Curious western for what it is about and for spending everything in one day. Interesting moral dilemma
Nice and tight, at under 90 minutes, although it comes at the expense of a ton of characterization, especially given how many characters there are in the central posse. I like this better than 12 Angry Men, both because frontier justice is personally more interesting than the jury system, but also because of the downbeat ending. Great performance by Dana Andrews in particular.
I really liked this, despite my general aversion to overly didactic morality tales. What really impressed me about this movie, depicting the formation of a lynch mob and following it through to the conclusion of their mission, was the breadth of its ensemble cast and its ability to craft storylines for so many people with VERY little screentime. The cast is so good (Dana Andrews as the innocent man, Leigh Whipper as the Reverand, Jane Darwell as the lone woman, etc.) throughout and it turns what might otherwise be a paint-by-numbers into something with a lot more depth. Fairly shocking, down-beat ending which is usually a plus in my book.
Shocking movie, I would suggest everyone watch this. Reminds me of Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities and mob mindset
Review by schmenkyBlockedParent2017-03-10T19:45:42Z— updated 2017-05-13T19:18:55Z
Another welcome surprise from an unexpected classic. However, it comes just short of being a great film.
First off, there is a vast cast of characters, yet somehow they are pretty well balanced for a film with a running time of just over an hour. While taking more time to flesh out some characters a la Seven Samurai would have made this more complete, it would have diminished the point of the film. Like most great westerns, this is less about the characters, and more about why they've been put in front of us (a welcome change from hiring who's hot in hollywood nowadays). While the plot itself wasn't all that original (should we take the law into our own hands), the places it takes us are unexpected, thrilling, and sometimes frightening.
The pacing is great, and for a short movie, it takes you to extremely different places for each act. Wellman makes a lot good decisions as director, and a handful of great ones. However, the greatness comes too far into the movie for me to classify this as an example of amazing directing. It's almost like he directed the first two acts to appeal to a broader audience, then directed the third act for aficionados who appreciate everything about a film that makes it great.
1 / 2 directing & technical aspect
1 / 2 story
1 / 1 acting
1 / 1 pacing
1 / 1 dialogue
1 / 1 living up to its genre
0 / 1 originality
1 / 1 lasting ability to make you think
.5 / 0 miscellaneous +/- point
7.5 out of 10