The Violent Men
7.2 /10 1 Votes7.2
Director Rudolph Mate Duration Country United States | 7/10 Language English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date January 26, 1955 (1955-01-26) Cast (John Parrish), (Martha Wilkison), (Lee Wilkison), (Judith Wilkison), (Cole Wilkison), (Caroline Vail) Similar movies Glenn Ford and Richard Jaeckel appear in The Violent Men and Cowboy Tagline VOLCANIC! VALIANT! VICIOUS! Violence and Passion the Screen Has Seldom Seen! |
The violent men trailer
The Violent Men is a 1955 Technicolor CinemaScope Western drama film directed by Rudolph Maté, based on the novel Smoky Valley by Donald Hamilton first published in 1954, and starring Glenn Ford, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson. The storyline involves a ranch owner who comes into conflict with the land-grabbing tactics of the big local family but whose own tense marriage threatens their stranglehold over the region. The supporting cast features Brian Keith, Dianne Foster, May Wynn, and Warner Anderson.
Contents

Plot

Parrish (Ford), a Union Army ex-officer, plans to sell his land to Anchor Ranch and move east with his fiancée, Caroline (Wynn), but the low price offered by Anchor's crippled owner, Lew Wilkison (Robinson), and the outfit's bully-boy tactics make him think again. When one of Parrish's hands is murdered, he decides to stay and fight, utilising his war experience.

Not all is well at Anchor with the owner's wife, Martha (Stanwyck), carrying on with his brother, Cole (Keith), who also has a Mexican moll in town. Parrish eventually gets the upper hand, and when the Wilkisons' daughter, Judith (Foster), comes to understand what her family is like and what Parrish has been up against, she realises they can join forces as peaceful neighbours and perhaps more.
Cast
Release
The Violent Men was released in theatres on January 26, 1955. The film was released on DVD on April 5, 2005.
Critical response
Film critic Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote in his review: "COLUMBIA has pulled all the levers in making The Violent Men, a broad-beamed and action-crammed western that opened yesterday at Loew's State. It has ticked off a well-machined scenario, a three-starred "big name" cast and a scenic outdoor production that looks mighty grand in CinemaScope. If, at the end, it leaves you feeling you've seen just another horse-opera — another run-through of squatters battling rangers—it's no wonder, for that's what it is." TV Guide wrote:"Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Glenn Ford, and Brian Keith star in THE VIOLENT MEN, a better-than-average psychological western featuring impressive CinemaScope photography and some hard-charging action scenes."
References
The Violent Men WikipediaThe Violent Men IMDb The Violent Men themoviedb.org