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Synopsis:
When a money-hungry marshal (James Stewart) partnering with a saloon owner (Annelle Hayes) is convinced by an Army Major (Richard Widmark) to help seek out White family members captured by Comanches — including the long-lost brother of a guilt-ridden young woman (Shirley Jones), the daughter of a grieving father (John Qualen), and the son of an eternally hopeful mother (Jeanette Nolan) — he bargains with Chief Quanah (Henry Brandon) for several individuals, and ends up with both an an angry young man (David Kent) and the Mexican wife (Linda Cristal) of Stone Calf (Woody Strode).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Anna Lee Films
• Jimmy Stewart Films
• John Ford Films
• John McIntire Films
• John Qualen Films
• Native Americans
• Race Relations and Racism
• Richard Widmark Films
• Sheriffs and Marshals
• Shirley Jones Films
• Westerns
• Woody Strode Films

Review:
John Ford was apparently not happy about making this adaptation of a novel by western writer Will Cook, which covers several similar themes from his earlier film The Searchers (1956). Much like John Wayne’s embittered Ethan Edwards in The Searchers, Jimmy Stewart’s Guthrie McCabe is a self-centered piece of work — someone it’s hard to relate to as a protagonist.

You could argue that McCabe simply shares and airs the widely held racist ideology of the time, which would be true; but it’s still challenging to listen to him tell a heartbroken father (John Qualen) what has likely happened to his missing daughter Freda:

“Go on back to Minnesota. Forget you ever had a daughter. The Comanches mate their women early. If your daughter’s still alive, she’s probably got a couple half-breed kids by now.”

Granted, McCabe is cynical about sentiments like those from a businessman (Willis Bouchey) willing to pay him $1000 to find a young man — any young man will do — to satisfy his mourning wife:

“You know, my wife hasn’t seen that boy of hers since he was 2. Be 17 now. McCabe, I will guarantee that you could bring in any boy that age, tell my wife that it was her son — she’d accept him without question. Then I could get back to my business.”

… which doesn’t make any of the proceedings any easier to swallow. Later, when McCabe’s had far too much whiskey (provided by Bouchey), he elaborates to Jones about what her younger brother would look and act like after so many years living with the Comanches:

“That kid has braids down to here now — stiff, stinking braids, filled with buffalo grease. And he’s got a scar there, right in his shoulder, where they stuck the pins right in through his flesh, then took some rawhide ropes and hung him up like that so he’d sort of dangle like that until the kid tore himself off those pins just to prove he’s a man. He forgot his English; he just grunts Comanche now. Just grunts. And he’s killed — and he’s taken scalps, White man’s scalps. And given the chance, sister, he’d rape you… When he’s finished, he’d trade you off to one of the other bucks for a good knife or a bad rifle.”

Etc. Once we actually meet the young captives, no opportunity is spared to present them as ghoulish, wracked, deeply disturbed individuals:

The only hint we get of the possibility for inter-racial harmony involves Stewart’s growing relationship with sympathetic Cristal, who is mercilessly Othered given her relations with a Comanche, but holds on tightly to her values and identity.

Meanwhile, we’re given a side romance to root for between Widmark and Jones (years apart in age, but so it goes):

… a sassy, strong, middle-aged woman in Hayes’ Belle Aragon:

… and, naturally, several comedic sidekicks (including Harry Carey Jr., Ken Curtis, and Andy Devine).

Stewart and Widmark turn in solid performances as the leads, though it’s never entirely clear how or why this pair became friends at one point.

Note: I recommend Chris Smallbone’s essay on the film for NativeAmerican.co.uk to read more insights on the film’s strengths and omissions related to more overtly portraying racial tensions of the time.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Charles Lawton Jr.’s cinematography
  

Must See?
No, though Ford fans will of course be curious to check it out.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Time Out Capsule Review
• DVD Savant Review
• Spinning Image Review
• Native American Review (spoilers alert)

