Duel at Diablo
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Movie Reviews of Duel at Diablo
Movie Review: Excellent Western that passed the test of time
Summary: 5 Stars
I grew up watching westerns on VHS, but I felt I had out grown them when I reached High School. The few I still liked were either more modern or ones that I had seen at just the right age for me to accept them as part of the natural order of things and that was that (Same reason Errol Flynn is the only Robin Hood and Tyrone Power is Zorro, anybody else is just an actor). Other westerns I watched seemed silly and cheesy, simplistic stories of good and bad with no depth. It was around this time when I saw the Big Country and Duel at Diablo for the first time. In these films, I saw for the first time westerns that were more than cowboys and Indians.
Duel at Diablo has many plot lines, from the common Calvary vs. Indians to James Garner seeking vengeance for his Indian wife. But the film is really about how people survived in the west. Nobody in the film is a "bad guy," although some are more morally reprehensible than others. Everyone just wants to get by with their life, to live with the freedom that was the dream of the American West. Unfortunately, as history taught us, everybody's dream conflicted. The film does not pull punches when it comes to showing how both sides felt they had a legitimate claim to the land but also that members of each side understood the other's claim.
Finally, to address another reviewer who pointed out what he considered major and blatant flaws in the movie. The first is the soundtrack, which I enjoyed and I wish I could find a recording. It is a bit bouncy at times, but not in happy-go-lucky way. It seemed to me to more exemplify that through all the sorrow and hardship, people did find joy in their lives, that they believed all the work was worth it to live as free men. The second flaw referred to Sidney Poitier's character, commenting on the fact that people seemed remarkably tolerant for a time that the reviewer felt was not. In fact, this is one of the movies strengths. The film demonstrates that capability was valued far more highly than skin color. They cannot afford the "luxury" of being racist; they have more important things to worry about. It was at a later point, historically, as settlements grew and became stable, that racism would have set in. But on the frontier, as isolated as these people are, they cannot afford to drive away a man as obviously talent or capable as Sidney Poitier's character.
All-in-all, a very well done movie and my favorite western to date.
Movie Review: My Promotion Gift
Summary: 5 Stars
Back in Sixth Grade this was my promotion present. My promotion present? Yes, I got promoted from Sixth Grade! For my efforts and this meager accomplishment my parents took me to see DUEL AT DIABLO. This was a pretty neat film and a pretty violent one at that. I loved it. At that age back in those days this was a neat stuff. No doubt it is one of my cherished memories.
DUEL AT DIABLO is an exceptional Western full of gritty action, unsentimental characters and austere and foreboding landscapes. Many of this film's elements are a bit more reality based considering the harshness and brutality of the chiseled faces of its characters, locations and violence all breaking from the traditional Western genre. Neal Hefti's innovative modern sounding score is a giant departure from that which Dimitri Tiomkin had established for the genre. Here Hefti breaks down that myth with a cool and easy sounding reoccurring theme which actually reflects the indifference of the characters' aspirations to appreciate the grandeur of the traditional Western setting or lifestyle. Director Ralph Nelson chooses to represent the degradation of the American Indian as a society driven to hostile acts commensurate to the injustices of their plight. Under Nelson's direction the Indians are not an inherently violent society but are survivors of a hostile environment and are a natural force to be reckoned with. However, this point is often overlooked by the somewhat engaging and rousing visual crescendo of the violence. Along with HOUR OF THE GUN this is one of James Garner's more brutal and cynical roles and is again motivated by revenge. Sidney Poitier also is not along for the ride for any ambitions of nobility. As a horse breaker ex-cavalryman Poitier must accompany the raw troupe, under the command of Bill Travers, into hostile territory breaking horses along the way for the army or he stands to not get paid a cent. Every character has reasons for being embroiled in this tale but it seems to be for reasons of revenge, greed or just plain survival.
