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Day of the Outlaw (1959) More at IMDb Pro »

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22 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
Robert Ryan Rides Again, 25 August 2001
Author: rockbroker (rockbroker@hotmail.com) from Athens, GA

This is an uncommon, stark western starring the versatile Robert Ryan in tough guy mode, as a ruthless cattleman at odds with homesteaders in a tiny, bleak western town. As he is about to settle a feud with a local farmer, Burl Ives and his band of sadistic thugs ride into town and hold the citizens hostage. As Ives tries to keep his men from raping the women, Ryan must find a way to save the town, and redeem himself in the process.

Beautiful outdoor photography and solid acting combine with an unusual story line to make this a very interesting, tense flick. The movie eschews the usual western cliches in favor of maintaining a somber, moral tone. Ives excels as an internally conflicted villain. And Ryan, as always, is the man.

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17 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
White western, 4 October 2006
Author: dbdumonteil

This is an excellent western by Andre de Toth. It is mainly remembered for its final thirty minutes,an extraordinary ride in the snow ,where the director makes the best of black and white pictures while he's filming all the tired horses ...Hell freezes over.

But the first hour is absorbing as well with its depiction of an one-horse town lost in the snow,a dead end where one never really knows which ones are prisoners and which ones are guards .The "ball ",during which the four women are really having a bad time (particularly Tina Louise)is one of the most violent scenes ever filmed in a western .And all they are doing is dancing.It has to be seen to be believed! Robert Ryan is ,as always,excellent ,as a tired blasé man who just wants to live in peace.

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16 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Hard as nails Classic, The Asphalt Jungle meets the Wild Bunch, 6 February 2005
9/10
Author: AKA_Paul_Murphy from Scotland

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I love this film because the main character, Blaise Starret does his best to fit into a changing society that holds none of the values of the times he grew up in, in this case the coming of civilisation and big business to the Wild West where he was a gunslinger in the past.

What also made Starret compelling was although not mentioned, but hinted at, he might have been as a bad a person as any of the gang of outlaws ,lead by Burl Ives's Jack Bruhn, that ride in and take over the town.

It was for this reason that he lead the outlaws out into the blizzard to their deaths, and most likely his as well.

I found this theme of heroic self sacrifice more believable than the garbage that Hollywood spews out.

The theme of change was in stark contrast to the Wild Bunch where Bishop and Engstrom was unable to change with the times (surprisingly Deke Thornton, played by Robert Ryan, is a similar character to Starret as he had to change, did Sam Peckinpah get the idea of Thrornton from Day of the Outlaw?) Back to the film, overall, it was great, tough acting by all concerned, particularly Ryan and Ives, taut direction, beautiful cinematography, I have never scene such striking images of snowstorms and snow capped mountain landscapes, and a satisfying storyline.

If you get a chance to see this, do it!

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17 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
CAST OF ALL TIME GREAT ACTORS!, 13 June 2003
10/10
Author: whpratt1 from United States

This 1959 black and white Western story had very eerie photography which was about a town with very few people, high in the mountains, snow covered and plenty of fog. It had some very depressing scenes with hardly any groceries on the store shelves and very few bottles of booze behind the bar. Horses and men had trouble walking in the snow and you never knew who was going to kill who, a horse was even killed because it fell and broke his leg. Burl Ives,(Jack Bruhn) did not sing a song, but gave orders to his men, and kept them from any women or drink. Bruhn sort of took over the town and layed the law down and had a bullet removed without even a drop of booze to ease the pain. Robert Ryan(Blaise Starrett) was in love with a married woman and managed to leave the town and then return as a hero. Tina Louise (Helen Crane) was the sweetheart of this film and Elisha Cook Jr.,"I Wake Up Screaming" and "Rosemary's Baby", was a barber in this picture, however, you never saw him give a haircut, nor his usual bulging eyes and nervous looks. Believe it or not, there was some laughs in this film, especially when the men were allowed to dance with the few local woman, they went wild and just jumped and threw them all around, only to try to get a kiss. This is still a classic film and is worth viewing.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Fresh enough to merit a watch, 17 May 2008
8/10
Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida

I must admit up front that I am not a huge fan of Westerns and the biggest reason I watched this film was because it had Robert Ryan in it. For some time, I have thought that Ryan was one of the best "unknown" actors, as he appeared and even starred in quite a few films but most people today have no idea who he was. My admiration for him is because he looked a lot like an ordinary guy (since he wasn't overly handsome) but despite this, his performances always seemed so realistic. He really was a heck of a good actor and his work in this film is no exception.

DAY OF THE OUTLAW isn't a great Western but it is different enough from the average film that it seems fresh enough to merit watching. What I particularly liked is how the first 15 minutes or so of the film turned out to be not at all directly related to where the film went next. Not knowing the plot, this really took me off guard--and I like when a film isn't easy to predict.