Synopsis:
After saving the lives of a few Moorish enemies during battle, medieval knight Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (Charlton Heston) earns the loyalty of their leader (Douglas Wilmer) but the wrath of members back at his home court — including the jealous rival (Raf Vallone) who wants to marry his girlfriend Jimena (Sophia Loren). When “El Cid” (Heston) slays Jimena’s father (Andrew Cruickshank) in a forced battle of honor, he loses her love and soon finds himself caught up in a rivalry involving two princes (John Fraser and Gary Raymond) and their sister (Geneviève Page), all while preparing to face a new Moorish threat (Herbert Lom).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Anthony Mann Films
• Charlton Heston Films
• Historical Drama
• Hurd Hatfield Films
• Medieval Times
• Revenge
• Royalty and Nobility
• Sophia Loren Films

Review:
Anthony Mann directed and Samuel Bronston produced this epic widescreen drama based on the life and heroism of an 11th century Castilian knight dubbed “El Cid” (“The Lord” in Arabic). Filmed largely on location in Spain, the production feels as grandiose as its topic, expertly evoking a particular time, place, and ethos, with Christianity pitted against Islam and loyalty revered above all else.

The sets (both indoors and out) are consistently gorgeous, as is Robert Krasker’s cinematography — and first-choice casting picks Heston and Loren are both ideal in their roles.

I first saw El Cid at the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles during its 1993 restoration re-release, which was an epic but slightly disorienting experience given the inevitable distortion of such a curved screen. Watching it again recently on a smaller screen at home, I found I was still duly impressed by the imagery, which remains rich and satisfying throughout. In terms of the narrative, it’s pretty straightforward (if occasionally over-stretched at 3+ hours), but serves its purpose well. It’s worth a look as a fine example of its genre and style.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Majestic sets, costumes, and battle sequences
  
  
  
• Robert Krasker’s gorgeous cinematography
  
  
• Miklos Rozsa’s score

Must See?
Yes, for its historical relevance and overall majesty.

Categories

• Historically Relevant

Links:

• IMDb entry
• DVD Savant Review
• TCM Article

Synopsis:
During World War II, a widow (Sophia Loren) and her adolescent daughter (Eleonora Brown) flee bomb-ridden Rome for her home village in the countryside, where Cesira (Loren) meets a sympathetic academic (Jean-Paul Belmondo) who falls for her.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Italian Films
• Jean-Paul Belmondo Films
• Refugees
• Single Mothers
• Sophia Loren Films
• Strong Females
• Vittorio De Sica Films
• Widows and Widowers
• World War II

Review:
Sophia Loren won an Oscar for her heartfelt performance in this refugee drama directed by Vittorio De Sica, and set during the height of World War II. Despite not naming her Best Actress of the Year in Alternate Oscars, Peary honors Loren’s win by noting that the award was likely given to her not only “in order to give a boost to the Hollywood product abroad” and to promote “Loren’s status as honorary American,” but to showcase “Loren giving proof, after eleven years [in films], that she was a skilled actress.”

Indeed, Loren is never not compelling to watch here, portraying an eminently fierce single mother who understands that survival is about compromise and resilience — skills she passes along intentionally and lovingly to her daughter (Brown). While there are plenty of smiles and laughs throughout the film — including as the duo befriend a soft-spoken but resolute Marxist (Belmondo) — an undercurrent of violence and disruption is ever-present.

This escalates in the film’s final sequences, which come as a brutal shock after we’ve grown to know and love these characters. Be forewarned that this film doesn’t shy away from the horrors of war.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Sophia Loren as Cesira
  
• Eleanora Brown as Rosetta
  
• Jean-Paul Belmondo as Michele
  
• Gábor Pogány’s cinematography
  

Must See?
Yes, for Loren’s Oscar-winning performance, and as an overall powerful and heartbreaking drama. Listed as a film with Historical Importance and a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary’s book.

Categories

• Noteworthy Performance(s)
• Oscar Winner or Nominee

Links:

• IMDb entry
• TCM Article
• TV Guide Review

Synopsis:
When a mysterious one-eyed man (Joseph Wiseman) shows up on horseback claiming that the adopted daughter (Audrey Hepburn) of widowed Mrs. Zachary (Lillian Gish) is of Kiowa ancestry, racial tensions emerge, with Gish’s three cattle-ranching sons (Burt Lancaster, Audie Murphy, and Doug McClure) as well as the family’s neighbors — Lancaster’s business partner (Charles Bickford) and his wife (June Walker), son (Albert Salmi), and daughter (Kipp Hamilton) — becoming involved as well.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Audie Murphy Films
• Audrey Hepburn Films
• Burt Lancaster Films
• Charles Bickford Films
• John Huston Films
• John Saxon Films
• Lillian Gish Films
• Native Americans
• Race Relations and Racism
• Westerns

