Day of the Outlaw
Reviews
John Chard
There are things worse, ma'am, than dancing with lonely men. Cowboys and ranchers must stick together when a gang of outlaws ride into town intent on causing trouble and abusing the town. Even though the outlaw leader, ex army Captain Jack Bruhn has them under some sort of control, salvation may have to come from the moody Blaise Starrett, who has his own secret agendas to deal with. Day Of The Outlaw (poor title not befitting the quality of the film) is directed by André De Toth ("Ramrod", "Crime Wave" & "House of Wax") and stars Robert Ryan, Burl Ives & Tina Louise. Adapted from the novel written by Lee E. Wells, it's a film that is crying out to be seen by more people, especially those with an aversion to Westerns. For although grounded in Western tradition, it comes across more as a moody film noir piece in a cold wintry Western setting The atmosphere throughout hangs heavy like a weighted burden, with this tiny tin pot town in the snowy swept mountains photographed starkly by Russell Harlan. This is some out of the way place that nobody but its small inhabitants care about (appropriately it's called Bitters), and even those that do are probably doing so more out of ill judged loyalty to having not tasted something else before. Robert Ryan was a terrific actor, often only mentioned when talk turns to famous pictures like "The Wild Bunch" & "The Dirty Dozen", but it's with performances like here, or "The Set-Up" & "Crossfire", that he really puts a depth and critical layers to his talent. Burl Ives is also great, his weary and scarred Bruhn is almost in empathy with Starrett and the townsfolk, so much so, we are never quite sure just how this picture will end. Tina Louise rounds out the leads, and apart from being an incredibly sexy woman, she does some great facial acting here, particularly during a section of the pic where the outlaws demand dances with the ladies. This is laden with a vile undercurrent, with Louise perfectly portraying the threat with acting gravitas. With astute directing and acting to match the bleak and sombre soaked story, "Day Of The Outlaw" comes highly recommended to fans of atmospheric enveloped cinema. 9/10
Wuchak
_**Robert Ryan and Ginger stuck in a snowy mountain town beleaguered by rogues**_ A tough cattleman (Robert Ryan) in bleak Bitters, Wyoming, is willing to use deadly force to stop a rancher (Alan Marshal) who’s fencing-in the area, but a band of rogue cavalry men led by Capt. Jack Bruhn (Burl Ives) interrupt their quarrel. Tina Louise plays the rancher’s wife, Venetia Stevenson a girl in the town and David Nelson a reasonable member of the gang. “Day of the Outlaw” (1959) is a B&W psychological Western shot in the Oregon Cascades. It’s similar to Westerns from the same period by Anthony Mann and Budd Boetticher, not to mention just as good or better. The protagonist (Ryan) isn’t a hero, but rather a tortured man ready to make a last stand; meanwhile Bruhn (Ives) isn’t wholly corrupted and still has some sense of nobility. Several of his hardened men, however, have clearly crossed over into the dark side. Tina Louise, who would play Ginger from Gilligan’s Island in 5-6 years, is younger & cuter here while Venetia Stevenson is nimble and winsome. You might remember Venetia from her jaw-dropping role in “The City of the Dead,” aka “Horror Hotel” (1960). Director Andre DeToth was having personal problems at the time of shooting and it affected the mood of the set, plus there were other issues, like snowstorm delays, Ryan missing a week due to pneumonia and DeToth changing his mind about scene locations at the last minute, etc. Perhaps the biggest problem was that the budget was low and, when they ran out of finances, DeToth & crew just packed-up and went back to Los Angeles. Producers & editors had to make do with what was shot, which explains some weaknesses here and there. Scriptwriter Philip Yordan lamented “what could have been.” The movie runs 1 hour, 32 minutes, and was shot in central Oregon at Dutchman Flat & Todd Lake Meadows about 20 miles east of the town of Bend in late November thru early December, 1958. GRADE: B+/A-
Movie Recommendation
Kelly's Heroes1970-06-22A misfit group of World War II American soldiers goes AWOL to rob a bank behind German lines.More...
The Last Wagon1956-09-21When a handful of settlers survive an Apache attack on their wagon train they must put their lives into the hands of Comanche Todd, a white man who has lived with the Comanches most of his life and is wanted for the murder of three men.More...
