The Bravados (1958)

I'm reluctant to say a huge amount about The Bravados, mainly because I left a bit too long between watching the film and writing the review. It's obviously a big-budget, well made Western, but at the same time is less than the sum of its parts. I think this is a fairly general opinion and I'm not alone in saying this.

The opening is excellent: Gregory Peck arrives in town to watch the hanging of four men, and although it's obvious that they will escape, the film builds suspense leading up to this well. The latter half of the film – as Peck (and an occasionally involved posse of townspeople) chase the bandits – is still enjoyable, but less so. I think the weakness of the film is two-fold: first that the "unexpected" plot twist isn't as unexpected as the film-makers would like us to believe (I'm not sure this is a huge problem though – it doesn't really need to be a huge surprise). Second, the handling of Peck's moral conflict (resulting from the aforementioned plot twist) towards the end of the film is a bit weak, and mostly done through a overly-expositioned and clunky church scene.

There is a lot going for this: Peck is excellent (showing grim determination throughout); there's a chance to enjoy Lee Van Cleef looking evil; the film looks fantastic (except for one or two dodgy day-for-night shots which are just a product of technology at the time). It just isn't quite the classic that it sort of feels like it could have been.