Directed by Henry Levin
Produced by Pat Duggan
Written by Harry Essex & Robert Smith
Cinematography: Lionel Lindon
Music by Van Cleave
Film Editor: William B. Murphy
Cast: Jack Palance (Jacob Wade), Anthony Perkins (Riley Wade), Neville Brand (King Fisher), Robert Middleton (Ben Ryerson), Elaine Aiken (Ada Marshall), Elisha Cook, Jr. (Willie), Claude Akins (Blackburn), Lee Van Cleef (Faro), Harry Shannon (Dr. Fisher), James Bell (Judge Hart), Adam Williams (Lon), Denver Pyle (Brad), John Doucette (Sundown Whipple)
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It’d be easy to call The Lonely Man (1957) another gunfighter-wants-to-hang-up-his-guns movie, with an estranged son tossed into the mix. But you’d be really selling this one short. After all, one thing you learn from watching a couple hundred 50s Westerns is that the fun often comes from seeing what each picture does with a well-worn, basic framework we’ve all seen before.
After many years, gunman Jacob Wade (Jack Palance) comes home to lead a normal, peaceful life, only to find the wife he abandoned dead (suicide?) and his son a very bitter young man. Father and son wind up at Wade’s other ranch, where Ada (Elaine Aiken), a herd of mustangs and plenty of trouble await. That trouble, it’s some guys from Wade’s past — Neville Brand, Claud Aikens, Lee Van Cleef and Elisha Cook — and they have a score to settle. And to top it all off, Jacob’s going blind.
Palance is dressed a bit like his character, Jack Wilson, in Shane (1953), but all similarities end there. Jacob Wade has a conscience here, and is filled with regret. This isn’t how he wanted things to turn out, and he hopes to make things right with his son. Anthony Perkins is quite good as Riley Wade. He has plenty to learn, but he doesn’t come off as a spineless toad. Though he’s angry and spiteful, we still like him and feel for him.
Robert Middleton, who’s always good, has a great part as the one member of Wade’s old gang who’s still loyal. We like him, but we don’t really trust him.
Elaine Aiken is really good as the woman Jacob’s been with since leaving his family. She didn’t make many movies, this was her first, but she became a noted acting teacher — and a founder of the Actors Conservatory. The bad guys, from Neville Brand to Lee Van Cleef, have well-rounded parts — and the actors make the most of their limited screen time.
The dialogue by Harry Essex and Robert Smith is terrific and the direction from Henry Levin and editing by William Murphy are very tight. This is solid picture.
But for my money, the real “star” of The Lonely Man is cinematographer Lionel Lindon. He did some fine work over the course of his long career — from Road To Utopia (1945) and The Black Scorpion (1957) to The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and The Munsters, but this one is just stunning. (Let’s not forget his beautiful Trucolor work in 1955’s A Man Alone.) The rich shadows of the interiors and the deep focus of the Alabama Hills exteriors are gorgeous in black and white VistaVision.
The Paramount DVD of The Lonely Man has been around for a while, and it’s a terrific example of what a good transfer can be. The VistaVision is sharp as a tack, as it should be, and the blacks are absolutely perfect, and that’s critical to appreciating Lionel Lindon’s work on this film. The Alabama Hills have rarely been presented so beautifully. I’d love to see this make it to Blu-Ray.
The Lonely Man certainly deserves more attention than it gets. Highly, highly recommended.
Interestingly, a few months later, Anthony Perkins and Neville Brand were back in another black and white VistaVision Western for Paramount — Anthony Mann’s The Tin Star (1957).
50 Westerns From The 50s. 
I just received some bad news from ESC Editions.They’ve cancelled my order for THIS SAVAGE LAND as the image of the master is too bad to make a suitable product.
A rather remarkable western in my humble opinion – gritty but beautiful to look at, stars that were more character actors really and very believable because of it. I don’t believe ‘underrated’ would be the wrong word to use in this case to describe a western that should be better-known.
This is one I drag out every few years, and it always impresses me.
French title : Jicop, le proscrit.
Toby,you really threw a curve here,by your headline I mistakenly
thought Paramount had suddenly started releasing 50’s Westerns on Blu Ray!
Instead we get a great review of an old DVD release,never mind.
Probably an all time best effort for Henry Levin.
