La ley de los fuertes

At the time of its release, "Three Violent People" attracted little notice. Most critics probably labeled it "routine" and then turned their attention to other matters. Now, in this age of decline in film quality, we can look back and be impressed by things we once took for granted: a strong, consistent, logically-developed plot; characters that have some style and substance; dialog which consists of more than merely "Watch it!" and "Move over!"

Not that "Three Violent People" is some sort of undiscovered gem. By the standards of its day it was little more than a passable western with a better than average cast and lovely color photography, but what pleasure it now brings!

Charlton Heston and Anne Baxter, (re-united from "The Ten Commandments"), make an attractive couple. He's strong and stalwart, she looks good in her elaborate costumes. (However did she fit those dresses into a trunk to carry on a stagecoach?) Tom Tryon may not seem fraternally related to Heston but he adds his usual dash of smoldering sensuality. He even manages to do a bare-chest scene even though he plays a man who's lost his right arm! (But then, Tryon usually managed to provide some "beefcake," even in a Disney comedy such as "Moon Pilot.") Also worth noting are three of Gilbert Roland's sons: Jamie ("MASH") Farr, Robert ("In Cold Blood") Blake, and Ross Bagdasarian, who later scored a hit with his Christmas song featuring Alvin and the Chipmunks.

One final point, if Heston and Tryon are two of the "Violent People" of the title, then who is the third? Anne Baxter? She may be deceitful and manipulative, but "violent" doesn't seem like an apt adjective to describe her.

Florid and melodramatic but in a good way. Anne Baxter and Charlton Heston interact with each other much better here than in The Ten Commandments probably because Anne is much more suited to playing a well educated woman of ill repute in the old west than a princess of the Nile. She and Tom Tryon also have an excellent vibe to their scenes. The beginning is on the humorous side with Elaine Stritch showing up and looking very young but still in possession of that basso voice. Then when we get to the ranch there is a fest for old TV viewers with Baretta, Klinger & Sgt O'Rourke from F Troop all showing up. The film is nothing original but is well shot and enjoyably action packed, a good example of the genre and Anne is very good.

Who he you may well ask ? He was one of the most unused and one of the most charismatic actors in Hollywood is the answer. Why was he underused ? He got indifferent roles, and his abuse from the so-called great director Otto Preminger on the set of ' The Cardinal ' probably might have made him felt ( quite rightly as it may have been because of his homosexuality ) fed up. In this good, but not great Western he shows a lot of his underused charisma, and his male beauty was exceptional. The scene where he meets up with his brother played by Charlton Heston is very homoerotic, but I doubt if the squeaky clean Heston noticed it. Needless to say they do not have many friendly scenes between them, and the ever watchable Anne Baxter tries to make up for this. The plot has been noted by reviewers so no need for spoilers. The direction by Mate is professional, but not inspiring and the rest of the cast do reasonably well. Gilbert Roland is in it and he was a big name then for audiences. Tryon raises it up in quality by his sheer force of presence. James Dean had it and as Dean saved ' Giant' so does Tryon save this one.

Three Violent People is directed by Rudolph Maté and adapted to screenplay by James Edward Grant from a story co-written by Leonard Praskins and Barney Slater. It stars Charlton Heston, Anne Baxter, Gilbert Roland and Forrest Tucker. Out of Paramount Pictures, it's a VistaVision production with Technicolor photography by Loyal Griggs and music scored by Walter Scharf.

It's post Civil War Texas and Confederate Captain Colt Saunders (Heston) finds himself with a bride (Baxter) who has a secret past, and taxable assets at his ranch that scheming Carpetbaggers want for themselves. Into the mix comes Colt's brother Cinch (Tryon), who is minus an arm from an accident in childhood - where Colt was his heroic saviour. Things will come to a head as resentments, skeleton's in closets and post war greed will fracture the dynamic of the Bar "S" ranch.

Try to remember that people aren't perfect. They just aren't. They make mistakes. And when they do, they suffer. They pay. Inside themselves they pay.

It made little impact back on release in 56, where the release of Heston's other film that year, The Ten Commandments, dwarfed it considerably and simultaneously propelled Heston into the big league. It didn't help that Three Violent People is a very character driven picture, literate and heavy on the melodrama. This is no gun slinging action based bonanza, this features interesting characters talking a lot, where the screenplay has the big players nicely drawn, creating a pot boiler that only rewards those open to an intelligently paced structure. The title, sadly, is misleading and doesn't do the film any favours.

You were one of the rear echelon heroes who hid on General Butler's staff while better men were getting killed in battle.

Film has definite links to another "literate" Heston picture from 1954, The Naked Jungle. Sanctimonious macho male takes a wife and recoils when learning of her past. Cue the fleshing out of relationships for an hour until the pot starts boiling over and the pace ups and unfolds with a pleasingly suspenseful third act. Action until that third act is sparse, though there's good drama to keep one interested, very much so. This is also a gorgeous picture to look at, not just the rugged but beautiful landscape around the Bar "S" (Arizona), but also the colours that beam out from the screen, Loyal Griggs' (Shane) photography reason enough to seek out this undervalued Western.

I got the one with the red hair ready for the buzzards.

Lead cast performances are up and down, Baxter and Heston's chemistry is fine and sexy, but they do appear to be in competition with each other to see who can steal a scene. Baxter, looking positively ravishing throughout, really over does it early in the pic, while Heston forgoes his most agreeable subtlety from those early passages to ham it up later in the day. The best performance comes from Roland (Cheyenne Autumn), who as Bar "S" gran vaquero, Innocencio Ortega, not only looks immeasurable cool, he also casts a humanistic shadow over proceedings. Tryon, whose edgy one armed brother adds major spice to the narrative, turns in a rare effective performance.

The problems are evident throughout, some over soaping by actors who should have known better and the villains are badly in need of flesh on their bones. Yet this is still a Western that plays better now to Western fans than it would have done back in the 50s. For now the character driven bent can be appreciated without expectation of a "yee-haw" fuelled Oater. This be one for the ears, eyes and the brain rather than the pulse. 7/10

On "The Ten Commandments" Heston reach in the first echelon of the great actors, then came up the classy "Three Violent People" with a strong casting, re-telling the neuralgic matter over post-Civil war when the south was beaten by the north, where the movie displays a foul play over the provisional government that tries pass on the high coast of war in form in high taxes over the Texan's farmers.

Chuck plays a fearsome southerner Captain Cold Saunders that has a large farm Bar "S" on Texas, left by his grandfather which become crown jewel under the eyes of buzzards through the unpayable charges, when he returns to Texas he meets casually at street the beauty Lorna Hunter (Anne Baxter) that arrives in Town in order to joint with the old acquaint Ruby Lasalle's girls a sort of procuress, Cold get mesmerized with so touchy girl, unaware her checkered past whilst Lorna wants to tries explain.

After the marriage they headed to Bar "S" where an old Mexican Innocencio (Roland) and his numerous sons cared for of his farming during his absence, there Cold faces his crippled troublemaker young brother Cinch who had return a couple months ago, this unexpected facts let a cumbersome atmosphere to dealing, the things get worse when a man from provisional government recognizes Lorna from St Louis as Lasalle's girls, tumbling down the prouder Saunders who quickly demands her departure, thus Innocencio confide in that Lorne is pregnant.

Three Violent People is a great western showcasing how was the post-war, when the freeloaders tried managed to taken all southerner's landowners using as a guise the law of the war, also focusing in the second change that all people deserves when they haven't no choice upon the damages of the war

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 1981 / How many: 6 / Source: TV- DVD / Rating: 8.