Shirley2020-09-11A famous horror writer finds inspiration for her next book after she and her husband take in a young couple.More...
The Hanging Tree1959-02-19Joseph "Doc" Frail is a doctor with a past he's trying to outrun. While in Montana, he comes across a mining camp with a hanging tree and rescues a man named Rune from the noose. With Rune as his servant, Frail decides to settle down, and he takes over as town doctor. He meets Elizabeth, who is suffering from shock, and the two soon fall in love. But when Elizabeth is attacked, Frail's attempt to help her lands them both in trouble.More...
Cruel Story of Youth1960-06-03A harsh young man seduces a freeloading young woman and eventually takes advantage of her knack for hitchhiking to rob middle-class men.More...
5 Broken Cameras2011-11-23Five broken cameras – and each one has a powerful tale to tell. Embedded in the bullet-ridden remains of digital technology is the story of Emad Burnat, a farmer from the Palestinian village of Bil’in, which famously chose nonviolent resistance when the Israeli army encroached upon its land to make room for Jewish colonists. Emad buys his first camera in 2005 to document the birth of his fourth son, Gibreel. Over the course of the film, he becomes the peaceful archivist of an escalating struggle as olive trees are bulldozed, lives are lost, and a wall is built to segregate burgeoning Israeli settlements.More...
The Valdez Horses1973-09-14Chino Valdez is a loner horse breeder living in the old west. Partly a loner by choice, and partly because, being a 'half-breed', he finds himself unwelcome almost everywhere he goes. One day, a young runaway named Jimmy shows up at his door looking for work and a roof over his head. Reluctantly, Chino agrees to take him in and teach him the art of raising, breaking and breeding horses, until the pair finally begin to accept each other.More...
The Quiet Gun1957-07-18A mild mannered sheriff must fight both a hired gun and local anti-Indian bigotry in a small frontier town.More...
Mercenaries of the Rio Grande1965-03-04Dr. Karl Sternau, the personal physician of the count Bismarck, who spent much of his youth in Mexico, is sent back to that country during the occupation by French troops in the service of the Austrian 'Emperor' Maximilian, to carry an encouraging letter from U.S. President Lincoln to the nationalist Mexican president Benito Juarez.More...
Stagecoach1939-03-02A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo, and learn something about each other in the process.More...
Entrapment1999-04-29Two thieves, who travel in elegant circles, try to outsmart each other and, in the process, end up falling in love.More...
Laura1944-11-26A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he's investigating.More...
Buffalo '661998-01-20Billy is released after five years in prison. In the next moment, he kidnaps teenage student Layla and visits his parents with her, pretending she is his girlfriend and they will soon marry.More...
The Year of Living Dangerously1982-12-17A young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia during the rule of President Sukarno with the help of a diminutive photographer.More...
Dragons Forever1988-02-11A hot-shot lawyer is hired by a Hong Kong chemical plant to dispose of opposition to their polluting ways. But when he falls for a beautiful woman out to stop the plant, he is torn in a conflict of interest and asks his trusty friends Samo and Biao to help out at least until they discover the true purpose of the plant.More...
Pierrot le Fou1965-11-05Pierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne, a girl chased by hit-men from Algeria. They lead an unorthodox life, always on the run.More...
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey2025-09-17Sarah and David are single strangers who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and soon, through a surprising twist of fate, find themselves on a funny, fantastical, sweeping adventure together where they get to re-live important moments from their respective pasts, illuminating how they got to where they are in the present... and possibly getting a chance to alter their futures.More...
Oppenheimer2023-07-19The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.More...
Cries and Whispers1972-12-21As Agnes slowly dies of cancer, her sisters are so immersed in their own psychic pains that they are unable to offer her the support she needs.More...
The Psychic1977-08-10A woman with psychic powers has a vision of a murder that took place in a house owned by her husband.More...
Similar Movies
The Outcasts of Poker...