Review:
Although John Huston purportedly hated this film more than any other in his directing oeuvre, it remains a surprisingly compelling western featuring several strong performances, unique imagery, and a refreshing attempt to address anti-Indian racism head-on. Based on a story by Alan Le May — who also wrote the novel John Ford’s The Searchers (1956) was derived from — the film sets up a mysterious scenario from the very beginning, as a creepy man on a white horse rides up and tells Hepburn, “You’re no Zachary.”

Hepburn retorts that while she may not be “Zachary born,” her “Ma says it’s no different than if [she] were flesh and blood,” and asks the man how he claims to know her. His response — “I am the sword of God, the fire and the vengeance, whereby the wrong shall be righted and the truth be told.” — sets the pace for the entire narrative, which is predicated on determining the presumably crucial issue of whether Hepburn’s Rachel is “Kiowa born” or was simply a White foundling taken in by the Zachary family. Indeed, racial tensions between the White settlers and the Native Kiowas remains high throughout, and the script doesn’t sugarcoat their precarious co-existence.

The early arrival of a piano on the wide prairie (purchased by Lancaster during a trip to Wichita) adds a Gothic flavor to the proceedings:

… and eventually becomes a potent symbol in the battle between Settlers and Natives. The presence of sharp-shooting Gish, meanwhile, immediately evokes memories of her comparable role as a protective mother figure in The Night of the Hunter (1955). While some have complained that Hepburn seems miscast, I disagree; and Lancaster is suitably toned-down for his role here as the hard-working, father-figure head of the family.

One of the major complaints made about the film is its “conventional” ending — and it’s true that a different outcome would have felt both more authentic and more satisfying; but overall, this remains an engaging western that’s worth at least a one-time look.

Note: Watch for John Saxon in a small role as an Indian horse trader known as Johnny Portugal.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Fine performances by the cast
  
  
  
• Franz Planer’s cinematography
  
  

Must See?
Yes, as a fine if flawed film by Huston.

Categories

• Good Show
• Important Director

Links:

• IMDb entry
• TV Guide Review
• DVD Savant Review
• Time Out Capsule Review
• Native American Review
• NY Times Original Review

Synopsis:
In Harlem, a 15-year-old named Duke (Hampton Clanton) is eager to buy a gun from Priest (Carl Lee) so he can take over as leader of the Pythons gang, whose current president, Blood (Clarence Williams, III), is a heroin addict.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• African-Americans
• Gangs
• Race Relations and Racism
• Shirley Clarke Films

Review:
Shirley Clarke directed and Frederic Wiseman produced this low-budget, neo-realist flick about young Black gang members jockeying for power and attempting to survive in a White man’s world.

Indeed, the film opens with a fiery speech by a street-speaker about the evils of “White demons” ruling over black bodies and lives for 600 years:

… and from there, we see a White teacher taking his Black students on a trip to Wall Street, explaining the origins of the name.

The irony of what follows next in the loose narrative — which includes plenty of violence, poverty, and drug use — is not lost, given that the lives of the young adults in this film are fueled by all the options NOT given to them in a White man’s America. Unfortunately, this film is currently unavailable except in bootleg versions, which compromises the viewing experience — especially given that it’s often challenging to make out exactly what characters are saying; however, Clarke’s fluid direction and DP Baird Bryant’s fast-moving, ultra-mobile camerawork at least provide us with a visceral sense of this world.

In 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, editor Stephen J. Schneider describes this hard-to-find film as “a raw, unflinching look at the power struggles and casual violence of Harlem’s street gangs,” and argues you should “find a copy somewhere, somehow — you won’t regret it.” Viewers will have to decide for themselves if it’s worth seeking out, but it does represent a significant attempt in mid-century cinema to represent a more authentic perspective on Black American life (albeit one helmed by a White woman).

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Baird Bryant’s cinematography
  

Must See?
Yes, simply for its historical relevance. Listed as a film with Historical Importance and a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary’s book.

