L'homme au bandeau noir

Well, maybe I am wrong, this little western is not totally a waste, just a predictable plot, already seen dozens of times before. Two former friends from the civil war, one sheriff and one outlaw, love the same woman.... But this is an Allan H Miner's western, a B production, and any B western - and I don't mean the Roy Rogers or Allan Rocky Lane flicks - is worth watching. This one is truly agreeable, but not a masterpiece, as also was THE RIDE BACK, also from the director. And it is written by Leo Gordon, who also plays in the film. If you have one hour and twenty minutes to waste, go for it.

In the 1950s and 60s, Leo Gordon was a very busy actor...mostly playing villains. What I didn't know until I saw "Black Patch" was that in addition to acting, Gordon wrote screenplays...and so he not only appears in the film but wrote it!

When the film begins, Hank (Gordon) and Helen Danner arrive in town. Soon, he and the marshall, Clay Morgan (George Montgomery), meet up to talk about old times. Morgan is also surprised to see that Hank married Helen...a woman who once loved Clay.

Soon after this meeting, a sheriff and his deputy arrive in town....looking for a bank robber. Well, the robber ends up being Hank...and Clay is loathe to get involved. Soon Hank is jailed...and he apparently DID rob the bank. What's next? Well, a LOT!

While I generally liked the film, the end of the story left me a bit let down. It just felt abrupt and hard to believe...which is a shame, considering the movie is rather original and worth seeing otherwise.

An offbeat Western. Scripted by Gordon, who also takes the role of the friend turned bankrobber that marshal Montgomery is accused of murdering for the Money, Black Patch is directed with verve by Miner, a protégé of Robert Aldrich. Pittman contributes a distinctly modern interpretation of his role as the distraught teenager who faces up to Montgomery at the climax.

Phil Hardy

In a small western town, a one eyed marshal (George Montgomery) keeps the peace. When his old friend (Leo Gordon) runs into trouble he rides into town. They both once loved the same woman (Diane Brewster) and when the friend is found murdered, the marshal is suspected of being the murderer.

A somewhat offbeat western tightly directed by Allen H. Miner and from a script by Gordon who play's Montgomery's friend. A western that is quite dark in tone and mood and is worth a viewing.

This felt like the studio got a pretty good first draft of a script in their hands and decided to make a low budget western out of it without much thinking. There were a lot of factors about this film that showed it could have worked great but the direction was lacking throughout the movie to build up any of the aspects that were actually working. Even though it is from the late 50s Hollywood it feels early 40s at best. There are a lot of backstories established but the characters are not given time to show the effect of it. Other characters are suddenly thrust upon without proper development. The acting feels somewhat restricted. Even with all of these problems, there was some genuineness in the writing that could have saved the film. But the film ends abruptly just before the anti-climax that was being built up throughout the second half of the film. It felt almost like they ran out of the given budget and decided to wrap it up at that point.