This is probably Edward Dmytryk's best western, and really an outstanding entry in the late 50s cycle of "adult" or "psychological" westerns, the flood began by George Stevens' "Shane." Visually, the film is competent but not really outstanding -- however it has a memorable story full of interesting characters. It manages to take certain cliché situations of the western genre and create them again with new life. It's a major film discovery for anyone who enjoys the later Leone films or the earlier films of Boetticher and Anthony Mann.
Warlock is a town without law. A gang of outlaw ranchers ride into town and do whatever they want to terrorize the locals and scare off the deputies. Frustrated, the town's citizens get together and decide (albeit not unanimously) to hire a professional killer, Clay Blaisedell (Henry Fonda) to clean the town up. Blaisedell shows up in town accompanied by his trusty accomplice Tom Morgan (Anthony Quinn), a "cripple" gambler who loves Blaisedell like a brother and looks over him. But legitimate law and order is on the horizon -- one of the ranchers, Johnny Gannon (Richard Widmark), has decided that his friends are going too far, and he moves into town and accepts the job of Deputy. That puts him up in a potential fight not only against the outlaw ranchers (including future "Star Trekkers" DeForest Kelly and Frank Gorshin) but against legendary gunman Blaisedell himself.
And yes, let's not forget that there are women in this story. Not just one token woman with no real character development, but two women who are well established and who develop throughout the film. Jessie Marlow (Dolores Michaels) is a do-gooder who doesn't like the idea of hiring a gunman. But she falls in love with Blaisedell and ultimately betrays her principles simply out of emotional loyalty to him. More intriguing still is Lily Dollar (Dorothy Malone), who may have earned her moniker by way of her trade if you get my meaning. She shows up in Warlock to get revenge on her ex-lover Blaisedell for killing the man she loved. She treats Johnny as if he were a simpleton, but he tells her "I'm not a boy" and spends the rest of the movie proving it. By a long shot, Malone and Widmark are the most interesting aspects of this movie and they really do the most with such interesting characters. But Quinn and Fonda and everybody else have their moments as well.
This is a really excellent ensemble western that has a leisurely pace and might not have quite enough action to please a lot of people then or now. But if you're interested in seeing a western with a lot of good drama and dialog then this is bound to please I think. Plus it's fun just to see stuff like Dr. McCoy talking trash and pulling out his six shooter. Kelly is actually really excellent in the role, and would be somewhat notable here in a small role even if it weren't for his TV fame later. Gorshin is really good too in the more prominent role of Johnny's brother, who has more pride than he can back up with his guns. Well here come the spoilers: I love the way Fonda says "Billy.... billy!" with such disappointment when he guns him down. Like he was a kid who stole a piece of candy right in front of the store clerk, not a man about to plant his earthly remains in the dry soil of Warlock.
Maybe there aren't a huge amount of surprises in the plot, and in a lot of ways it's a variation on a lot of basic western themes. What's interesting about this movie is that the focus isn't all on Fonda like it was in "Tin Star" which is somewhat similar to this one. But Widmark's character isn't a protégé like the Anthony Perkins character in that film, and he doesn't need to learn anything from the veteran gunfighter; if anything the total opposite. There's a lot of attention sprinkled around even to some of the minor characters like Kelly's. A second viewing really pays off because you can notice this more and more. It makes for a fairly convincing atmosphere to the town, as all the supporting characters are somewhat more than the usual stereotypes. They still conform to some of the typical behavior, but there's just a bit more explanation of why they do the things they do. Wallace Ford's character of the disapproving judge would be a good example. He argues with Fonda's character and for most of the film seems to be a wiser man, but at some point his spiels become annoying even to the audience and we're not all that put off in the end when Fonda makes him grovel when he insults Morgan. I think we know what Blaisedell means when he says that at least Morgan was a "real man." Morgan did some really despicable things, but at least he actually stood up for what he believed in and didn't just talk about the way he thought the world should be, he did things to make it that way. Blaisedell knows that he's at the end of his rope and that his time in the West was ending and the time for men like Johnny Gannon was already upon him, but it doesn't mean that he should accept ridicule from hypocrites. In this movie anyway, he still gets to ride off with his pride and his woman, though each have been tattered and betrayed by the course of the film and seem less to us than what they once were. And by way of Gannon winning the love of Lily Dollar, we see again the metaphorical taming and maturation of the West.
