"The Proud Ones" (1956) is a town-Western where practically the entire story takes place within the confines of a Western town set, like "Rio Bravo," which came out three years later. At 94 minutes, "The Proud Ones" is more streamlined than the overlong "Rio Bravo," not that it makes it better (it doesn't).
Robert Ryan plays the righteous sheriff in a thankless job, the beautiful Virginia Mayo is his babe, Robert Middleton plays the villainous saloon owner and Jeffrey Hunter the young buck who signs on as deputy at a dangerous time, even though the sheriff killed his father and the tensions thereof.
This is a decent Western with Ryan shining in the main role, but it's hampered by some "yeah, right" dramatics. For instance, Hunter's macho posturing early on (which may be the writer's fault), his character's unnecessary rough handling of Sally while he's wounded in bed (Why sure!) (I think Hunter's a stud enough to get practically any woman he wants any time he wants without resorting to nigh forcible rape), and his stubborn refusal to see evidence that Chico pulled a gun after a shootout (it just doesn't ring true).
Writing like this makes "The Proud Ones" seem more like a TV show than a theatrical film, but, then again, maybe that's just the lame way they wrote screenplays in the 50s, I don't know.
Still, it's got a lot to make it worthwhile, particularly the strong cast.
GRADE: C+
Robert Ryan plays the righteous sheriff in a thankless job, the beautiful Virginia Mayo is his babe, Robert Middleton plays the villainous saloon owner and Jeffrey Hunter the young buck who signs on as deputy at a dangerous time, even though the sheriff killed his father and the tensions thereof.
This is a decent Western with Ryan shining in the main role, but it's hampered by some "yeah, right" dramatics. For instance, Hunter's macho posturing early on (which may be the writer's fault), his character's unnecessary rough handling of Sally while he's wounded in bed (Why sure!) (I think Hunter's a stud enough to get practically any woman he wants any time he wants without resorting to nigh forcible rape), and his stubborn refusal to see evidence that Chico pulled a gun after a shootout (it just doesn't ring true).
Writing like this makes "The Proud Ones" seem more like a TV show than a theatrical film, but, then again, maybe that's just the lame way they wrote screenplays in the 50s, I don't know.
Still, it's got a lot to make it worthwhile, particularly the strong cast.
GRADE: C+