I also liked the idea of a gang of thugs invading and holding a town hostage--though this idea has been done before in Westerns (FIRECREEK) and non-Westerns (THE WILD ONE). What made this one stand out more from the others is that this group wasn't just bad in the usual sense, they were moral degenerates--rapists and sadists, not just socipaths or thieves. Plus, the idea of a strong but wounded leader (Burl Ives) trying to control these sick freaks was fascinating--as was the final showdown.

All in all, a very good film and one you should try to find due to its intelligent script and excellent acting.

By the way, one reviewer said they felt Burl Ives was wrong for the part since in real life he was a nice-guy folk singer. Well, with gritty previous roles in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF and THE BIG COUNTRY, I would certainly have to disagree with the sentiment, as Ives played the heavy in movies about as often as he played a good guy.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Good potboiler!, 26 August 2001
Author: Skip McCoy (frankcarveth@yahoo.com) from Los Angeles

Watched this Andre De Toth western last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. Robert Ryan did a nice job and I liked Burl Ives as the heavy. Lots of interesting tension for what seemed to be a pretty low-budget feature. The combination of this tension and some melodramatic elements made the film very entertaining(and kind oddly of funny at times). It does seem to have a more noirish, fatalistic feeling to it than most westerns-which was great. Too bad it's not on vhs or anything(all De Toth's films should be!!), but I'm sure TCM will air it again.

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6 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Downbeat But Fascinating Western, 3 August 2006
6/10
Author: elf-65 from Dunlop, Scotland

This is a strange one: superb performances and realistic action set in a wonderfully harsh and beautiful setting, yet let down by plodding, uninspired direction. The sub-plot/romance concerning young Gene and the blonde girl reminded me of "3.10 to Yuma" for some reason, and then I felt a bit disappointed when I compared the two films.

The camera work is a bit dull, with only wide shots, and a variety of mid-shots. De Toth never really seems interested in his characters or his story. And, like one of the other reviewers, I was a bit worried about the horses. Still, the location sequences are great, and a wonderful juxtaposition with a more typically dusty Western setting. The gloomy tone of the film, combined with the setting, gives it an intriguingly noir edge.

Not bad, but this could have been so much more powerful.

But, hey - I could watch Robert Ryan in anything!

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
a "white noir" western, excellent in all aspects., 14 June 2008
9/10
Author: tmwest from S. Paulo, Brazil

This excellent western has a very dark mood from beginning to end, you can call it a white noir film because of the ever present snow. Robert Ryan is Blaise Starrett, a man who wants open range and is going to kill Hal Crane, the husband of Helen (Tina Louise), because of barbed wire. When Jack Bruhn(Burl Ives) shows up with his gang, everything changes and they become prisoners in their own town. There is tremendous, violent impact in a scene where the women are obliged to dance with members of the gang. The situation becomes unbearable and Ryan will find a way out that might seem unreasonable at first, but when exposed by him to Bruhn will make a lot of sense. Andre De Toth directed many good westerns with Randolph Scott, but nothing compared to this one. Great cinematography in black and white by Russel Harlan, who also did The Last Hunt( there is something common in them). Good performances by David Nelson and Venetia Stevenson, both popular with teenagers of those times. A film not to be missed.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Robert Ryan and Burl Ives are outstanding in this bleak, austere, frigid western, 26 June 2008
8/10
Author: Terrell-4 from San Antonio, Texas

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

"Now listen," says Jack Bruhn (Burl Ives), renegade former captain in the U. S. Army, to the frightened men and women of Bitters, population about 20, four of them women. It's deep winter and Bruhn and his men have just barged into the saloon as rancher Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan) was about to gun down farmer Hal Crane. "Do as you're told and you can go about your business just like we're not here, almost. But we are here so it's best you know with what you're dealing. Pace here gets pleasure out of hurting people. Tex, rile him and you're going to hear some screaming in this town today. Denver, half Cheyenne. Him hate white man. He doesn't feel half so badly about white women. Vause, bones covered with dirty skin but even half drunk he's the fastest draw in Wyoming Territory. And Shorty. We soldiered together. The young fella, well, he's a fresh recruit but he's learning fast."

For the rest of the day and through the night Bruhn by force of will is going to control his motley, dangerous gang. He'll deny them liquor, deny them the town's women, and undergo an excruciating operation by the town vet to extract a bullet from a lung. They're on the run with $40,000 in gold in their saddlebags. The U.S. Cavalry is on their trail. Bruhn is a complex man with an odd sense of honor. He was responsible for a massacre by soldiers under his command. His justice is ruthless. His authority is complete...as long as he lives. Right now he is the only one capable of keeping his gang of killers from tearing up Bitters by its roots.

