Warlock

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

7.2K

YOUR RATING

Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn, Richard Widmark, Dorothy Malone, and Dolores Michaels in Warlock (1959)

A famous gunman becomes the marshal of Warlock to end a gang's rampages, but is met with some opposition by a former gang member turned deputy sheriff who wants to follow only legal methods.

Play trailer2:22

1 Video

44 Photos

Western

A famous gunman becomes the marshal of Warlock to end a gang's rampages, but is met with some opposition by a former gang member turned deputy sheriff who wants to follow only legal methods.A famous gunman becomes the marshal of Warlock to end a gang's rampages, but is met with some opposition by a former gang member turned deputy sheriff who wants to follow only legal methods.A famous gunman becomes the marshal of Warlock to end a gang's rampages, but is met with some opposition by a former gang member turned deputy sheriff who wants to follow only legal methods.

Director
- Edward Dmytryk
Writers
- Robert Alan Aurthur
- Oakley Hall
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

7.2K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Edward Dmytryk
Writers
- Robert Alan Aurthur
- Oakley Hall
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination total

Videos1

Trailer 2:22

Official Trailer

Photos44

+ 38

More like this

7.3

Last Train from Gun Hill

7.0

7.0

7.3

6.6

6.7

6.9

7.7

7.1

7.1

6.2

7.0

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
Edward Dmytryk later denied that the gay subtext was intentional.

Goofs
Before the shootout with Billy, Morgan sees Calhoun and fires once to stop him, with the second shot heard coming from Calhoun's rifle. All of the other gunshots heard or seen were from the participants of the shootout. After the shootout, someone says Calhoun was shot three times, once in the throat and twice in the chest. Morgan says he aimed all three shots at his chest. He could not have shot him three times since he only fired once.

This is just gunman braggadocio. Bragging and self-aggrandizing are normal behaviour. However, since only three shots were fired in the opening salvo, with two bodies as a result, there is a shooter missing, who had a lucky coincidence of putting the extra two holes in Calhoun simultaneously with the sound of two of the other shots.

Quotes
Johnny Gannon: He just saved your life, Billy! I wonder why...

Connections
Featured in This Is Us: Vietnam (2018)

Soundtracks
Beautiful Dreamer
(uncredited)
by Stephen Foster

User reviews95

Review

Featured review

7/10

Interesting and Intense Western

"Warlock" is a decent western typical of the late 50's.

A cattle ranch owner and his men take the town nearby as their amusement place and terrorize its citizens; when an innocent barber is killed in one of the gang's nights of fun, they decide to hire a top gunman to put an end to the dangerous cowboy's actions. Clay Blaisdell (Henry Fonda)is the selected man and he arrives along with his sidekick Tom Morgen (Anthony Quinn) another fast draw too.

When Blaisdell -supported by Morgan- starts to do his job and things get better some of the town's folks are not quite satisfied with the man's ways and begin to wonder if his coming was a good idea. In order to bring some scent of law to the place they appoint Johnny Gannon (Richard Widmark) -a former member of the gang who thinks things went too far- as deputy sheriff. Gannon has not only to control the remaining vicious cowboys but he is also expected to get the town rid of Blaisdell and Morgan.

"Warlock" is perhaps a bit too long and the plot has many twists and different subjects to attend to (the strange relationship between the two hired gunfighters, Blaisdell's romance with local beauty Jessie (Dolores Michaels), revenge intentions of ex prostitute Lilly Dollar (Dorothy Malone)for a killing that happened in the past, Gannon's conflict with his kid brother Billy who is tempted to gain fame by challenging Blaisdell, and some others).

But nevertheless the film turns out entertaining and has tension, very well solved shooting and gunfight sequences, a fine location, good settings and remarkable performances. The final showdown between Fonda and Widmark is also a high point in spite of its outcoming.

Henry Fonda is a perfect choice as Blaisdell the aging gunfighter somehow tired of killing and moving and Quinn is very good as his unconditional friend and supporter. Richard Widmark is correct as the redeemed cowboy that becomes sheriff and Dorothy Malone renders one of her usual good jobs. The supporting cast is alright too.

If you like westerns this Edward Dmytryk piece is one to see and if you don't care much about the genre you'll probably find "Warlock" amusing and entertaining. It's a 7 out of 10 for me.