Post by Eddie Love on Dec 12, 2010 10:56:25 GMT -5
Still vital just shy of his 60th birthday in 1971, Burt Lancaster made two Westerns released through United Artists. The pair make a great double-bill that showcase the still robust star as he enters his twilight years.
Based on an Elmore Leonard novel, VALEDEZ IS COMING improbably casts Burt as a Mexican lawman in a border town. He’s s decent guy, who, during a violent standoff, ends up killing an innocent black man who’d been mistakenly identified as a murderer. Hoping to do right by the man’s pregnant, native wife, Valdez asks the powerful land baron who made the wrongful accusation to give the widow some cash. Not only does the man refuse, his men humiliate and essentially crucify Valdez, after which the former cavalry soldier begins a campaign of vengeance and justice against his tormenters.
When seen today, what makes the picture fascinating is also what will likely induce cringes, and that’s Burt’s brown-face performance in the title role. Clearly he’s trying to show the Mexican protagonist as a proud and noble figure, yet this is conveyed with dreadful, if not malicious, condescension. The halting speech and docile affect meant to convey Valdez’ essential decency, also serve to make him an uncomfortably sex-less and neutral hero for an action Western. It’s a little creepy and sad to watch. Even by the early 70s these kinds of star turns in racial roles were pretty much a thing of the past. (Though, two years later Burt would really go all-out donning blackface for a disguise in the spy thriller SCORPIO.)
Nevertheless, VALDEZ is a fairly sturdy, sometimes enjoyable tale, at least for the first half – the wind-up being much better than the pitch itself. It may feel a good bit more dated than the period of its release, but it’s reasonably fast-paced and pretty gripping. It’s no great shakes, but again, does it really deserve the bad rap that Leonard assigned to all the films of his work up to this time? Possibly. Unfortunately, there’s a small dull section with Burt and Susan Clark as his hostage as well as a few scenes where he bonds with young Richard Jordan, that slow things down. Still, when allowing for Lancaster’s age at the time, he’s marvelously physical throughout the picture.
The second, Western from Burt in 1971 was the much more solid effort LAWMAN. It’s very thoughtful and compelling with a great cast and really strong script. It’s expertly helmed by Englishman Michael Winner just a few years prior to his directing DEATH WISH.
Lee J. Cobb stars as a cattle baron whose boys get drunk one night and shoot up the town they’re passing through. This ruckus leaves an old timer dead in the street. Weeks later, the marshal from that town (Burt) shows up in Cobb’s neck of the woods to arrest the men whose names he carries on a list. This brings about all kinds of trouble in this community where even the respectable citizens are dead-set against seeing any of the locals hauled off by the by-the-book tin star of the title.
This picture has a Hell of a cast. In addition to Burt and Cobb (who’s excellent) there’s Joseph Wiseman, Robert Duvall, Richard Jordan (the only hold-over from VALDEZ) and best of all the great Robert Ryan as the sheriff of the town who runs interference between Lancaster and the cattlemen. Ryan is in the zone here as the morally compromised lawman who knows Burt may be right, but also realizes his rigid, black-and-white code is unrealistic, untenable and dangerous. In all of Hollywood, few actors ever aged as well as Ryan, and his later performance in films like THE PROFESSIONALS, EXECUTIVE ACTION (both with Lancaster) and of course THE WILD BUNCH are absolute perfection. He doesn’t need any lines of dialogue. You just know those eyes have seen it all and he’s earned every crease on that face. He’s simply magnificent.
The script here is very well written and smart. Instead of the “bad guys” twirling their mustaches and plotting to run Burt out of town, there are these long scenes where they sit around talking about what their next move should be. Should they just give themselves up? Can their businesses survive if they do? And Burt himself has lots of great lines that get at the heart of the lawman’s hard code.
This is certainly the preferable Lancaster performance of the two films. His character here is really anti-heroic, but not because he’s somehow flawed or corrupt, but because he’s so rigid and uncompromising. He’s intent on bringing his quarry to stand trials he freely confesses they can buy their way out of. And Burt perfectly conveys this relentless hard-ass.
Unfortunately, there’s a small dull section where Burt hooks up with an old flame played by Sheree North as well as a few scenes where he bonds with young Richard Jordan, that slow things down. But the climax here is pretty stunning and very provocative. It asks the questions: did the Lawman abandon his hard-fought code? Or was this line all just a bunch of bullshit in the first place? Fascinating stuff.
(During this climax the squibs used project that “blood” seen around this time that I think is Sherwin-Williams paint number 442: “Fire-Engine Red.” It really flows here. Also, be warned if you’re an animal lover, I think this film pre-dates the ASPCA dictates against their mistreatment. In addition to seeing cattle branded – which you do in many a Western – there are a couple of horses we see tripped up in a fashion that looked all too realistic to me. Plus, a horse is shot and later seen being consumed by coyotes, neither of which looked faked to me.)
