A Time for Dying

What a strange little picture. Audie Murphy, like Randolph Scott, has a place in second tier western heroes that is unassailable. By second tier, that's not to denigrate either actor, just that they never attained the heights of movie stardom like James Stewart, John Wayne or later Clint Eastwood did in westerns. Sadly, this marked the final screen appearance of Audie Murphy, and only five minutes of the picture. The leading actor is Richard Lapp. Who? You might wonder why Audie Murphy decided as a producer to invest in this nobody. It's a mystery to everyone who's seen it. He came and went unnoticed. There's one really great performance in the movie with Victor Jory as Judge Roy Bean though, so all is not lost. Not as subtle and menacing as Walter Brennan's portrayal in an earlier film but over the top sort of great, announcing hangings with great glee and his dentures falling out. The director, Budd Boetticher, who made seven fine, even great minor westerns starring Randolph Scott, must have been drunk when he made this. There's no real explanation as to how this film went so badly wrong but I've given it 3 stars, one each for the beautifully clear cinematography, Audie Murphy as Jesse James (all too briefly) and best of all, Victor Jory.

Cass Dunning (Richard Lapp) has just arrived in Silver City, a place where corruption and chaos reign. The naive farm boy Cass and newcomer saloon girl Nellie (Anne Randall) are married by Judge Roy Bean (Victor Jory) in a shotgun wedding but their honeymoon is marred by outlaws. The outlaws as Jesse James (Audie Murphy) roam freely here and there, so Cass will have to be alert to the dangers that lie in wait for him. But an enemy is obsessed with revenge, stalking his prey for a final confrontation. Only he knew it was...a time for dying. A Classic Western Film of a Kind That Grew Up Too Fast...

This is an ordinary western in which actors fail to give their roles any credibility, a mediocrely-done example of a B movie with so-so interpretations, poor production design, glimmering photography and enjoyable outdoors. Budd Boetticher's last Western -after a long gap filled with his work on a bullfighting project- is a sad affair, far removed from his precision and resonance of the Randolph Scott films and with no the usual arid, stark, rocky landscapes of their 50s classic movies. Produced by actor Audie Murphy himself who takes a bit part as Jesse James, the movie looks at the life of an aspiring gunfighter who meets his end through foolish bravado. Although not much bravado is visible on-screen, however, as the production values are strictly TV: flat lighting, crummy sets and low-cost scenarios. Disappointing, despite good director, nice camerawork and decent support cast. Special mention mention for veteran secondary Victor Jory who steals the show as the drunkard Judge Roy Bean.

It contains a colorful and shimmering cinematography by prestigious Lucien Ballard, the notorious cameraman who photographed Sam Peckinpah's various films: ¨The Ballad of Cable Hogue¨, ¨The Getaway¨, ¨Wild Bunch¨, ¨Junior Bonner¨ and other Westerns as ¨Will Penny¨, ¨Hour of gun¨, ¨True Grit¨, The Sons of Katie Elder¨, ¨An Eye for an Eye¨, ¨Will Penny¨, ¨Nevada Smith¨, ¨Nevada Express¨. As well as an evocative and thrilling musical score. Audie Murphy and Budd Boetticher, whose careers were in decline at the time, formed their own company, Fipco, to make films such as this one. The motion picture was averagely directed by Budd Boetticher in a weak style without his ordinary trademarks . He directed a lot of Westerns, most of them written by Burt Kennedy, being exhibited by Columbia Pictures . Along with Randolph Scott and Harry Joe Brown formed a production company ,Ranown, financing several Westerns. At the beginning Budd worked for Universal International directing Westerns as ¨Wolf hunters¨, ¨Cimarron kid¨, ¨Bronco Buster¨, ¨Horizons West¨, ¨Seminole¨, ¨The man from the Alamo¨, ¨Wings of the hawk¨ . In 1956 he directed a B production for Batjac titled ¨7 men from now¨. In 1957 made ¨The Tall T¨with his production company, following ¨Decision at sundown¨, ¨Buchanan rides alone¨, ¨Ride lonesome¨, ¨Comanche station¨, ¨Westbound¨. Finally, Budd wrote the script of ¨Two mules for Sister Sara¨ by Donal Siegel and directed his last Western in 1969 ¨A time of dying¨ produced/starred by Audie Murphy. Rating: average, 5 out of 10. A routine western in low budget and nothing special. Only for completists for Budd's film career and Western's hardcore lovers.

This is quite an odd Western, this one - like many made in the late 1960s, it is anticipating the arrival of the railroad and, ultimately, it's own demise... This one is only really notable as the last appearance for Audie Murphy - and appearance is the word - probably no more than 3 minutes of screen time as the legendary Jesse James. The rest of the film really belongs to Victor Jury as the curmudgeonly - and quite ruthless - "Judge Roy Bean" who rules his town with a rod of iron, tempered only by his ability to drink copiously and his fascination with Lily Langtree. Richard Lapp is our rather naive, unassuming hero who has some skill with a gun that he is, thus far, reluctant to use until he is finally provoked... It actually looks quite good, but the story is all rather weak, I found - Lapp and his co-star Anne Randall ("Nellie Winters") are just too nice, their love story too frat-like and many of the action scenes looked more like rodeo staging than anything more authentic.

I of course speak of both Budd Boetticher the director and Audie Murphy, the most decorated World War 2 soldier and a famous western player in the fifties and sixties. Both offer us here their very last film; however I think Boetticher will make ARRUZA after this one. That said, this is a purely late sixties western, downbeat, gloomy, very badly done for a veteran and talented film maker such as Budd Boetticher. And that's also the second time in his career that Audie Murphy played Jesse James, the first one being KANSAS RAIDERS, directed by Ray Enright. When you have admired both actor and director, you can feel some diziness watching this one. But I feel tenderness for this lame film. I don't know why.

A Time For Dying marksa farewell for both producer Audie Murphy and director Budd Boettticher. Both of them did some really good westerns and sad they went out on this badly acted and disjointed tale.

The two leads Richard Lapp and Anne Randall give some truly insipid peformances and villain Bob Random overacts out of proportion to his role. Not that he's the only one overacting. Victor Jory playing Judge Roy Bean and he really goes to town in a part that calls for it. In a turkey you gobble vigorously and Jory is the best in the film.

Audie Murphy plays Jesse Jamesrepeating a role he did in Kansas Raiders years earlier. He's an older and wiser Jesse now and offers some sage advice to a[[ who is too dumb to take it.

A sad mediocre film way beneath the talents of drector and prodcuer.