Warlock
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Movie Reviews of Warlock
Movie Review: Warlock ain't for me
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the great, forgotten westerns, Edward Dmytryk's WARLOCK is the story of the little southwestern town of Warlock and its ongoing battle with a gang of law breaking desperados. The gang is led by Abe McQuown (Tom Drake,) a bad hombre who we can safely assume has ruled Warlock for a long, long time. The first scene in the film shows McQuown and gang `calling out' the town's deputy sheriff. If the opening scene is a little reminiscent of the closing scenes of `High Noon', the deputy sheriff's inglorious exit is not. He's humiliated out of town, and McQuown's control of the cowed town is once again secure and unquestioned.
One emergency town council meeting later the town agrees to spend the exorbitant amount of $400 a month to buy the services of gunslinger Clay Blaisedell (Henry Fonda) and his tag-along friend, gambling operator and dime magazine hero Tom Morgan (Anthony Quinn), the `Black Rattlesnake of St. James.' Since Warlock is not an incorporated town, Blaisedell becomes town marshal `by acceptance.' In other words, he's not legally a law officer because the law doesn't recognize his authority. The town accepts him to keep the peace, which more or less means bringing the McQuown gang to heel. Blaisedell comes with a notorious reputation of his own, and the town is increasingly uncomfortable using anarchy and murder to destroy anarchy and murder. Of course, nobody wants to take over as deputy sheriff, either - all that job offers is $40 a month and a spot in the short line for a pine box. Fortunately, a former McQuown gang member, Johnny Gannon (Richard Widmark), agrees to take the job and help Warlock `grow up.'
The premise - terrorized community enlists outside aid to restore peace - is a popular one, brilliantly realized earlier by Kurosawa in `The Seven Samurai', which was later remade by Hollywood as `The Magnificent Seven' and `The Magnificent Seven Ride Again,' along with a slew of others. What sets WARLOCK apart is its focus on characters and shifting relationships. The relationship between Clay Blaisedell and Tom Morgan has attracted a lot of attention and ink over the years as one that's perhaps more passionate and deeper than it appears on the surface. Things happen and, as in real life, changing circumstances change people's relations to each other. Widmark's Johnny Gannon starts out as a member of McQuown's gang and changes to a defender of the community his former gang threatens. When Gannon becomes deputy sheriff Blaisedell's position as hired defender slowly changes, as does his relationship with his dear friend Tom Morgan. And so on. Loyalties change, friendships swell and some burst apart while new ones are slowly forged.
Although I'm a huge fan of his MURDER, MY SWEET, I think WARLOCK has to be considered Edward Dmytryk's masterpiece. Everything works in this complex and layered story of frontier justice. It works on the surface as a straight-ahead actioner, and it holds up to the scrutiny of those who like to look under the hood of things. Highest recommendation for this terrific film.
Movie Review: An unusual Western!
Summary: 5 Stars
Under the actual comments aroused by the recent film of Ang Lee, respect an ambivalent friendship of two cowboys, it would be convenient to make a glimpse around one of the most original and ambitious Westerns ever made.
No other genre in the cinema has begot and even had such perdurable importance more rigorously codified than this. And there not too many existential Westerns deepened so prolixity the wide gamut of characters with such ambitious intentions, which delineate with admirable precision some of the most psychological profiles of this narrative genre, that represents like no other else, the particular Mythology of USA.
Its winged originality resides in the detailed exploration of minuscule but remarkable narrative episodes. You should not forget Dmytryk has made a long journey from the Noir genre and bold previous works such as A gentleman 's agreement or Murder my sweet , just to name the most significant ones. Warlock frontier city governed by an inept sheriff and terrorized by Abe McQuown make its citizens decide to hire a shaman gunfighter (Blaisdell), whose bullet proof friendship with Morgan determines one of the dramatic components in the film. Ironically the emblematic of an antihero emerges of the bad guys band (Gannon) crosses the line when disappointed and even tired way of living, assumed the role of attached sheriff; he is considered a traitor by his old colleagues and a newly arrived for the people of the town who (once the irony appears) seems to be interested on Lilly Dollar ( a dissolute woman) who has walked a long affective road with Morgan and Blaisdell, whose happy existence as a happy married was interrupted when Johnson was killed by Blaisell.
There are evident of this weird affection, expressed as an excess of over shelter of Morgan respect Blaisedell since he shots the brother of Johnson who is seeking for revenge for his brother 's death; he is not only his personal and free bodyguard, he maintains the apparently solid personality who can appreciate in the first part of the picture. But when Blaisedell decides to establish a serious compromise and proposes Jessie to marry, Morgan 's attitude denotes a visible jealous behavior and among his terrible disillusion he challenges and loses the game.
