Western Wednesday: Warlock (Spoilers)

Warlock was directed by Edward Dmytryk and starred Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda Anthony Quinn and Deforest Kelley. First I have to say that I've heard of this film often mentioned while I was searching for westerns to watch earlier in the year and finally decided to sit down and watch the film on a Sunday afternoon.

The film tells the story of the town of Warlock and features different points of view from its characters. First there's Johnny Gannon (Richard Widmark) who is part of the McQuown gang who we first meet in the film, later he leaves the gang and reforms himself. Second there's Clay Blaisdell (Henry Fonda) who is a famous gunman that the town has hired to fight off the McQuown gang and third there's Tom Morgan (Anthony Quinn) who like Blaisdell is also a gunman known to many as 'Black Rattlesnake in the whole Territory'. Blaisedell and Morgan are different people but later on we find out that they weren't so different after all. What's interesting about the film for the time of it's release is how these three different characters are fleshed out particularly Morgan.

Clay Blaisdell and Tom Morgan are hired by the town of Warlock to deal with a gang of bandtis.

Morgan is brash, explosive he is the brass in this partnership despite Blaisedell's superb marksmanship that he is better known for and yet for all of Morgan's tough guy image he is actually just a man who is in need of a friend who would listen to him and wouldn't look down on him for being a person with a disability (a clubbed foot). It surprised me since his story line was more in the background but slowly becomes a center point of the story. Blaisedell meanwhile courts Jessie Marlow and thinks of settling down in Warlock with her while Gannon is looking for redemption in a town that nearly has everything for everybody. All these three characters clash in Warlock but only one of them can get what they want. There's also a gay subtext (by 1959 standards) in the Blaisedell and Morgan partnership, which was another thing that surprised me and the film has a sense of 'passing through time' when the focus is one Blaisedell and Morgan's relationship. Henry Fonda is great as Blaisedell yet I felt like his charm here was very similar to his good guy roles, he wasn't devilishly charming in the way I felt the character should've been but he does pull it off in the end.

Deforest Kelley as Curly Burne and Richard Widmark as Johnny Gannon

I have to say that although Widmark was the main reason I actually pushed myself to watch the film it was the chemistry between Henry Fonda and Anthony Quinn as Blaisedell and Morgan that I powered through it for. Not many actors have that kind of chemistry with each other these days particularly when playing hardened characters. Widmark is fine and holds his own in some scenes against the other actors but his performance wasn't nearly as believable as his arc was, he almost never changes his facial expressions aside from a crucial scene with his younger brother Billy later dies in the film. Perhaps him and Fonda were better suited to play each other's roles but they powered through those criticisms in the end and made it work, particularly Widmark. Last but not the least, I think Deforest Kelley is underappreciated as Curly Burne (one of McQuown's goons), and his 180 later on in the film was far more believable in terms of performance, he was a shock since I'm much more used to seeing him as Dr. Bones McCoy in Star Trek way after this film was made. Everyone plays against-type here and it never hinders the quality of the film.

An exterior shot filmed in Moab, Utah

The film is beautifully shot in CinemaScope and the colors are very vivid, probably too vivid for people who are used to seeing modern films. The sets are also very believable particularly a few where Moab, Utah is used in some of the exterior shots. Overall, I enjoyed the film though I don't think I'd watch it again for a long time.