Warlock is a town without law. A gang of outlaw ranchers ride into town and do whatever they want to terrorize the locals and scare off the deputies. Frustrated, the town's citizens get together and decide (albeit not unanimously) to hire a professional killer, Clay Blaisedell (Henry Fonda) to clean the town up. Blaisedell shows up in town accompanied by his trusty accomplice Tom Morgan (Anthony Quinn), a "cripple" gambler who loves Blaisedell like a brother and looks over him. But legitimate law and order is on the horizon -- one of the ranchers, Johnny Gannon (Richard Widmark), has decided that his friends are going too far, and he moves into town and accepts the job of Deputy. That puts him up in a potential fight not only against the outlaw ranchers (including future "Star Trekkers" DeForest Kelly and Frank Gorshin) but against legendary gunman Blaisedell himself.
And yes, let's not forget that there are women in this story. Not just one token woman with no real character development, but two women who are well established and who develop throughout the film. Jessie Marlow (Dolores Michaels) is a do-gooder who doesn't like the idea of hiring a gunman. But she falls in love with Blaisedell and ultimately betrays her principles simply out of emotional loyalty to him. More intriguing still is Lily Dollar (Dorothy Malone), who may have earned her moniker by way of her trade if you get my meaning. She shows up in Warlock to get revenge on her ex-lover Blaisedell for killing the man she loved. She treats Johnny as if he were a simpleton, but he tells her "I'm not a boy" and spends the rest of the movie proving it. By a long shot, Malone and Widmark are the most interesting aspects of this movie and they really do the most with such interesting characters. But Quinn and Fonda and everybody else have their moments as well.
This is a really excellent ensemble western that has a leisurely pace and might not have quite enough action to please a lot of people then or now. But if you're interested in seeing a western with a lot of good drama and dialog then this is bound to please I think. Plus it's fun just to see stuff like Dr. McCoy talking trash and pulling out his six shooter. Kelly is actually really excellent in the role, and would be somewhat notable here in a small role even if it weren't for his TV fame later. Gorshin is really good too in the more prominent role of Johnny's brother, who has more pride than he can back up with his guns. Well here come the spoilers: I love the way Fonda says "Billy.... billy!" with such disappointment when he guns him down. Like he was a kid who stole a piece of candy right in front of the store clerk, not a man about to plant his earthly remains in the dry soil of Warlock.
Maybe there aren't a huge amount of surprises in the plot, and in a lot of ways it's a variation on a lot of basic western themes. What's interesting about this movie is that the focus isn't all on Fonda like it was in "Tin Star" which is somewhat similar to this one. But Widmark's character isn't a protégé like the Anthony Perkins character in that film, and he doesn't need to learn anything from the veteran gunfighter; if anything the total opposite. There's a lot of attention sprinkled around even to some of the minor characters like Kelly's. A second viewing really pays off because you can notice this more and more. It makes for a fairly convincing atmosphere to the town, as all the supporting characters are somewhat more than the usual stereotypes. They still conform to some of the typical behavior, but there's just a bit more explanation of why they do the things they do. Wallace Ford's character of the disapproving judge would be a good example. He argues with Fonda's character and for most of the film seems to be a wiser man, but at some point his spiels become annoying even to the audience and we're not all that put off in the end when Fonda makes him grovel when he insults Morgan. I think we know what Blaisedell means when he says that at least Morgan was a "real man." Morgan did some really despicable things, but at least he actually stood up for what he believed in and didn't just talk about the way he thought the world should be, he did things to make it that way. Blaisedell knows that he's at the end of his rope and that his time in the West was ending and the time for men like Johnny Gannon was already upon him, but it doesn't mean that he should accept ridicule from hypocrites. In this movie anyway, he still gets to ride off with his pride and his woman, though each have been tattered and betrayed by the course of the film and seem less to us than what they once were. And by way of Gannon winning the love of Lily Dollar, we see again the metaphorical taming and maturation of the West.