And that includes Blaise Starrett, an angry rancher...angry at being rejected by Hal Crane's wife, Helen (Tina Louise), angry with Crane for the barbed wire that Crane will be putting up next to his land, angry at the farmers moving into the town and the territory that he cleaned up and made safe. That showdown with Crane that Bruhn interrupted would have been no more than murder. Crane wore a gun but couldn't use it well, and Starrett was purposely goading him. And in this complex, austere western both Starrett and Bruhn are going to find in themselves a capacity for surprising decisions. For Starrett, it will mean the realization that killing Crane won't solve anything, the realization that Helen Crane will not leave her husband for him, and the realization that the only one capable of outfoxing Bruhn is Starrett, himself...by leading Bruhn and his killers through a way out of town in the deep winter that will most likely kill them all. For Bruhn, he survives the operation. He's given a little morphine. He's back on his feet...and he's starting to cough. Let's just say Bruhn knows what's going to happen

All the while in this achingly cold western, snow is on the ground and the weather is frigid. When Starrett leads the gang out of town there is freezing white mist in the air and the snow is nearly up to the horses' bellies. The last 30 minutes of the movie are exhausting, with the horses struggling through the deep snow, with the wind blowing too hard to start a fire, and with men dying.

It's no spoiler to say that Blaise Starrett survives. It might be a spoiler to say that while he may no longer be the angry man we met at the start of the movie, he'll probably be just as lonely.

You could flip a coin to decide who holds this movie together more impressively, Robert Ryan or Burl Ives. Ryan brings all his impressive presence to his role. Ives, however, by force of acting and authenticity, makes his ability to impose his will on this gang believable. It's a first-rate performance. But, oh, if only this movie could have been made without the women. Two of the four actresses can't act, and those two are ones the story lingers on. Tina Louise as Helen Crane is completely out of her skill range. Her lack of acting ability severely undercuts the notion that a man like Blaise Starrett, especially when played by such a fine actor as Ryan, would ever carry a torch for her. Tina Louise's Helen Crane is too dull to lust after. And while all the men look like they seldom see a bar of soap more often than once a week (and in the case of Bruhn's gang, once a month, maybe), all the women look as clean and groomed as if they'd stepped out of a Sears Roebuck catalogue. Some of their tidy polish gets rubbed off, however, at one of the most ominous dances in a western. Bruhn has decided that the women will dance with his men to lower their resentment over being denied whiskey and assault. Bruhn keeps control during the dance, but these leering, groping villains take advantage of the four women every chance they get, and the women dare not do anything about it. It's a nasty, uncomfortable, well-staged scene.

Day of the Outlaw is a corny title, but even with its flaws the movie is engrossing. I almost put on a sweater while I watched it. It's one of the bleakest, coldest looking movies I've ever seen.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
A Great Snow Western, 11 April 2008
8/10
Author: mgtbltp from upstate ny

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Wow Wow Wow!!! OK here is another Western that has dropped off the radar screen that is not only a very good Western but it is the source of quotes that show up in Corbucci's "The Great Silence", in "Firecreek" and it in a way it also references "Shane".

I'll give a quick synopsis:

Directed by Andre' de Toth it stars Robert Ryan, Burl Ives, and Tina Louise (yes that Tina Louise "The Movie Star" from Gilligan's Island). Anyway it begins with rancher Starrett (Ryan) & his foreman Dan (Persoff) bucking their horses through heavy snow as the titles roll across the screen. They stop outside of a small town at a wagon filled with rolls of barbed wire. Ryan is going to have a confrontation with farmer Hal Crane who has fenced off some choice land for a farmstead. Ryan is also in love with Crane's wife (Louise). After a period of time where we learn of all these various triangles the confrontation comes at the only saloon in town. Starrett faces off against Crane and three other farmers. Dan the foreman is drunk but Starrett tells him to roll an empty booze bottle down the bar and to draw when it falls off.

Up to this point this film seems like a typical Western and you think you know where its going.

Before the bottle reaches the end of the bar in through the saloon door bursts a deranged Bruhn (Ives) dressed as a Union Officer with great coat, hat, and belts, along with his crazed gang of loonies with guns drawn who have just made it through a mountain pass after robbing 18,000 dollars. The gang gathers all the townsfolk together as hostages. The gang want whiskey and women but Bruhn has taken a bullet in the chest, and he tells them no whiskey or women, until he gets that bullet out. The only Doc in the town is a vet and he digs out the bullet and gives Bruhn a large shot of morphine, but it makes Bruhn feel better temporarily though the Doc believes the shot is fatal.

Starrett tells Bruhn that he knows another pass over the mountain to Cheyenne and gets them to leave the town, the next sequences are reminiscent of both the desert in GBU and the horses struggling through the snows in TGS. I won't tell anymore.

Ryan is great in this, Ives is great (better than his Western turn in "The Big Country"), and Louise is good.

It also stars David Nelson (Ricky's brother) as the kid in the gang.

All in all this is coming out on DVD and I'll be picking it up for my collection. So now we have an interesting progression from The Ox Bow Incident, Day Of The Outlaw, The Great Silence, McCabe & Mrs Miller, Joe Kidd, to Keoma.

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