Violence à Jericho

Martin and Peppard are not my idea of great actors, nor Englishwoman Jean Simmons of the Western female (true, she played opposite Greg Peck in BIG COUNTRY, but in that film she was a sophisticated outsider) but it is an interesting cast all the same, plus Slim Pickens in fine form. The plot has holes, direction, too, and yet something keeps you interested in watching this movie. Martin plays the villain, against type; he commands a troop of convincing heavies; Peppard comes into town, the silent fellow who ends up restoring order. ROUGH NIGHT is pleasant enough, with some quirky touches, like Martin telling Peppard to bury one of his henchmen, the poker game between the two, and a whipping of Peppard that brings to mind Marlon Brando's in ONE-EYED JACKS.

A stagecoach bound for Jericho is ambushed by Alex Flood (Dean Martin). He's a bad man and he takes over the town with his brutal gang. He hangs the stagecoach driver for shooting one of his men in self-defense. Stagecoach owner Molly Lang (Jean Simmons) tries to save the driver but fails. She happens to be Flood's ex and he still holds a flame for her. A wounded Ben Hickman (John McIntire) and his former deputy Dolan (George Peppard) arrive in town to take partial ownership of the stagecoach line with Molly. Molly had informed Ben of her dire situation but Dolan was unaware and is unconvinced of joining her. Flood is demanding 51% of everything including the stagecoach.

It's interesting to see Dean Martin play against type. He's actually pretty good at playing evil. It's an interesting tense stand-off for the first half of the movie but I kept wondering about Dolan's plan if he had any at all. I really like Flood losing the poker hand to Dolan. It would have been even more interesting if the losing was deliberate as a way of enticing him to leave. On the other hand, I don't like the inciting incident with the deputy tearing up the stagecoach. It's too haphazard and rescuing a damsel is too bland. A better inciting incident would be killing Ben. That would lead to Dolan going on a revenge war against Flood and that would be a better movie. Once Dolan killed a deputy, Flood would have hung him without a trial. That section do not make sense. It's not until the saloon shootout that the movie finds its violence. It's a long time coming and about thirty minutes late. The shooting is still a little old fashion but at least, there is plenty of it.

Dean Martin plays the villain for the first time, but doesn't add any dimension to his role. George Peppard steals the movie as a gambler who doesn't want any trouble until situation becomes impossible. Jean Simmons is adorable as usual.

The plots are quite routine, the action scenes passable. It's a bit unreasonable that Simmons would let Peppard, a stranger who rides to town on her stagecoach, stay in her house. Although such arrangement is made by the writers, it's a shame that their relationship is not fully developed.

Fortunately we see some familiar supporting actors, including Don Galloway (of TV series IRONSIDE), John McIntire (of WAGON TRAIN), and it's interesting to watch comic actor Slim Pickens as mean, sadistic character again after his wonderful performance in ONE-EYED JACKS (1961).

Off beat casting of Dean Martin as the town tyrant who, among other things wants the stagecoach line that his former lover, Jean Simmons, currently owns. In steps George Peppard, playing a former deputy, who comes to town and eventually gets caught up in things when his better sense tells him that he shouldn't stay. Simmons plays a hand in this. Slim Pickens, who usually played good guys, played one of Matin's henchmen. The film gets rather violent--especially the fight scene between Peppard and Pickens-which begins with Pickens using a whip. Acting was quite good. I liked Don Galloway and John McIntyre in supporting roles. It was a bit of a stretch to believe Martin as a total villain--but he pulled it off quite well

Dean Martin owns 51% of everything in town, except former lover Jean Simmons' stage line. When he and his hired guns start squeezing her, she writes former marshal John McIntire. He shows up, but remains abed while George Peppard scouts out the situation.

This metaphorical western about the corruption of society by business interests makes use of symbolic values of B westerns, and balances the traditional B Western values of action with some decent speeches, with Dean Martin playing the darker edge of his screen persona in the midst of his Matt Helm era. Miss Simmons also gives a fine performance that reinvigorated her career. She and Peppard have a great drinking scene. Yet there are issues with this movie that are disturbing, both in the way that the film makers seem to have forgotten how to make a western -- the score by Don Costa is overly dramatic in a TV-Western manner that makes it seem that the events are less important than they should be within the movie, and cinematographer Russell Metty shoots the action sequences with a zoomed-in telephoto lens that makes those passages weightless.

The net impact is that the film makers feel the movie is simultaneously more important and less important than it is. Perhaps the only way to get this film made was to populate it with major talent in front of the camera. Certainly the actors take the subtext seriously. It's too bad the people behind the camera overburdened a good story with unnecessary technique, making this an interesting and watchable western, but little more.