Too much of everything

Crappy film

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Randolph Scott is always enough to warrant high praise and a high rating, but he is backed up with one of his best casts and his best director, Budd Boetticher.Westerns often have revenge as a motive, but not very often in this vein.Also not often does a Scott-Boetticher Western have so few people with any redeeming qualities. Or, perhaps, so many people with few redeeming qualities.This is a true "adult" Western, with too many people acting from poorly thought-out plans and not very moral or ethical plans.The story, plot, characterizations are all first class, and the performers are all first rate, with some of the best Western performers here not even receiving credit.Bob Steele comes first to mind. He was always a good cowboy, and he became a top-quality actor the longer he was around. In "Decision," he has several appearances, always standing out, but never has a line.Guy Wilkerson was, to the best of my knowledge, never a name above the title, but here he has an important role, helping move the action along, helping frame the story, but, again, not given credit.Noah Beery, Jr, already a veteran by this filming, usually played such a sympathetic character the audience's liking spilled over to the actor. But beyond being sympathetic, he expressed emotions and attitudes beautifully. He was an actor!Karen Steele is billed third, but her character was never totally explained, through no fault of her own, and the fourth-billed Valerie French not only had a more fully fleshed out character, she portrayed it more vividly, with a superb performance of a strong and memorable woman.John Carroll too often played a cad or at least caddish character. He was a good-looking and very talented actor, and even a good singer, in earlier roles. He was, in fact, so good-looking and, even as a villain, sympathetic, sometimes it was hard to accept him fully as evil.One of the marks of a good movie is a large number of important characters, many performers with speaking parts. "Decision at Sundown" is crammed full of such, and all more than ably performed.Richard Deacon will probably always be best known as the hapless brother-in-law to the comedy performer on "The Dick Van Dyke Show," but he did much, much more, and well.James Westerfield, "Otis" the bartender, is another very familiar face, and nearly always a strong performer.Andrew Duggan was another good-looking guy and often a bad guy, but here he is as a sheriff, a strong and assured character.There are two director errors, one perhaps questionable, the other really inexcusable.Maybe three: Karen Steele is, again, as was so often true of films of that era, outrageously padded. On her it looked OK, not grotesque, but it was distracting and unrealistic.Scenery, cinematography, editing, and even the music score round out this excellent movie, which is available at YouTube. I recommend it.

Director Budd Boetticher's third western with Randolph Scott, "Decision at Sundown," with John Carroll, Andrew Duggan, Noah Beery, Jr., and Karen Steele, qualifies as the most unusual of Scott's B-movie horse operas. Randy doesn't play a lawman this time around, but he is a drifter with a mission. As former Confederate soldier Bart Allison, our steely hero lost a wife because of the shenanigans of Tate Kimbrough (John Carroll of "The Flying Tigers"), and Allison has been searching for Kimbrough. Another amiable Texan, Sam (Noah Beery Jr. of "The Savage Horde"), has been riding with Allison, and he knew all about Bart's wife that Bart never knew. They track Kimbrough down to the town of Sundown where Kimbrough presides over the town as the boss. When our heroes ride into Sundown, Bart is bound for Tate Kimbrough's wedding to Lucy Summerton (Karen Steele of "Ride Lonesome"), while Sam sticks around and waits on him. Before Bart shows up at the wedding chapel, Sam and he hit the local saloon for a couple of drinks, and they find Kimbrough's cronies getting liquored up on free whiskey. Allison and Sam want to join in for a drink, but Allison doesn't want to accept anything from the unscrupulous Kimbrough so he places coins on the bar. The town marshal (Andrew Duggan of CBS-TV's "Lancer") called Swede irritates Bart when our protagonist wants to pay for his drinks. Bart openly challenges the Swede, and the Swede drops Bart's coins into a spittoon. Later, at Kimbrough's wedding, Bart raises an objection during the ceremony, and he tells Kimbrough's bride Lucy that she will be a widow at sundown. Everything goes sideways then at a gunfight breaks out our heroes taken refuge in the local livery stable. Kimbrough's gun flunkies lay siege to the place and fill the air with whistling lead. Interestingly, one of Kimbrough's hired gunmen is none other than the legendary actor Bob Steele. For the better part of "Decision at Sundown," Bart and Sam are trapped in the stable. Slowly, but inevitably, the townspeople of Sundown realize that they have been taken advantage of by Kimbrough, and they decide to take a stand against him. Foremost of these citizens is a rancher, Morley Chase (Ray Teal of NBC-TV's "Bonanza"), who stands up to Kimbrough, and later disarms Kimbrough's men so Bart can shoot it out with the Swede. Naturally, Bart blast the Swede right out of his boots, but at the same time, he loses the use of his hand. Now, he must face Kimbrough and use his other hand in a duel. Kimbrough and Allison are sworn adversaries, and Allison loses his best friend, Sam, when the fellow Texan leaves him to get a hot, cooked meal. Sam's death in part prompts Chase' decision to oppose Kimbrough. Once the citizens rise up against Kimbrough, his influence in Sundown begins to crumble. Randolph Scott plays a different role for a change, and he loses his cool as the lead character. This isn't the icy cool cowboy in Boetticher's other westerns, "Ride Lonesome," "Comanche Station," and Buchanan Rides Alone." Boetticher confines this oater to the city limits, and we watch as Kimbrough's power slips, until he feels compelled to square off against Allison in the street at dusk. The showdown never comes because the other woman in town, Ruby James (Valerie French of "Jubal") intervenes. She has been Kimbrough steady woman for years until he took up with Lucy, and they have a special bond. Eventually, Lucy decides not to marry Kimbrough. The thing is that Allison never gets the pleasure of killing Kimbrough. "Decision at Sundown" is a good, off-beat western, competently made, with Randolph Scott at his very best.