Palance underplays,and that’s never a bad thing,only detriment for me is
simpering Anthony Perkins who I never liked in Westerns and that includes
THE TIN STAR.
Levin,Palance and Brand later teamed up for THE DESPERADOS the less
said about that the better.
This very bad Euro Western had Palance over acting as never before and
Brand so fat he could hardly get on his horse.
Levin does the best he can with some of the impressive set pieces but
oddball casting scuppers the whole thing.
I really find it a chore,as opposed to a pleasure in looking out for new
Western releases these days. It was not too long ago we had all those
Allied Artists/Monogram Westerns from Warner Archive.
Then there was a constant flow of Sam Katzman type fare from the
Sony MOD series not to mention all those wonderful releases from
Germany from Koch and Explosive Media.
Kino Lorber with their Republic releases added to the constant flow
of great Westerns on DVD and Blu Ray.
It’s only France that now are releasing Westerns at a fairly regular clip.
I might add that according to Amazon de. there are some super bargains
from the Koch back catalogue of many fine Universal programmer Westerns
on DVD and Blu Ray many of these fine releases can now be picked up
for mere peanuts.
I understand what you mean about Anthony Perkins — sometimes he comes off as just plain weak. But whether it’s the script or his performance or both, he doesn’t bother me in this one.
You’re so right about the state of 50s Westerns on DVD and Blu-Rays these days. Slim pickings for sure.
John, you’re probably right. This could very well be Levin’s best picture. I’ve always wanted to see his Cry Of The Werewolf with Nina Foch.
Enjoyed this very much on the big screen as well as on dvd. Found the part to trap a mustang one of the most exciting ever filmed in a western. Agreed its one of the finest from Henry Levin and one of the best from Jack Palance. Best regards.
Levin’s early Columbia stuff is pretty good and I guess his biggest hit
was JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH a must on
Blu Ray,I might add.
Long before I saddled up to join Toby’s posse I was an avid reader
of Jeff Wells’ Hollywood- Elsewhere.
Jeff often does not pull his punches,certainly he’s not everyone’s cup of tea,
but I always enjoy his writing and often acerbic comments.
There’s a pretty depressing header on Jeff’s column today regarding Gary
at DVD Beaver. Apart from Gary’s superb site struggling to survive (he’s
having trouble covering his heating bills!) outfits like Shout Factory and
Warner Archive will not even let him have “screeners” i.e. review copies.
This is incredible,considering DVD Beaver is the go to site for info on
latest releases.
This,I guess explains why Gary (and Cinesavant,for that matter) has not
reviewed Shout Factory’s LAW AND ORDER.
Gary,having to dip into his own pocket for many releases explains why
there is only so much one can pay out to promote the product of the
aforementioned outfits.
I am very surprised at Shout Factory’s attitude regarding this.
Furthermore,I guess this explains why so many Arrow and Indicator
releases get featured so often on DVD Beaver.
Shout Factory and others HAVE cut back on their screeners. Shout Factory’s The Vampire, Law & Order and the recent Blood From The Mummy’s Tomb were not promoted with review copies.
I would have thought Shout Factory would have made
an exception with LAW AND ORDER,especially considering
the ever dwindling market for Western films.
I’m not holding my breath for Shout to release another vintage
Universal Western,besides LAW AND ORDER is way off
their comfort zone…testing the market for a market that’s
just not there!
All of this is sad because Shout’s release is stellar,the transfer
is fine and as I noted before Jim Hemphill’s commentary
is superb and very well researched.
We learn that Reagan was an extremely complex person,
and he loved Westerns,and making them,but sadly this did
not really happen until the tail end of his film career.
LAW AND ORDER is a crackerjack Universal Western with all
the taut pacing we expect from underrated Nathan Juran.
The supporting cast is exceptional.
I’m sure reviews from Cinesavant and DVD Beaver would have
possibly added to much needed sales,especially once fans
viewed the screengrabs of the Shout release.
John k ,I wonder if you would mind checking your copy of COUNT THREE AND PRAY to see if the fast/backwood feature works.Everything else does including going to the next scene ,subtitles etc.I told Importcds where I bought it from about the problem and their answer was it’s a player issue which is rubbish because I’ve never had this problem with a DVD/BLU RAY before,and I have a lot.
Graham….I’ll check this out tonight and report back tomorrow.
John k,thanks for that .Much appreciated.
