★ 8 / 10
John Coventry the lonely one, began and ended
John Chard
John Coventry the lonely one, began and ended with a gun. Quantez is directed by Harry Keller and written by R. Wright Campbell and Anne Edwards. It stars Fred…
John Coventry the lonely one, began and ended with a gun.
Quantez is directed by Harry Keller and written by R. Wright Campbell and Anne Edwards. It stars Fred MacMurray, Dorothy Malone, James Barton, Sydney Chaplin, John Gavin and John Larch. A CinemaScope production in Eastman Color, with music scored by Herman Stein (supervision Joseph Gershenson) and cinematography by Carl E. Guthrie.
A gang of robbers hole up for the night in the ghost town of Quantez. But what is the greater threat to their well being? The Indians out in the hills? Or each other?
Maybe you get to be a killer? But you will be sick to the stomach because of it.
A smartly written and acted psychological Western, Quantez deserves to be better known and appraised. This is all about characterisations and the hot bed situation they dwell within, the emphasis on dialogue and interactions as suspicion, passions, racism and treachery show their hands. Standard characters do apply, the girl with a past she's not proud of, the loose cannon, the greenhorn kid, the duplicitous one and the guy with a secret tucked away. There's even a late addition of a wandering minstrel (Barton), splendidly calling himself Puritan. These characters are well blended for narrative strength by Keller, the director keeping things on the slow burn, an impending sense of implosion permeating proceedings. Technical aspects are smart, the exterior filming, when the film comes out of the claustrophobic confines of the ghost town, is most pleasing, while the Eastman Color is gorgeous and never garish. Cast score well, notably a stubble and grungy MacMurray, a pretty and emotionally fragile Malone and Larch, who is unstable and enjoying his chance for villainy.
Except for a fist fight, an opening pursuit and the odd moment of macho posturing, the action is saved for the excellent last quarter, so first time viewers after a high energy Oater are advised that this is not the film for them. But for those who like some psychological discord in their Westerns, where plot dynamics are simmering until the denouement, then seek this out if you can. 8/10
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★ 6 / 10
An indoors and outlandish Western, slowly-paced but with nice performances
ma-cortes
An offbeat and claustrophobic Western in limited budget with too much talking and a little bit boring, until a thrilling finale in which eventually the Apache…
An offbeat and claustrophobic Western in limited budget with too much talking and a little bit boring, until a thrilling finale in which eventually the Apache Indians attack and pursue the thieves. Several bandits head for Mexican frontier decide to carry out a stopover and arriving in a ruined village in the middle of desert, called Quantez . They are the following ones : A unexperienced and green but eager newcomer gunslinger : John Gavin, a white man who was raised by Indians : Sydney Chaplin, a nasty and ambitous pistolero : John Larch, a beautiful woman with a dark past : Dororhy Malone, and the veteran and wise gunfighter : Fred MacMurray. Shortly after, there arrives a minstrel : James Barton who reluctantly joins the motley group of thieves . The cutthroats start to accuse and confront each other concerning the stolen loot and soon the gunplay and killing begins. Meanwhile, Apache Indians led by Michael Ansara are lurking around and about to attack. They rode to Quantez town.. Half-way to freedom but all the way to hell!!!
A classic and traditional Western in psychological trendy of the 50s in the wake of Yellow Sky or High Noon. Developed almost entirely at a lonely location in a desert, as it has much in common with a theatre play. The limited budget shows, and the whole psychologist thrill that you depend on the interior sets and relationship among them, the subsequent confrontation, as well as the excessive dialogues are not built up well enough. It is an offbeat Western which doen't work too well but has its moments of interest here and there . Stars Fred McMurray who gives a good acting as a good thief. This is one of a clutch of acceptable horse operas Fred made in the Forties , in the late of 50s and early Sixties, such as : A gun for coward, Good day for a hanging, Texas Rangers, The trail of the Lonesome Pine, At gunpoint, and this Quantez. Although he also played other genres as drama, adventure, warlike, Children fiilms as The happiest millionaire, The shaggie dog, Son of the flubber, The absent-minded professor, The princess come across, The Caine mutiny, Dive bomber, Above suspicion, The miracle of the bells, among others. He is finely accompanied by a fine cast as the recently deceased Dorothy Malone, the usual villian John Larch, the Charles Chaplin's brother, Sydney Chaplin and a fresh John Gavin, next to take a long career as a main star.
It contains colorful and brilliant cinematography in Technicolor by Carl Guthrie. As well as attractive and agreeable musical score by Herman Stein, Universal's regular , including enjoyable songs. As the song The Lonely One is sung by James Barton behind the credits, and the song True Love sung by Dorothy Malone. The motion picture produced by Universal Pictures along with Gordon Kay was professionally directed by Harry Keller. Harry was a good craftsman who directed a lot of Westerns and several episodes of TV series.
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AUDIENCE
6.0/10
702
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Thanks for this great western.