About a week before seeing this film I caught Ernest Borgnine in his Oscar winning performance in the 1955 picture "Marty". So with that still fresh in my mind, I was struck by a comment Borgnine's character Shep Horgan made in this picture when he stated that he 'can't change his ugly face none'. That was the whole idea in "Marty", how a less than attractive man in his mid Thirties had a hard time finding someone that he could fall in love with and eventually marry.
Well I guess the film makers took that problem out of Shep Horgan's hands by pairing him up in an unlikely marriage to the vivacious Valerie French. They're an obvious mismatch, and Horgan doesn't do his wife or himself any favors by treating her like any other piece of property on his ranch. So when Jubal Troop (Glenn Ford) shows up and takes a job with Horgan, wife Mae (French) starts flashing her sparkling eyes and curvaceous body in his direction. All enough to create a palpable tension between Jubal and Horgan's top hand, Pinky Pinkum (Rod Steiger).
I have to admit, the name Pinky took me off stride for a while, and I had to wonder how a tough ranch hand would allow himself to go by that name. Steiger's character was a roughneck from the word go, and the name just didn't fit, so that was a bit of a distraction for me. He was also pretty much a jerk for most of the picture, squaring off against Ford's character and behaving shamefully as a suitor for the boss's wife. She must have been REALLY bored to put up with him before Jubal came around.
As expected, the story sets up a compromising situation for Jubal, and things get more complicated when Jubal shoots his new boss in a forced showdown. A better alternative might have had Ford go up against Steiger with guns blazing, but in any event, Pinky got what was coming to him.
Overall, not a bad little Western, with players other than Ford that you generally don't see in the genre. Adding a nice touch in support was Charles Bronson who made quick friends with Jubal, and Jack Elam as foreman of the Bar-8 Ranch. who I would have liked to see have a larger role in the story.
Well I guess the film makers took that problem out of Shep Horgan's hands by pairing him up in an unlikely marriage to the vivacious Valerie French. They're an obvious mismatch, and Horgan doesn't do his wife or himself any favors by treating her like any other piece of property on his ranch. So when Jubal Troop (Glenn Ford) shows up and takes a job with Horgan, wife Mae (French) starts flashing her sparkling eyes and curvaceous body in his direction. All enough to create a palpable tension between Jubal and Horgan's top hand, Pinky Pinkum (Rod Steiger).
I have to admit, the name Pinky took me off stride for a while, and I had to wonder how a tough ranch hand would allow himself to go by that name. Steiger's character was a roughneck from the word go, and the name just didn't fit, so that was a bit of a distraction for me. He was also pretty much a jerk for most of the picture, squaring off against Ford's character and behaving shamefully as a suitor for the boss's wife. She must have been REALLY bored to put up with him before Jubal came around.
As expected, the story sets up a compromising situation for Jubal, and things get more complicated when Jubal shoots his new boss in a forced showdown. A better alternative might have had Ford go up against Steiger with guns blazing, but in any event, Pinky got what was coming to him.
Overall, not a bad little Western, with players other than Ford that you generally don't see in the genre. Adding a nice touch in support was Charles Bronson who made quick friends with Jubal, and Jack Elam as foreman of the Bar-8 Ranch. who I would have liked to see have a larger role in the story.