This may not be as strong as other Scott/Boetticher Westerns, such as 'Buchanan Rides Alone' or 'The Tall T', but it's very strong, and would make a great double bill with 'High Noon'--another fine flick about someone being brave enough to stand against the tide of local cowardice, and get things done in cleaning up the town's garbage.This is very unique in that Scott's character, Bart Allison, is determined for revenge, three years in the making, for the bad guy seducing his wife (who ended up killing herself in disgrace). He seemed to think his wife had the moral fiber not to do that sort of thing willingly--unfortunately, the entire town, even his best friend, seems to know otherwise.A great look at the lengths some will go to right wrongs they come across in life. Allison's dismay at the community for allowing another wrong to happen, midway through the picture, is something that haunts and stays with you, long after the film concludes. I would have given this a higher rating, aside from an obvious, amateurish mistake that happens around ten minutes into the film, when one of the women talks, but an arm from one of the actors completely occludes her mouth, straight through her entire spiel. It's a minor thing, perhaps, but I'm very surprised no one caught it by the time it was released, especially a director of Boetticher's stature.

I've always liked Randolph Scott westerns. It's hard not to if a person likes Scott's style, manner, authority and, in his movies with Budd Boetticher, his approach to being an aging, moralistic grim reaper in showdowns with bad guys like Lee Marvin and Richard Boone. I'll make an exception for Decision at Sundown. What put me off was a drama without, for 50 minutes of the 77-minute running time, any gripping motivation for Bart Allison's (Randolph Scott) hatred. We know something, probably nasty, happened to Mary and that the slick Tate Kimbrough (John Carroll) had something to do with it. But what? Allison's sick obsession with killing Kimbrough ("For three years I've hunted Kimbrough, but he didn't know it. Before I settle with him I want him to know he's being hunted."), even on Kimbrough's wedding day when Allison arrives at Sundown, seems more like a plot device than a major justification for violence. With Kimbrough running the town, with a sly and cowardly sheriff in his pocket and his bride's wealthy father somehow beholden, it's everybody against Allison and his sidekick, Sam (played by that good-natured actor, Noah Beery, Jr.). While we learn that Mary had some qualities other than saintly goodness, for most of the movie Scott winds up sounding like a man choking back tears and irrationally unwilling to hear a bad -- or even balanced -- word against his dead wife. It's an odd performance. By the time we really get to know the people of Sundown -- not just Tate Kimbrough, but his fiancé (Karen Steele), who doesn't love Tate, his girl friend (Valerie French), who does, and leering barbers, avuncular barkeeps, a noble doctor, a vicious deputy sheriff and assorted nervous and cowed onlookers -- the fact that there might be two sides to what Allison believes becomes more of a righteous afterthought. There are too many clichés in the screenplay ("You just stood up there in church and told Kimbrough you wuz gonna kill him? Bart, you must be plumb crazy!"), an uninvolving plot and an unsatisfactory character for Scott. The movie's not all that bad, but not very good. I'll say this: The conclusion, bitter and drunken, almost makes up for the rest. Some think this movie holds up well, including Taylor Hackford, who provides an analysis of the movie. This is one to watch and then make up your own mind. Scott commands the screen, even when a couple of times he sounds like he's about to cry when he thinks of Mary. He was 59 when he made this movie. He made two more before retiring in 1962 with a great finish as Gil Westrum in Ride the High Country. Here he's starting to show his years but it doesn't matter. Whether he was lucky with his metabolism or just dieted rigorously, he doesn't carry an ounce of fat on his frame. He's lean, muscular, moves well and looks believable in a show down. If, like me, you weren't impressed with the Boetticher/Scott combo in Decision at Sundown, just take a look at The Tall T. This Boetticher/Scott movie was made two years earlier. It benefits enormously from a story by Elmore Leonard and a taut, suspenseful screenplay by Burt Kennedy. The Tall T, together with Seven Men from Now and Ride the High County are Randolph Scott in his later years at his best.