"Beneath the 12-Mile Reef" director Robert D. Webb's western shoot'em up "The Proud Ones" is a solid, well-made, and highly underrated oater that stars Robert Ryan as a leathery tough town marshal, Jeffrey Hunter as an indecisive cowhand, and Virginia Mayo as Ryan's spitfire girlfriend. "The Proud Ones" anticipated later films such as Anthony Mann's "The Tin Star" (1957), Sam Fuller's "Forty Guns," Sergio Corbucci's "Minnesota Clay" (1965), Don Siegel's "Death of a Gunfighter" (1969), and Fernando Baldi's "Blindman" (1971). Webb doesn't waste a moment in this tightly helmed western drama that deals with a familiar theme in most oaters: an older man takes a younger one under his tutelage and shows him the ropes about how to survive as a lawman and how to handle a six-gun. Predictably, the younger man doesn't trust the older man and that generates half of the drama in "The Proud Ones."
Clocking in at a minimal 94-minutes, this Twentieth Century Fox sagebrusher penned by Academy Award winner Edmund H. North of "Patton" and "Guns of the Timberlands" scenarist Joseph Petracca slights the villain and the heroine. Robert Middleton is a worthwhile villain and he poses a clear and present danger to our hero, but we don't get nearly enough scenes where he connives against the protagonist. In other words, Middleton doesn't make near enough an impression. Meantime, Virginia Mayo doesn't garner enough screen time either as our hero's headstrong girlfriend. Composer Lionel Newman contributes a richly atmospheric orchestral soundtrack that is distinguished by a pre-Ennio Morricone whistling theme. Veteran western lenser Lucian Ballard adds to the credibility with his artful widescreen compositions that give this western a quiet dignity. The supporting cast is fleshed out by many familiar faces, among them Walter Brennan in a pre-"Rio Bravo" role as a wise old deputy; Arthur O'Connell as a nervous, expectant father, Whit Bissell as a yellow livered townsperson, Ken Clark and Rudolfo Acosta as murderous killers; Edward Platt as the town doctor, George Mathews and I. Stanford Jolly as crooked card dealers.
Basically, a hard-as-nails Kansas town marshal, Cass Silver (Robert Ryan of "Flying Leathernecks"), has to keep a town tamed after his old nemesis 'Honest John' Barrett (Robert Middleton of "The Law and Jake Wade") opens a saloon/gambling house and imports a couple of trigger-happy gunslingers to raise Cass' blood pressure. The first of the cattle herds are showing up in town and the merchants are taking advantage of their future customers by raising prices on everything, including haircuts. Complications arise when Cass has to blast one of Barrett's quick-tempered men in a saloon gunfight and a bullet nicks him on the left temple so that his vision blurs at the worst moments. Meanwhile, if blurry sight is enough for our clench-jawed hero to contend with, a cowpoke, Thad Anderson (Jeffrey Hunter of "The Searchers"), rides into town with a cattle herd and keeps two guns buckled across his hips. It seems that Anderson's no-good father worked as a hired gun for Barrett in another town and Silver had to plug him. Barrett has generated a persuasive rumor that Silver gunned down Anderson' father in cold blood and Anderson wants to know the truth.
Jeffrey Hunter has the plum role as Anderson, largely because he hasn't made up his mind which side of the law that he intends to stay on. Never quite completely until the end of the action does Anderson trust Cass Silver. It is a testimony to Robert Ryan's ability as a leading man and a character actor that he comes off as a marshal who is prepared to do things that most lawmen wouldn't do. During a street showdown, he blasts a gunmen who appeared to be unarmed but had concealed a derringer in his jacket. Later, Anderson pulls the same stunt, shooting down a man at a saloon bar who appeared to all intensive purposes to be unarmed. These two scenes raise "The Proud Ones" above average. "The Proud Ones" isn't one of those westerns with unrealistic expectations. The suspicion on behalf of the townspeople that Cass Silver might be a mite unhinged in his behavior foreshadows Siegel's later western "Death of a Gunfighter." The big gundown in a barn at the end bristles with thrills, too, as Silver confronts his Achilles' heel when his sight goes bad, he loses his revolver, and he must depend on Anderson.
"The Proud Ones" is an unheralded western that deserves more positive critical recognition.
Clocking in at a minimal 94-minutes, this Twentieth Century Fox sagebrusher penned by Academy Award winner Edmund H. North of "Patton" and "Guns of the Timberlands" scenarist Joseph Petracca slights the villain and the heroine. Robert Middleton is a worthwhile villain and he poses a clear and present danger to our hero, but we don't get nearly enough scenes where he connives against the protagonist. In other words, Middleton doesn't make near enough an impression. Meantime, Virginia Mayo doesn't garner enough screen time either as our hero's headstrong girlfriend. Composer Lionel Newman contributes a richly atmospheric orchestral soundtrack that is distinguished by a pre-Ennio Morricone whistling theme. Veteran western lenser Lucian Ballard adds to the credibility with his artful widescreen compositions that give this western a quiet dignity. The supporting cast is fleshed out by many familiar faces, among them Walter Brennan in a pre-"Rio Bravo" role as a wise old deputy; Arthur O'Connell as a nervous, expectant father, Whit Bissell as a yellow livered townsperson, Ken Clark and Rudolfo Acosta as murderous killers; Edward Platt as the town doctor, George Mathews and I. Stanford Jolly as crooked card dealers.
Basically, a hard-as-nails Kansas town marshal, Cass Silver (Robert Ryan of "Flying Leathernecks"), has to keep a town tamed after his old nemesis 'Honest John' Barrett (Robert Middleton of "The Law and Jake Wade") opens a saloon/gambling house and imports a couple of trigger-happy gunslingers to raise Cass' blood pressure. The first of the cattle herds are showing up in town and the merchants are taking advantage of their future customers by raising prices on everything, including haircuts. Complications arise when Cass has to blast one of Barrett's quick-tempered men in a saloon gunfight and a bullet nicks him on the left temple so that his vision blurs at the worst moments. Meanwhile, if blurry sight is enough for our clench-jawed hero to contend with, a cowpoke, Thad Anderson (Jeffrey Hunter of "The Searchers"), rides into town with a cattle herd and keeps two guns buckled across his hips. It seems that Anderson's no-good father worked as a hired gun for Barrett in another town and Silver had to plug him. Barrett has generated a persuasive rumor that Silver gunned down Anderson' father in cold blood and Anderson wants to know the truth.
Jeffrey Hunter has the plum role as Anderson, largely because he hasn't made up his mind which side of the law that he intends to stay on. Never quite completely until the end of the action does Anderson trust Cass Silver. It is a testimony to Robert Ryan's ability as a leading man and a character actor that he comes off as a marshal who is prepared to do things that most lawmen wouldn't do. During a street showdown, he blasts a gunmen who appeared to be unarmed but had concealed a derringer in his jacket. Later, Anderson pulls the same stunt, shooting down a man at a saloon bar who appeared to all intensive purposes to be unarmed. These two scenes raise "The Proud Ones" above average. "The Proud Ones" isn't one of those westerns with unrealistic expectations. The suspicion on behalf of the townspeople that Cass Silver might be a mite unhinged in his behavior foreshadows Siegel's later western "Death of a Gunfighter." The big gundown in a barn at the end bristles with thrills, too, as Silver confronts his Achilles' heel when his sight goes bad, he loses his revolver, and he must depend on Anderson.
"The Proud Ones" is an unheralded western that deserves more positive critical recognition.