Memorable, crazy movie

Fantastic!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Interesting to speculate what might have happened if the Jack Bruhn gang never showed up. Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan) was creating a lot of resentment with his insistence on putting a stop to the fencing on open range land. Given his demeanor, the thought occurred to me that the town of Bitters might have been named after him. Had it gone that way, the story might have been just as grim as the one we got to see.I'm still not used to seeing Burl Ives in a Western setting, even though he's appeared in a number of them. Often as a villain too, as in 1958's "The Big Country". I guess I was too conditioned as a kid by his voicing Sam the Snowman in the TV movie "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"; that's where I think I first became aware of him. I think the story could have used a better explained rationale for the hold he had over his fellow band of thugs and cutthroats. They all stood down when he made it a point, but after a while I began to question why they were so afraid of him.The one casting surprise in the story for me was that of David Nelson as the young outlaw Gene who had an eye for town girl Ernine (Venetia Stevenson). Brother Rick appeared in a few but this is the first time I've seen David in any vehicle other than his parents' TV series.Where the film departs from a more conventional dynamic occurs in the latter part of the story when Ryan's character leads the outlaw bunch on a death march with the complicity of their leader Bruhn, who at that point pretty much knew that he was dying of a bullet wound. Starrett's only hope of making it out alive is borne out when the gang members start taking each other out in an expanded take on "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre".With as many Westerns as I've seen, this is the first one that graphically depicts what a difficult time a horse can have trying to walk through a couple feet of snow. It's obviously not that easy, and something Blaise Starrett might have considered when he stated to Bruhn at one point while on the trek - "None of us are gonna make it".

Robert Ryan and Burl Ives circle each other like hungry wolves in director André De Toth's grim, rugged western "Day of the Outlaw" that takes place in the middle of snow-swept wilderness. Initially, this horse opera starts out with a cattleman feuding with a farmer who is about to enclose his land with barbed wire. Long-time rancher Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan) promises to burn the wagon load of barbed wire and kill the farmer, Hal Crane (Alan Marshal), before he allows him to fence off his land. The woman between the two men is Crane's wife Helen Crane (Tina Louise) who made the mistake of having an affair with Blaise. She wants peace between the two men.Just as trouble between the two fractions is rising, Jack Bruhn (Burl Ives) and six gunmen appear in town ahead of a cavalry patrol searching for them. They disarm the citizen of the small town and take up residence long enough for the mortally wounded Bruhn to have an animal doctor extract a bullet from his chest. Bruhn rules his desperate evil henchmen with an iron fist. He refuses to let them get drunk and party with the women. Eventually, Bruhn relents enough to let them dance with the women. One of Crane's men tries to resist and he dies for his insubordination. Later, another tries to ride out of town but he is shot down. Blaise assures Bruhn that he knows a way that nobody can follow them and convinces Bruhn who has recovered sufficiently to ride a horse to follow him. Basically, with the cavalry closing in on them, the villains have no alternative but to follow Blaise."Day of the Outlaw" struggles to be a different kind of survivalist western with a hero who never fires a single bullet from his gun. The performances are strong and the wilderness setting is spectacular, but scenarist Philip Yordan doesn't build in enough tension. The last twenty minutes take place on the snowy trail as the villains are eliminated gradually by between greed or death. One young villain who hasn't gone completely bad is sent packing when he must relinquish his horse to another companion. If you like offbeat westerns that don't rely on the usual clichés, "Day of the Outlaw" is a refreshing change of pace. Burl Ives makes a good villain and Robert Ryan is quietly confident as the tough-as-nails hero.

There's a fine off-beat (b/w) western hiding behind that generic title. In a small snowed-in outpost town, a land dispute between self-appointed lawmaker Robert Ryan and other residents is interrupted by the arrival of runaway cavalry soldiers and gold thieves (led by Burt Ives, who's very good, as is the whole cast). It's more psychological than action-packed, and never quite plays out the way you'd expect. Based on a novel by Lee Wells. With Tina Louise, Venetia Stevenson, Nehemiah Persoff, Elisha Cook Jr. (barely in it as a barber), Jack Lambert, Lance Fuller, Frank De Kova, Dabbs Greer, William Schallert, Betsy Jones-Moreland (LAST WOMAN ON EARTH), Arthur Space and Robert Cornthwaite. It would make a good bleak winter western double-bill with THE GREAT SILENCE. Yordan wrote that other notably weird western JOHNNY GUITAR, among others.Movie reviews at: spinegrinderweb.com

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.