chipe

This is a must-see Western if only because of the great, intricate, surprise detective- story plot. It was terrific to see Sterling piece together bits of evidence, going from one suspect and plot revelation to the next.

The cast was certainly good, filled with well-known character actors of the time. Yet the film lacked in action and direction. Sterling seemed bored and expressionless. Still the plot made up for everything.

One unimportant thing in the film seemed unnecessary, bothered me and threw me off: John Dehner, who did his usual swell performance, played the important role of Sterling's son's defense attorney, and he was drinking liquor throughout the movie. I was afraid he'd get drunk and ruin the defense, but nothing came of it.

I compliment myself for having the patience and strength to watch this entire movie. IMDb says it is 90 minutes long; it seemed like 2-1/2 hours. Much of it was well acted and written, and I give them credit for doing a decent job of melding 2 or 3 episodes of "The Virginian" together, but it moved so slowly and kept repeating itself. I grew weary and angry as I watched Charles Bronson argue, annoy, antagonize, reject and torture all the many characters (wife, son, fellow ranchers) who tried to befriend/love/reach him — over and over. Whew! The conversations between Brian Keith and the young man he mentored also became boring and repititious. Maybe it is just me, but this is another Western where it is never made clear to me what the legal rights some ranchers have in fencing off or appropriating "open free range." Avoid the movie unless you have a keen interest in some of the people who made or acted in it.

I give the movie a passing grade if you don't think too much, pleasant entertainment, nice visuals and special effects.

I'd like to make two negative observations: (1) I found it impossible to suspend disbelief regarding the action scenes. She's just a mortal (or so it seemed for most of the movie), and she manages to charge lines of armed enemy soldiers, deflecting hundreds of bullets coming at her all at once in different directions (even with her bracelets, etc). (Superman came from a different world and had super powers. Batman was human (like seemingly Wonder Woman) but handled just small crime gangs and individual criminals.) I also cringed at the fierce practice sword fighting scenes among the Amazon women: a wonder no one would get hurt. (2) I am not a prude but at one point in the movie there was continual references to nude Steve Trevor's (offscreen) genitalia -- blatant references and much innuendo. It seemed out of place in a movie like this. Surprised me. I guess we are in a new age.