There are many interesting secondary arguments beneath this script, that arguably seemed to demystify the pretended Western 's legend and to redefine the schemes under this unusual approach.
The somber and unexpected finale may be considered a true anticlimax and that would complete the whole cycle.
Movie Review: One Of The Best Westerns Of The 50's!
Summary: 5 Stars
Warlock is one of those movies that got lost in the shuffle in the years following its release. Subsequent classics like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Magnificent Seven, The Man With No Name trilogy, The Wild Bunch, etc, all diverted attention away from this 1959 Western masterpiece. Expertly directed by Edward Dmytryk and starring Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda (in one of his best Western roles), Anthony Quinn (in arguably HIS best Western role), DeForest Kelley, and Dorothy Malone, this is a movie that - upon further review - truly does hold up very well against even the best Westerns of all time.
Fonda plays a Marshall (gun) for hire who is brought in to "clean up" the town of Warlock. He does so with the proviso that he can do it his way, with no interference from the town council. They agree, but he warns them that at first they will love him and what he does, but later on they will come to hate him and his methods. His prediction comes true, but the way the story plays out belies the usual Western cliche's. The script is expertly written with characters that ring true in a rather sophisticated storyline.
Warlock, in a way, combines the classic Western styles of the 40's & 50's, with what would be seen in the 60's, and even foreshadows some elements that would be seen later in modern (1980's to present) Westerns. It is a great character study, and has (rightly) been called the quintessential "Psychological Western." While Warlock isn't a "shoot 'em up" Western, the action sequences are very good and the movie is riveting throughout.
The DVD transfer lives up to the high standards of the movie itself. The picture is sharp and the print is clean (for a movie of this age), and the colors are vibrant. This is a movie that belongs in the collection of every Western fan.
Movie Review: Spirited, Thoughtfully Entertaining Western
Summary: 5 Stars
Warlock is just a great all-around Western, boasting the talents of a great director (Edward Dmytryk), great cast (Henry Fonda, Richard Widmark, Anthony Quinn, Dorothy Malone), and great writing. It has a lot more emotional content than many Westerns, even though it has plenty of action and tension.
Warlock takes its name from the town where all the action takes place. It's a town where a gang of outlaws has taken over, riding in from a nearby town to run roughshod, if not kill the lawmen who are trying to keep the peace. Desperate to restore law and order, the town leaders bring in Fonda and Quinn, a famous pair of gunmen obviously modelled after Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. Fonda is the cool, collected lead, and Quinn is the hard-drinking, hot-tempered, club-footed sidekick. Fonda and Quinn's characters make a living out of going into towns like Warlock and cleaning them up. This seems like just another stop in a long line of towns they come in and cleaned up.
But several complications arise. Fonda's character meets beautiful Delores Michaels, a town leader who begins by loathing Fonda, but then her loathing turns into admiration, then love, which Fonda reciprocates. An old flame of Quinn's shows up, one who has a grudge against both Fonda and Quinn because of the death of a boyfriend at Fonda's hands. And Widmark plays a member of the terrorizing gang who decides to reform and tries to convince his younger brother, played by Frank Gorshin, to do the same.
This movie always has a lot going on, but it's not hard to follow, and it is enjoyable to see how the plot develops. Everyone performs well, and the story has both satisfying and tragic turns. Warlock is well worth a Western-lover's time.
Movie Review: Warlock=Tombstone Check Oakley Hall's Warlock
Summary: 5 Stars
Warlock is not only a masterpiece western, it is a fantastic creation of an even greater masterpiece of the novelist's art: Oakley Hall's Warlock, called by Thomas Pynchon the greatest American novel. It is certainly a candidate. Warlock is a supurb mythologizing of Tombstone circa. 1881. The novel, as is usually the case, is about three times as big as the movie, and the encapsulation of that time in US history in the novel is nothing short of a work of genius. Oakley Hall himself said that his history is not a report what happened, but the way it should have happened, or something much more profound to that effect. Changes have been made to make Henry Fonda's character closer, but not that much closer, to the legendary American iconic gunfighter mythos, than to the real Wyatt Earp, who he represents. Other changes to the historical action were created to make the film suitable to 1959 tastes, particularly making Sadie Marcus into a saintly schoolmar'm and making Doc Holliday's attachment to Wyatt Earp less--uh, emotionally correct. When I first saw the film, I recognized that "Billy" was mythically Billy Clanton, and said to myself, "My God! This is the gunfight at the OK corral. It was years until I even discovered the existence of Oakley Hall's Warlock, but when I did, I found it stunning. I recommend watching the film and reading the novel highly. Study the historic Earp clan (aka the Fighting Pimps of Tombstone) and see that these men really were, as the song says, "Brave, Courageous and Bold." Do not pass this experience up.
CL