1952-11-03Four undesirables run out of a mining town and become marooned in a deserted mountain cabin during a raging snowstorm.Seven Men from Now
1956-07-24A former sheriff relentlessly pursuing the 7 men who murdered his wife in Arizona crosses paths with a couple heading to California.Dead or Alive
1944-11-09The Rangers are after Yackey and his gang. Posing as an outlaw, Dave arrives as Panhandle's prisoner and works his way into the gang. Tex arrives and joins Wright's committee. Tex plans a trap for the gang but things go awry when the gang catches Tex and the Committee catches Dave and both are about to be hung.Lone Star
1952-10-24Rip-roaring big star, big budget semi-historical story about cattle baron Devereaux Burke, who is enlisted by an aging Andrew Jackson to dissuade Sam Houston from establishing Texas as a republic. Burke must fight state senator Thomas Craden, in the process winning the heart of Craden's newspaper-editor girlfriend Martha Ronda.Butch and Sundance: T...
1979-06-15Before the adventures that made them legends, they were charming mastermind Robert Leroy Parker, alias Butch Cassidy, and crack-shot outlaw Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, soon to be known as The Sundance Kid. This is the 'prequel' of how they met, their first clumsy robberies, the heroic dangers that abound them together, the secret that nearly tore them apart, and the impossible train heist that made them notorious for life. Saddle up and ride with the showdowns, shootouts, bad guys and good times in the days before the fame when fun was the name of the game.Last of the Badmen
1957-02-17Chicago detectives in the 1880s head west to find the killers of their colleague.Under California Star...
1948-04-30On vacation at his ranch, western actor Roy quickly finds himself involved with a horse rustling operation and a boy ward of one of the rustlers, leading to the kidnapping of Roy's trick horse Trigger by the gang with a demand for ransom.The Far Country
1954-02-12During the Klondike Gold Rush, a misanthropic cattle driver and his talkative elderly partner run afoul of the law in Alaska and are forced to work for a saloon owner to take her supplies into a newly booming but lawless Candian town.La venganza del Charr...
1942-08-21Third in a series; flashbacks remind us of the beef El Charro had with Carlos from his home town. While they move toward a final showdown, Carlos and his new evil buddy Rodolfo kill a couple more people just for kicks.The Proposition
2005-10-06In 1880s Australia, a lawman offers renegade Charlie Burns a difficult choice. In order to save his younger brother from the gallows, Charlie must hunt down and kill his older brother, who is wanted for rape and murder. Venturing into one of the Outback's most inhospitable regions, Charlie faces a terrible moral dilemma that can end only in violence.The Naked Spur
1953-01-29A bounty hunter trying to bring a murderer to justice is forced to accept the help of two less-than-trustworthy strangers.Cemetery Without Cros...
1969-01-25A melancholic gunfighter is drawn into a vengeful and tragic kidnapping plot by his widowed ex-lover.The Cowboy Way
1994-06-03Two championship rodeo partners travel to New York to find their missing friend, Nacho Salazar who went missing there.Jesse James Unchained...
2022-11-01The story of one of the greatest outlaw legends of the old west, Jesse James. After escaping captivity, Jesse finds himself on the run with one more score on his mind before disappearing for good.Big Muddy
2014-09-04Martha Barlow, a modern day outlaw, must reconcile her dark past after her teenage son commits a horrible crime.Captain Thunder
1930-12-27A notorious Mexican bandit goes all soft and mushy when he falls for a beautiful senorita. Warner Bros.' Captain Thunder contains some of the darndest Mexican accents you've ever heard in your life. The star is Hungarian-born Victor Varconi, portraying a legendary south of the border outlaw who tries to force Canadian senorita Fay Wray to marry a rival rustler whom she despises. She pleads with the bandito so pathetically that he is moved to grant her a single wish. Without hesitation she chooses her poor but true love. The bandit king, being a somewhat honorable fellow grants the wish and without a twitch, guns down the wicked cattle thief. Fortunately the film was played for comedy, a wise decision since it probably would have garnered laughs as a straight drama anyway.The Gunfighter
1950-05-26The fastest gun in the West tries to escape his reputation.How the West Was Won
1962-11-02The epic tale of the development of the American West from the 1830s through the Civil War to the end of the century, as seen through the eyes of one pioneer family.High Plains Drifter
1973-04-19A gunfighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago. After gunning down three gunmen who tried to kill him, the townsfolk decide to hire the Stranger to hold off three outlaws who are on their way.The Quick and the Dea...
1995-02-09A mysterious woman comes to compete in a quick-draw elimination tournament, in a town taken over by a notorious gunman.