Western RoundUp: The Violent Men (1955)

Western RoundUp: The Violent Men (1955)

This spring I wrote here about watching Forty Guns (1957) for the first time.

Forty Guns was an outstanding Western directed by Samuel Fuller, with Barbara Stanwyck leading a top cast. Finally catching up with that film has now prompted me to also watch The Violent Men (1955), another Stanwyck Western with an impressive cast.

The Violent Men (1955) Movie Poster
The Violent Men (1955)

While I classed Forty Guns as a top-of-the-line Western, I rank The Violent Men somewhere lower; I found it solid and quite entertaining yet somewhat disjointed. Sometimes I felt that the pieces were better than the whole.

Glenn Ford plays John Parrish, a Civil War veteran who’s been living in the West for a few years to aid his recovery from a lung injury.

When the town doctor (Raymond Greenleaf) gives John a clean bill of health, John plans to sell his spread and move east with his fiancee, Caroline Vail (May Wynn).

May Wynn and Richard Jaeckel in The Violent Men (1955)
Lita Milan and Richard Jaeckel in The Violent Men (1955)

Lew Wilkinson (Edward G. Robinson), the crippled but powerful owner of the massive Anchor Ranch, essentially orders John to sell his ranch to him for a low price and gives him 24 hours to respond, with the implication John won’t like the outcome if he refuses. Pressured by his fiancee, who’s desperate to leave town, John initially intends to agree, and then one of his hands is murdered by Anchor Ranch thugs. That changes everything.

John prevents his own ranch hands from retaliating in order to protect them, then sets out to deal with the situation on his own. When John confronts the man (Richard Jaeckel) responsible for the murder and he refuses to turn himself in, John ends up killing him in self-defense.

Richard Jaeckel as Wade Matlock in The Violent Men (1955)
Richard Jaeckel as Wade Matlock

Lew’s brother Cole (Brian Keith) and wife Martha (Stanwyck), who are secretly having an affair and want to take control of Lew’s empire, escalate the warfare, including burning down John’s ranch. John, however, has a good understanding of tactics due to his military background and gives the Wilkinsons a much tougher battle than they expect.

When the Wilkinsons’ own ranchhouse is burned down, the coldly calculating Martha leaves the struggling Lew to die in the fire instead of helping him escape the house. She believes she and Cole will take over the ranch and rebuild it bigger than ever, but surprises are in store.

There’s a lot of good stuff in this film, a Shakespearean-style tragedy which reminded me a bit of Broken Lance (1954). The cast, down to supporting players like Jaeckel, Basil Ruysdael, Jack Kelly, and James Westerfield, is absolutely top-notch.

Stanwyck doesn’t enter the film until around the half-hour mark, but as ever, she’s one of the main reasons to watch. Initially it appears butter wouldn’t melt in Martha’s mouth, as she seems to be Lew’s concerned, caring wife; she only wants Cole there to lighten Lew’s load, given that Lew can barely walk with crutches. But why won’t her daughter Judith (Dianne Foster) talk to her?

Glenn Ford, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson in The Violent Men (1955)
Edward G. Robinson, Dianne Foster, and Glenn Ford

Gradually Martha’s malevolent, grasping side becomes clear, as we learn that Judith is disgusted by the fact her mother and uncle are having an affair behind her father’s back. Judith feels trapped and uncertain what to do, given that she doesn’t want to hurt her father with the news. Judith sees John as someone who might help by taking on the fight against Martha and Cole.

It’s interesting to compare Stanwyck’s Martha to her character in the later Forty Guns. In The Violent Men Martha seeks power by manipulating men to do her bidding and provide her with the huge ranch of her dreams, whereas in Forty Guns Stanwyck’s character has more agency, being personally powerful; in that film, unlike Martha, she ultimately shows she has a conscience.

Edward G. Robinson, Glenn Ford, Brian Keith and Barbara Stanwyck in The Violent Men (1955)
Glenn Ford, Brian Keith, Edward G. Robinson, and Barbara Stanwyck

Like Martha, Cole is of extremely low character; not only is he one of the brutal “violent men” of the title and carrying on an affair with his sister-in-law, he’s also having a fling with Elena (Lita Milan), a girl in town.

Like Stanwyck, Keith completely embraces the evil; my job dropped in the scene when, believing Martha will make him rich, he rejects the loyal, loving Elena and flings her to the ground in the middle of the street. It’s a shocking moment with significant consequences.

This is one of a couple strong Western performances by Keith in the late ’50s; he was also in the excellent Clint WalkerVirginia Mayo Western Fort Dobbs (1958), a film I enthusiastically recommend. Milan is touching as the woman who (somewhat inexplicably) loves Cole. The actress would later make an impression in a larger role as Anthony Quinn‘s equally loyal girlfriend in the Western The Ride Back (1957), a film which deserves to be more widely known.