Movie Review: An outstanding western
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the most unusual western ever made, and one of the best. The many reviewers of this movie have done a good job analyzing it, I am just going to add a few more. First, the direction of Ralph Nelson is superb. We have here a most engrosing atmosphere of the old west as it was, cruel and unforgiven, and the unusual musical score is daunting and a major element here. Think about 'High Noon' or the 'Third Man' without their magnificent sound tracks. This is one of the few movies which shows the unusual cruely and sadism of the Indians, such as agonazing slow death by burning, and a promise to bury alive our blond heroin. For those who cannot believe how sadistic the plain Indians were, I refer them to a few recent books by Michno. I know that there are many multiculturalists who have never had to fight for their freedom and many young Americans who's cruel western history have been denied to them in school who would refuse to believe that the 'proud native Americans' could rival the inquisition. Wake up dudes, the settleing of America was saturated with blood and gore of European pioneers, who were tortured and enslaved by the Indians. Of course, as it is pointed out in this movie, the Indians were lied to, deceived, and deprived of their hunting grounds. And, as some historians maintain, there was no better way of settling a wild country by a Victorian culture confronted with stone age savages
Two errors in this movie require comments. In one scene, our heroin wears tight pants
revealing a sexy anatomy that would drive the entire seventh cavalry to madness. No woman in west wore tight pants, or any pants for that matter. Second, Sidney Poitier has a major part as a ex-soldier-horse dealer-gunfighter. There were no such blacks in the west. There is no record of even one black gunfighter in the west. The west was largely racist and didn't welcome non Europeans. Well, the movie was made in 1966, hence the above.
Movie Review: A great movie for a your western collection
Summary: 5 Stars
I'll be honest I recently bought this DVD due to the fact that James Garner and Dennis Weaver were in it. Being 21 years old I watched "Maverick" with James Garner as a kid and really got to like him a lot. Since the releases of Gunsmoke seasons to DVD, I've really gotten to like Dennis Weaver. The other actors in the movie I have never even heard of before but they did their parts really well in the movie.
I thought this movie was really good. It kept you interested in what was going to happen next. I didn't like the fact however that in the begining Dennis Weaver's character seemed so caught up in himself and didn't seem to care that his wife kept running back to the Apache's. However during the movie you could start to see it was an act and that it did bother him and he was deep down a caring husband after all. I was however shocked at the end when James Garner found out who it was that had killed his wife. (that happened before the movie starts.)
I also, even though I never heard of him before, liked the character of Sidney Poitier. I think that he really did that character really well and very beleivable.
Despite the fact that I bought it for James Garner and Dennis Weaver being in it, I really liked this movie and not just because of them but for the whole cast and the plot. I have started a western movie collection of my own and this is a great new addition to it and it would be for any western movie collection.
Movie Review: Welcome to your gory bed..Or to victory!...
Summary: 5 Stars
Lt. McAllister repeats that line from Robert Burns' poem, "Scots Wha Hae", as he faces battle with Chata in this thought provoking Western. This movie displays alot of different racial facets. There's the black Sergeant turned Army horse breaker, Toller (Sidney Poitier). The Scout who married an Indian and seeks revenge from her killer, Remsberg (James Garner). The Freighter's wife captured by Indians who after rescue returns to the Indians, Ellen Grange (Bibi Anderson). The Lieutenant who's looking for promotion via an Indian military campaign, McAllister (Bill Travers). The Indian hating Freighter who has his own agenda, Grange (Dennis Weaver). An Apache Chief who is trying to keep his people together against increasing encroachments from the white man, Chata (John Hoyt). All this comes together at a box canyon, with a waterhole, known as Diablo.
This is a well organized movie that brings to head all these different elements. It could be argued that this was more of a career vehicle for Sidney Poitier than it was for James Garner. Well worth adding to any western collection. There are many standout moments in this film. I really liked the thoughtful imagery at the ending as Toller says goodbye to Lt. McAllister.