Burt Lancaster’s forays into European art-house fare in the 60s may have won him critical respect afforded few, if any, mainstream Hollywood stars of his day. But that didn’t prevent him from strapping on his guns, mounting a horse and taking to the range as well, and he was always fit and game.
Based on an Elmore Leonard novel, VALEDEZ IS COMING improbably casts Burt as a Mexican lawman in a border town. He’s s decent guy, who, during a violent standoff, ends up killing an innocent black man who’d been mistakenly identified as a murderer. Hoping to do right by the man’s pregnant, native wife, Valdez asks the powerful land baron who made the wrongful accusation to give the widow some cash. Not only does the man refuse, his men humiliate and essentially crucify Valdez, after which the former cavalry soldier begins a campaign of vengeance and justice against his tormenters.
When seen today, what makes the picture fascinating is also what will likely induce cringes, and that’s Burt’s brown-face performance in the title role. Clearly he’s trying to show the Mexican protagonist as a proud and noble figure, yet this is conveyed with dreadful, if not malicious, condescension. The halting speech and docile affect meant to convey Valdez’ essential decency, also serve to make him an uncomfortably sex-less and neutral hero for an action Western. It’s a little creepy and sad to watch. Even by the early 70s these kinds of star turns in racial roles were pretty much a thing of the past. (Though, two years later Burt would really go all-out donning blackface for a disguise in the spy thriller SCORPIO.)
Nevertheless, VALDEZ is a fairly sturdy, sometimes enjoyable tale, at least for the first half – the wind-up being much better than the pitch itself. It may feel a good bit more dated than the period of its release, but it’s reasonably fast-paced and pretty gripping. It’s no great shakes, but again, does it really deserve the bad rap that Leonard assigned to all the films of his work up to this time? Possibly. Unfortunately, there’s a small dull section with Burt and Susan Clark as his hostage as well as a few scenes where he bonds with young Richard Jordan, that slow things down. Still, when allowing for Lancaster’s age at the time, he’s marvelously physical throughout the picture.
The second, Western from Burt in 1971 was the much more solid effort LAWMAN. It’s very thoughtful and compelling with a great cast and really strong script. It’s expertly helmed by Englishman Michael Winner just a few years prior to his directing DEATH WISH.
Lee J. Cobb stars as a cattle baron whose boys get drunk one night and shoot up the town they’re passing through. This ruckus leaves an old timer dead in the street. Weeks later, the marshal from that town (Burt) shows up in Cobb’s neck of the woods to arrest the men whose names he carries on a list. This brings about all kinds of trouble in this community where even the respectable citizens are dead-set against seeing any of the locals hauled off by the by-the-book tin star of the title.
This picture has a Hell of a cast. In addition to Burt and Cobb (who’s excellent) there’s Joseph Wiseman, Robert Duvall, Richard Jordan (the only hold-over from VALDEZ) and best of all the great Robert Ryan as the sheriff of the town who runs interference between Lancaster and the cattlemen. Ryan is in the zone here as the morally compromised lawman who knows Burt may be right, but also realizes his rigid, black-and-white code is unrealistic, untenable and dangerous. In all of Hollywood, few actors ever aged as well as Ryan, and his later performance in films like THE PROFESSIONALS, EXECUTIVE ACTION (both with Lancaster) and of course THE WILD BUNCH are absolute perfection. He doesn’t need any lines of dialogue. You just know those eyes have seen it all and he’s earned every crease on that face. He’s simply magnificent.
The script here is very well written and smart. Instead of the “bad guys” twirling their mustaches and plotting to run Burt out of town, there are these long scenes where they sit around talking about what their next move should be. Should they just give themselves up? Can their businesses survive if they do? And Burt himself has lots of great lines that get at the heart of the lawman’s hard code.
This is certainly the preferable Lancaster performance of the two films. His character here is really anti-heroic, but not because he’s somehow flawed or corrupt, but because he’s so rigid and uncompromising. He’s intent on bringing his quarry to stand trials he freely confesses they can buy their way out of. And Burt perfectly conveys this relentless hard-ass.
Unfortunately, there’s a small dull section where Burt hooks up with an old flame played by Sheree North as well as a few scenes where he bonds with young Richard Jordan, that slow things down. But the climax here is pretty stunning and very provocative. It asks the questions: did the Lawman abandon his hard-fought code? Or was this line all just a bunch of bullshit in the first place? Fascinating stuff.
(During this climax the squibs used project that “blood” seen around this time that I think is Sherwin-Williams paint number 442: “Fire-Engine Red.” It really flows here. Also, be warned if you’re an animal lover, I think this film pre-dates the ASPCA dictates against their mistreatment. In addition to seeing cattle branded – which you do in many a Western – there are a couple of horses we see tripped up in a fashion that looked all too realistic to me. Plus, a horse is shot and later seen being consumed by coyotes, neither of which looked faked to me.)
Burt Lancaster’s forays into European art-house fare in the 60s may have won him critical respect afforded few, if any, mainstream Hollywood stars of his day. But that didn’t prevent him from strapping on his guns, mounting a horse and taking to the range as well, and he was always fit and game.