Ford and Robinson are likewise very solid as well. Ford is right on target as someone who would rather be a “peaceable man,” but when pushed he will always do the right thing, particularly in defense of others. Robinson is interesting as the ostensible villain of the piece who turns out to be more misguided and pathetic than villainous; those honors go to Stanwyck and Keith’s characters.

Barbara Stanwyck and Brian Keith in The Violent Men (1955)
Stanwyck and Keith

Other strong points are the cinematography, largely filmed on location in Lone Pine by W. Howard Greene and Burnett Guffey, and a score by Max Steiner.

The film’s flaws are due more to the screenplay, written by Harry Kleiner from a novel by Donald Hamilton, and the direction by cinematographer-turned-director Rudolph Mate.

The script is crammed with characters, and the story, told in 96 minutes, could have been tighter. For instance, there’s really not much point to the character of John’s fiancee Caroline, who apparently has been using John more as a way out of town than truly loving him; when he refuses to leave, she gives him back his ring and she completely disappears from the film.

John already had reason enough to leave town after regaining his health, and the added pressure from a whiny woman doesn’t add a whole lot. Caroline’s complete disappearance has a bit of a feel of “What was that even all about?” wondering why we’ve invested any time in her character.

At the same time, John and Judith’s relationship is underdeveloped, so that the last lines of the film are almost — but not quite — a surprise. Any screen time invested in Caroline should have instead been spent developing Foster’s Judith, who could have used fleshing out, and her relationships with each character, especially John.

Without being too spoilerish, I also felt director Mate could have done much more with the buildup and reveal of a couple of twists in the final action sequence, which instead of being exciting have an almost perfunctory feel. There are some great ideas to utilize in this scene, and the director almost throws them away with “blink and you miss it” moments.

Mate directed other films I love, notably Tyrone Power‘s The Mississippi Gambler (1953), and he does a great job staging the Ford-Jaeckel showdown midway through this movie, but his work here is inconsistent.

A couple fun odds and ends regarding the cast: This was the second Western in which May Wynn and future Maverick TV star Jack Kelly appeared; they had also played supporting roles in They Rode West (1954). They would marry in October 1956 and remain married for eight years.

Dianne Foster, whose additional Westerns included The Kentuckian (1955) and Night Passage (1957), retired from films and television in 1966. She had married a dentist, Dr. Harold Rowe, in 1961, and they remained married until his passing in 1994. Imagine my surprise a few years ago when I was reading an article about Foster and it suddenly dawned on me that the oral surgeon who had removed all my children’s wisdom teeth was her son, who followed his father into dentistry.

While visiting Lone Pine last June I had the opportunity to visit the location of Robinson and Stanwyck’s Anchor Ranch on Moffat Ranch Road. Budd Boetticher’s Randolph Scott film Comanche Station (1960) filmed scenes in the same area.

The Violent Men (1955) Anchor Ranch location Lone Pine
Edward G. Robinson and Barbara Stanwyck’s Anchor Ranch location in Lone Pine

Our location guide told me that Stanwyck’s final scene was shot here:

The Violent Men (1955) Anchor Ranch location Lone Pine Stanwyck
Stanwyck’s final scene was filmed here on Moffat Ranch Road

Somewhat confusingly, there is a real Anchor Ranch south of Lone Pine, on Highway 395, which predates the film and was often used as a movie location. For the history of Anchor Ranch and filming in Lone Pine, please visit my Western RoundUp column from September 2018.

After the filming of The Violent Men concluded, the anchor seen at the ranch entrance in the film was moved to the entrance of the actual Anchor Ranch; today a replica anchor hangs there, which has caused some visitors — including myself, at one point! — to erroneously believe it’s the ranch location used in the movie.

Here’s a look at the real Anchor Ranch entrance and the replica anchor today:

The Violent Men (1955) Anchor Ranch entrance replica
Anchor replica at the entrance of the real Anchor Ranch in Lone Pine

I hope to dig deeper into the locations for The Violent Men when I’m in town again for the Lone Pine Film Festival in October 2022.

In summary, I rank The Violent Men as a good, interesting film, though a tighter script and more thoughtful staging would have elevated it from simply “good” to “outstanding.” 

Despite the flaws, it’s well worth taking the time to watch. It’s available on DVD from Sony/Columbia. It had a VHS release and is currently available to rent for streaming. I hope that at some point it will also be out on Blu-ray.

– Laura Grieve for Classic Movie Hub

Laura can be found at her blog, Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings, where she’s been writing about movies since 2005, and on Twitter at @LaurasMiscMovie. A lifelong film fan, Laura loves the classics including Disney, Film Noir, Musicals, and Westerns.  She regularly covers Southern California classic film festivals.  Laura will scribe on all things western at the ‘Western RoundUp’ for CMH.

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10 Responses to Western RoundUp: The Violent Men (1955)

  1. Chrisk says:

    I too am a fan of Stanwyck’s movies and she projects matron-like persona. The Violent Men is also an entertaining western. I would like to add Brian Keith was also great in The Deadly Companions with Maureen O’Hara and directed by Sam Peckinpah. Steve Cochran and Chill Wills costarred thereof.