Hi Graham,
On my copy the chapter breaks work fine but are rendered useless
by the fact there is no menu.
The fast forward/backward feature is not available on this disc according
to my player…this is most odd.
I don’t think COUNT THREE AND PRAY was an important release for
the people at Sony,it’s possibly a pre production glitch that was not corrected
and I guess would affect the whole batch that was pressed.
As far as I’m concerned this is a “bare bones” release the 2.55 transfer is
fine,so for me that’s the most important thing.
I might add,I DO at times fall asleep while watching movies so the
reverse fast backward feature can be useful sometimes!
I recently got the Umbrella,Australia Blu Ray of TO HELL AND BACK,again
a “bare bones” release,no menu and no subtitles. The 2.35 transfer is fine so
I’m quiet happy.
In a perfect World Universal USA would have released TO HELL AND
BACK in it’s original ratio,2.55 4K restored with a whole raft of extras.
TO HELL AND BACK after all was Universal’s greatest box office smash
until Jaws came along 20 years later.
I doubt if the films box office status or indeed Murphy’s war record mean
anything to the suits at Universal these days…sad!
I might add that Universal Germany do have TO HELL AND BACK
announced for a Blu Ray edition towards the end of this year.
TO HELL AND BACK is a great war movie Jesse Hibbs did a superb job,in
fact as far as war movies go this film puts him in the Raoul Walsh,Sam
Fuller class in my opinion at least.
I do hope Kino Lorber at some point give us a Blu Ray of Murphy and
Hibbs follow up WALK THE PROUD LAND a wonderful Western and
one of Audie’s all time best,my goodness he was really at his peak at that time.
John k ,thanks for that info.If yours had been working,mine would have been going back for an exchange.I’m not even sure how to contact Sony to tell them of this unusual fault.I sometimes fall asleep as well,especially if I’ve had a beer or two.I use the fast forward backward feature if the dialogue from the actors is hard to understand,although I tend to have the subs turned on.My hearing is perfect but sometimes the actors speak fast or softly.
I thought I am the only one that fall asleep while watching these wonderful oldies. Nice to know I do have John and Graham for company! Best regards.
Chrisk ,it’s not really falling asleep ,it’s called resting your eyes.
I’m sure there are more members of the “falling asleep while watching
movies club” apart from Graham,Chris and myself….certainly among
FWOTF followers!
While watching TO HELL AND BACK the other night,wide awake,I might
add,I was reminded how wonderful the film looked visually,much of this
due to the photography Maury Gertsman.
All of this begs the question “why have we not discussed him before on
these pages?”
His credits are fascinating,going back to many B Westerns,B Thrillers,
Rathbone Sherlock Holmes Flicks,Universal Horrors before graduating to
A pictures with SINGAPORE.
Some of those B Thrillers,in particular, now lost in time sound terrific.
Gertsman worked on many very fine Universal films in the 50’s being
equally adept at both Westerns and Noir.
Before a prolific career in television Gertsman,more or less went back to
where he started working on many Edward L Cahn B Pictures,mostly
Westerns and Thrillers,his work certainly raised the game of many of
those little epics.
Gertsman did return to the Universal fold for a later Murphy picture,
the excellent SIX BLACK HORSES, but sadly a decent master no longer
exists for a Blu Ray edition,and that’s a shame.
A glance through Gertsman’s credits will warm the heart of B Movie lovers
in general,Universal International 50’s fans and admirers of Edward L Cahn’s
poverty row flicks.
I seem to be avoiding joining the “just closing my eyes” brigade (my wife is a founder member though). It would really peeve me to put on a favourite movie and then nod off!!
Easily done Jerry,if you’ve had a glass or two to many of Sauvignon Blanc.
Movies Unlimited has an exclusive release of Monogram Cowboys Collection 10—-all Johnny Mack Brown titles from 1946 to 1949. This is a Warner Archive newie that I guess only Movies Unlimited will be selling at first. It’s available from them now.
I thought this picture terrible, heavy handed, miscast and written by students of Greek mythology. They should have left it to those Greeks riding across the sand dunes and saving their small world for their fathers and uncles; Sheiks of the Greeks. Oh wait, the Greeks had no sheiks and neither do the cowboys, with or without the abysmal Tony Perkins. Of course Palance overacted, probably in disgust at how this project was going.