in carrying a film on his shoulders.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Arthur Kennedy was never livelier in carrying a film on his shoulders;
Poverty Row director Edgar G. Ulmer was never more adept at making hay
out of a low-budget film (one of the few he made in Technicolor, and only
his second western; the other being Thunder Over Texas - 1934). This superior
western’s romantic triangle influenced Truffaut’s Jules and Jim, or so
he says. It was hard to tell what influenced him because the situations
are so so different. It was shot in Mexico, but has the look of a studio-bound
film.
While robbing a train of some goods Vicente (Tony Martinez), a long-time
crime partner of Santiago (Arthur Kennedy), is fatally shot. Before he
dies, the frightened Mexican bandito has his amigo act like a priest to
comfort him for the next world. Santiago next stumbles upon poor homesteader
Manuel (Eugene Iglesias), an unsophisticated and proud 20-year-old, who
recently married the pretty but unhappy Maria (Betta St. John). Santiago
flirts with her and she tell him her sad tale that she married Manuel to
escape living as a virtual slave to the evil patrón of the hacienda,
who sold the land to Manuel when he earned the money working for three
years in the States as a migrant farmer. Santiago overpays to get Manuel
to take him by his rundown truck to town, where he sells the stolen goods
to a crooked shipping agent for the railroad, Guntz (Roy Engel), who set
up the robbery. When Guntz tries to cheat him out of his full-share for
the job, Santiago robs his safe and convinces the reluctant but greedy
Manuel to go along with the robbery. Before returning home, the happy-go-lucky
Santiago blows a lot of the money at a bar getting drunk and giving hot
dancer Tina (Charlita) a generous tip to dance for him. The farmer and
the drifter bond further after they get into a brawl with a trio of patrons
trying to take the money they were flashing around. Arriving back at Manuel’s
farm late at night, Manuel acts like a crud to Maria and gets Santiago
angry because he belittles the thief’s wasted life and hypocritically craves
for all of the money to buy livestock for the farm.
Warning: spoiler to follow in the next paragraph.
In the morning Maria wants to run away with Santiago, and he is unsuccessful
in trying to dissuade her by telling her what a miserable life he really
lives. The tension builds when Guntz and two others come to the farm and
plan to kill Manuel, the only one still at the farm, only to be prevented
by Santiago returning by horse with Maria out of a guilt he has for corrupting
Manuel. This fatalistic tale is about greed, corruption, and the three
flawed characters trapped in situations that are beyond their understanding.
Ulmer’s moralistic story goes way beyond most westerns in exploring character
depth. It ends with the critically wounded Santiago trying to make his
last act in this life an uncharacteristically religious one, as the dying
bandito gives Manuel all the money and his blessing to go far away and
start life over again with Maria.