highlights of the movie are the creepy appearances of the marauding killer bear terrorizing the residents of the Wyoming countryside that have a savage realism and some funny scenes as a drunken cockered . Support cast is pretty good , such as : Keenan Wynn ,Nancy Kulp , Ellen Corby , Jack Elam , Ron Ely , Don Haggery , Regis Toomey , and especial mention for Leo Gordon as a bounty hunter . It contains colorful and evocative cinematography by Loyal Griggs and Harold Lipstein, the photography catches perfectly the feel of countryside . Lively and stirring musical score by Leith Stevens , including songs by Jay Livingstone .

The motion picture produced by Burt Dunne was professionally directed by Joseph Pevney . This veteran filmmaker Joseph Pevney was a good artisan , being well known as a very organized and precise filmmaker who was nonetheless relaxed on the set . He was even a singer kid and participed at WWII , subsequently he acted in only five films (1946-1950) , all of them films noir, his first as a piano-playing killer in Nocturne (1946). He spent most of his career behind the camera and his first film as a director was Shakedown (1950) in which he makes a Hitchcock-style cameo as Keller the reporter, his last on-screen part. After spending the 1950s as a contract director at Universal, he switched to television where his early credits include five episodes of Alfred Hitchcock presnts (1962) , and many others . He directed a lot of movies of all kinds of genres such as Wartime : Torpedo run , Away all boats , Air cadet . Adventures as Yankee Pasha , Tammy , Twilight for the God, Congo crossing ,Ring circus , Legion of desert . Western : Lady from Texas , The plunderers . Thriller : Undercover girl , Flesh and fury , Man of a thousand faces , Iron Man , Shakedown , The strange Door , 6 bridges to cross , Istanbul. Rating : 6.5/10 . Passable and decent adventure movie . The flick will appeal to Clint Walker fans .

I remember watching this film when I was about three years old the first time, and being scared to death. In fact, every time I watch this film a part of me gets a little scared at the thought of a giant grizzly terrorizing a farm.

Watched this on TV a few months ago and was eventually more entertained than I expected to be as the story elements began to fall into place during the first reel or two. The script builds to an exciting and suspenseful climax, one that rivals quite well, indeed, some of today's overwrought nailbiters.

At first I thought Clint Walker and Martha Hyer were an odd pairing as an Old West couple with a family. But Clint, of the awesome physique, was actually quite a winning performer when he had the good fortune to be directed by a good director with, at least, an acceptable script. And Martha, after playing spoiled and elegant socialites and jealous ladies who often didn't get the objects of their dreams in several of her earlier roles, is warm and convincing as a wife in love with her husband and who deeply cares for her children.

With terrifically capable performers like Keenan Wynn, Ellen Corby, and the inimitable Nancy Culp to round out the cast, this one had quite a bit going for it. The Techniscope (the Technicolor Corporation's bargain-basement version of CinemaScope and Panavision) and Technicolor cinematography looks a bit overlit in some of the interior scenes (a common practice back then), and now the 2.35:1 ratio is probably lost forever. (The TV broadcast I saw was, of course, "formatted" and the VHS version is, no doubt panned-and-scanned.)