The Hard Man

Guy Madison plays the title role in The Hard Man, a rather ruthless deputy sheriff who prefers to bring in his fugitives draped over the saddle. Saves a lot of judicial proceedings that way. But when an old friend he's sent to track down tries to outdraw him, Madison is forced to shoot Myron Healey who's been accused of murder. Before Healey dies he gives Madison a convincing story he was framed.

Shooting down a friend who may have been innocent sends Madison off to a nearby town looking for answers. All lines of inquiry lead to cattle baron Lorne Greene and his wife Valerie French.

I don't think Lorne Greene was cast as Ben Cartwright in Bonanza on the strength of this role. Greene's a mean one here, a guy who has increased his herd through rustling and he's got a nice batch of gunfighters on the payroll to keep questions to a minimum.

However Valerie French who played Ernest Borgnine's unfaithful wife in Jubal plays exactly the same kind of part here. She's looking for a way out of her marriage, one way or the other. Both these issues figure prominently into why Healey was killed.

The Hard Man is a nicely done adult type western with some solid performances by Madison and the rest of the cast. With some bigger name players this film would be more known, but I can't fault anyone either behind or in front of the camera for their work.

Steve Burden is a former lawman released for bringing in too many wanted men dead. The aging Sheriff of El Solito wants Steve for his Deputy and Steve takes the job knowing the last outlaw he killed was framed in El Solito. Looking for the man that framed him it appears that Rice Martin who controls El Solito is his man and Steve is quickly in trouble when Martin sends a man to kill him.

The Hard Man is an entertaining b-western starring Guy Madison in the title role and that toughness is needed when he takes on Lorne Greene's gun thugs. There's some fistfights, gunplay but the focus is more on drama, especially around Lorne Greene and Valerie French who plays his wife. But it's not a marriage made in heaven. Valerie, in a role similar to the cheating wife in Jubal, wraps her fingers around men in order to get them to kill Ben Cartwright ... sorry I mean Lorne Greene's character. Has she finally fallen for Guy Madison? Will she settle down with Guy or not? You got to watch this western that has some tense moments and involving dialogue. Lorne Greene sort of steals every scene he is in as a power mad rancher. The finale where Madison doesn't know who the gun man is and is jumpy at every sound is quite tense, and the twist at the end is good.

I don't understand why viewers only rated this movie 6.1 (as of 1/30/23). I loved it. It was my introduction to Guy Madison, and I think he did a pretty decent job of playing a troubled character. And Lorne Greene as a mean, dirty town boss was fun to watch. It was also my introduction to Valerie French, who's character I thought turned out to be a really interesting and had a lot more depth than Lorne Greene's. I liked Robert Burton as Sheriff Hacker, portraying an older man who knows his gun fighting days are pretty much over.

Another thing I enjoyed about this movie was seeing the old Columbia Pictures western set again; there's some great shots of the saloon and the hotel, which appeared in so many Columbia westerns.

The Hard Man does not stand out as anything unique, but it is an entertaining western that can hold your interest during viewing. Guy Madison does fine as the stalwart lawman/gunfighter brought in to clean up the town. Valerie French has the requisite beauty as the femme fatale, although it sounds as if her voice was dubbed by another actress. The greatest revelation about the Hard Man is seeing a pre-Ben Cartwright Lorne Greene play a ruthless, utterly despicable villain. This was made several years before Bonanza began, and Greene makes the most of playing the bad guy. This alone makes the movie worth watching. The Hard Man is a fine Western to watch to pass the time. The only thing noteworthy is to watch this while comparing Greene's character to his future Ben Cartwright role.

"The hard man" is an exciting little B western where a fast gun deputy is confronted to the despotic rich Lorne Greene, who has some geat nasty lines. There are a lot of sleazy details, rather uncommon in westerns. Guy Madison is very charismatic as a gunslinger. Sherman's direction is competent, with efficient editing. Don't miss that Guy Madison / Lorne Greene confrontation.