  2. Jerry Entract says:

    This is a very good choice of yours, Laura, as far as I’m concerned as I obviously like “THE VIOLENT MEN” rather more than you do. I like it more than “FORTY GUNS” personally. Glenn Ford’s career was at its peak at this point and he was a big star. And it was at this point that he made some terrific westerns – “3.10 TO YUMA”, “JUBAL”, “THE VIOLENT MEN” & “COWBOY”. He also made “THE FASTEST GUN ALIVE” and “THE SHEEPMAN”, both of which I enjoy but consider lesser than those four.
    I see your point about the possible weaknesses in the script although Caroline’s disappearance presumably was because she had drawn a line under their relationship and that was that.
    I always tend to think of Ford’s JUBAL & THE VIOLENT MEN together and having said that I think “JUBAL” is superior but on the whole I find these top-notch westerns.
    I loved your dentist anecdote about Dianne Foster’s son. I believed for a long time she was purely an American actress but she was Canadian (like Ford) and turned up in the early ’50s in several British ‘B’ movies complete with a Brit accent.

    Thanks, Laura, for a fine review of a quality western from the ‘golden’ era.

  3. Walter says:

    Laura, I enjoyed reading your good write-up of what I think is a really good Western Movie. I first recall viewing THE VIOLENT MEN(filmed 1954, released 1955) on tv. It was on Memphis, Tennessee’s WREC Channel 3 LATE MOVIE in 1974. In my opinion this movie deserves more attention than it has received in the past. I agree with you that there is a lot of good stuff put forth here. The cast really makes the movie and the lead and supporting cast are outstanding. The story is a good one with several good lines for the characters to voice. The beautiful photography of the treasured Lone Pine locations is always a top notch co-star in any Western.

    The direction of Rudolph Mate is competent, but I still wonder what if Delmer Daves had been the director, because he and Glenn Ford were so in sync during the 1950’s. When you place THE VIOLENT MEN in the mix with JUBAL(filmed 1955, released 1956), 3:10 TO YUMA(filmed 1956-57, released 1957), COWBOY(filmed 1957, released 1958) it suffers, but that isn’t to say THE VIOLENT MEN isn’t worth viewing, because it is.

    THE VIOLENT MEN has a lot more positives than negatives and I think it is very much worth watching.

    I look forward to your next write-up.

  4. M.T. Fisher says:

    Stanwyck loved Westerns to the point her ashes were scattered at Lone Pine.

    I personally think this is one of the finest Westerns of the decade. And Steiner’s score is one of his best. I wish it were out on CD.

    The book by Donald Hamilton is much like his other Westerns, in which a man from the east settles the feud.

  5. M.T. Fisher says:

    Also, memorabilia from this film seems to be extremely popular. It’s amazing how sky high it is.

  6. Laura says:

    Thank you all so much for your comments!

    Chris, I’m glad you’ve also enjoyed THE VIOLENT MEN. I’ve not yet seen THE DEADLY COMPANIONS and would enjoy checking out another teaming of Keith and O’Hara, costars of THE PARENT TRAP. Thank you for mentioning it.

    Jerry, how interesting you prefer THE VIOLENT MEN to FORTY GUNS! As noted, THE VIOLENT MEN does have a lot of strong points despite what I felt were its deficiencies. I’ve seen about half of the Glenn Ford films you mention — I was probably in the minority in appreciating yet not particularly liking 3:10 TO YUMA, while I liked THE FASTEST GUN ALIVE a lot.

    There certainly were a number of good Canadian actors in classic Hollywood! Two of my favorites are Deanna Durbin and Walter Pidgeon.

    Walter, I always enjoy your memories of your first viewings of films, especially as so many of my own memories are tied to particular TV stations. I agree that a director like Delmer Daves might have brought a little more to the film’s staging and pushed a very good film into greatness.

    M.T., I’m glad to know your enjoyed the film and appreciate your opinion of the book, which I’ve not read. As someone who spends a lot of time in Lone Pine, I find it very touching Stanwyck had her ashes scattered there.

    As an aside about another Canadian actress — Yvonne De Carlo also loved Lone Pine and spent a lot of her free time there as well as a little further north in Bishop.

    Thank you all again for reading and sharing your thoughts.

    Best wishes,
    Laura

  7. Pingback: Western Roundup: The Furies (1950) | Classic Movie Hub Blog

  8. Well, you and I seem to be flipped on this an Forty Guns, as I very much like this movie. You mentioned it feels Shakespearean, and I definitely see a lot of parallels between it and my beloved Hamlet. This is one I feel pulled to rewatch every now and then because it has so many interesting layers and fascinating — if mostly horrible — characters.

  9. Laura Grieve says:

    That’s very interesting indeed, Rachel! I wonder if I’ll like this better the second time. It happens! 🙂

    Best wishes,
    Laura

  10. Pingback: Western RoundUp: Lone Pine Film Locations | Classic Movie Hub Blog

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