Categories

• Historically Relevant

(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die)

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review
• Time Out Capsule Review

Synopsis:
When a motorcyclist (Colin Campbell) and his young girlfriend Dot (Rita Tushingham) have a falling out shortly after their marriage, Reggie (Campbell) moves in with his friend Pete (Dudley Sutton), not realizing Pete is gay.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Homosexuality
• Marital Problems
• Motorcyclists
• Newlyweds
• Rita Tushingham Films

Review:
Canadian director Sidney Furie helmed this adaptation of a novel by Gillian Freeman (written under the pseudonym “Eliot George”) about motorcycle culture and homosexuality in mid-century Britain. Naturally, the book was toned down quite a bit in order to pass censors, with the first portion of the “kitchen sink realism” storyline focusing on Reggie and Dot’s doomed working-class marriage. The couple are so immature and inexperienced that their idea of marital bliss (at least at first) is having privacy for sex, and going to a carnival-like “chalet” where Dot instantly gets her hair dyed blonde after years of her mother telling her not to.

When it becomes clear that the couple have a lot of maturing to do in order to begin to function as co-habiting adults, the narrative shifts towards both motorcycle culture:

… and the friendship subplot between Reggie and Pete. It’s crystal clear to everyone (except apparently Reggie) that Pete is gay, which strains credulity a bit — though Reggie (just like Dot) really is young and naive on every level.

Sutton’s performance as Pete is a stand-out: he conveys depth, longing, and a life filled with camouflage.

It was interesting reading this quote from Sutton on IMDb’s biography page about him:

[My role in Leather Boys] was the breakthrough moment for me but it wasn’t shown very widely because it had a homosexual theme to it. It was a risky part to take, but then I was very political and, although I am not gay myself, I really did care about the trouble my gay friends were having. People were being put in prison, beaten up, blackmailed, so when that job came up I thought, ‘I’m going to play it as a man who is in love, not a flapping, limp-wristed camp thing that everyone can laugh at.’

Indeed, it’s not until the film’s final moments when we see a more cliched and seedy glimpse into the world Pete maneuvers through.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Dudley Sutton as Pete
  
• Rita Tushingham and Colin Campbell as the naive young newlyweds
  
• Enjoyable motorcycling sequences (particularly when the group rides through Edinburgh)
  
• Fine cinematography by Gerald Gibbs
  

Must See?
No, but it’s worth a look for its historical significance in gay cinema.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review
• Mondo Digital Review

Synopsis:
When a young woman (Lee Remick) and her daughter (Kimberly Block) reunite with Remick’s ex-con husband (Steve McQueen), Remick finds that the trauma of McQueen’s abusive childhood is still preventing him from future happiness and success.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Don Murray Films
• Ex-Cons
• Lee Remick Films
• Play Adaptation
• Robert Mulligan Films
• Steve McQueen Films

Review:
Scripted by Horton Foote and based on his 1954 play “The Traveling Lady,” this Southern Gothic drama by director Robert Mulligan is atmospherically shot (by DP Ernest Laszlo) but falls short of its narrative potential. The main challenge is that we don’t sufficiently understand McQueen’s deeply troubled, highly erratic character; we’re simply informed he was bullied as an orphan when adopted by a cruel woman (Georgia Simmons) whose presence upstairs in a decaying mansion is primarily hinted at rather than directly shown (she’s on-screen just a couple of brief moments).

If the shot above reminds you of Norman Bates about to confront his “mother” in Psycho (1960), you wouldn’t be too far off, given that the music (by Elmer Bernstein) becomes incredibly ominous whenever McQueen is forced to face his demons (i.e., his mother) and acknowledge various truths of his life to her, including his secret marriage and child as well as his lifelong dream of being a rockabilly singer (the film gets its title from a song the obviously-dubbed McQueen performs).

The most tender moments take place between the young family out at the shack they’re renting, where they experience some happiness before things inevitably fall apart.

Note: Watch for Don Murray in a crucial but underdeveloped role as McQueen’s loyal buddy:

… and Black stage actress Estelle Hemsley in a bit role as Simmons’ aged caretaker:

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Lee Remick as Georgette
  
• Steve McQueen as Henry
  
• Ernest Laszlo’s cinematography
  

Must See?
No, but it’s worth a one-time look if you’re a fan of either of the stars. Listed as a Sleeper in the back of Peary’s book.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• DVD Savant Review
• TCM Article