arthur_tafero A lot of good actors in this one. Gregory Peck leads the way as the relentless manhunter who wants revenge for his murdered wife. Also good in the film is Joan Collins, who is not bad as a "friend" (I need more friends like Joan Collins). Henry Silva gives a fine performance, as does Albert Salmi (who was called Salami by his childhood friends). Lee Van Cleef is usually good, but I cant picture him as a whiner. The only miscast member is Stephen Boyd, as a sex maniac; a role I did not find believable. The story starts slowly, but picks up steam, and there is a great twist ending which I will not reveal. One of the best vigilante films of all time.

LeonLouisRicci By 1958 the Works of Anthony Mann and Budd Boetticher, With the So Called "Adult" or "Psychological" Western had Made Their Mark and an Old Salt Like Henry King was Surely Influenced in This One.He Almost Manages it, but the Old School Hollywood was Just Too Ingrained in the Director and His Capitulation to Heavy Handed Religious Apologetics All But Destroyed This Otherwise Excellent Attempt at Pushing the Western Forward.The Story of Revenge and Rage is Well Done Until the Ending that Becomes Laughable (when Gregory Peck exits the Church). But Until the Sledgehammer Ending Where King and Yordan Beat Us Over the Head with Piety and Priests, it's an Edgy, Sometimes Brutal Display of the "New" Western.The Cast, Led by Peck, are All Pretty Good Featuring Lee Van Cleef, Stephen Boyd, and Henry Silva as the Outlaws on the Run, but Joan Collins is Virtually Background Scenery. Speaking of Scenery, the Cinemascope, Technicolor Landscape is an Attraction and Backdrop Some of the "New" Violence.Other Signs that is One of Those New Fangled Types is the Word "Rape" is Used More than Once and an Actual Rape Takes Place On Screen but Out of Sight and is Rather Unsettling.Overall, this is an Above Average Western with a Highly Polished Hollywood Look. It's Just a Shame About the Excessive Use of Religion, Especially in the Final Scenes.

Michael Morrison "Classic" is truly an accurate term for this strong script and powerful story presented by superlative actors and director and accompanied by one of the most dramatic and memorable scores of filmdom."The Bravados" has stuck in my mind since the first time I saw it, as a child, primarily for the score by Lionel Newman. His work here is one of the very best non-Elmer Bernstein scores. (Here is a sampler of Bernstein's music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6__oixvAak.)Gregory Peck is a given. To my knowledge, he never gave a bad performance, and, in fact, I can't even think of a bad movie he was in.Probably "cowboy" is not the first characterization one thinks of in connection to Mr. Peck, but he was a good one when he essayed a western role.Another actor, this time one in a role completely different from any other, is Joe DeRita, mostly known, of course, as "Curly Joe" in the Three Stooges.In fact, he is quite a fine actor. Watch "The Bravados" just to see him and you will be getting your money's worth.Other actors, playing sheriff, bad guys, deputies, and others, are all among the top players in films, even if only a very few of them became the household names they should have. Excellent, all of them.There is one directorial, or perhaps writing, flaw, one made often by Hollywood, as far back as its earliest days: A guard up on a hill is shot down by a bunch of galloping horsemen firing pistols. Pretty nearly impossible, in real life, but I guess it's a convention generally accepted -- except by me and by viewers really knowledgeable about firearms.Otherwise, the directing is, as one expects from Henry King, pretty much right on; and the writing, script by Philip Yordan from a novel by Frank O'Rourke, gives us something Hollywood so often elsewhere got wrong, the impact of religion.I was lucky enough to watch this at YouTube, in a pretty good print, except for some jerkiness, that was rudely interrupted by commercials!Still, otherwise it was free, and there is another version there that one must buy or rent and still another in a wrong format that makes it almost impossible to read the credits. If you go to YouTube, pick carefully, but do, somehow and somewhere, watch "The Bravados."

Tweekums When Jim Douglas rides into the town of Rio Arriba he is told they don't want any strangers in town till after four criminals are hanged; he states that he has come to see them die and after surrendering his guns he enters town anyway. The sheriff asks him why he wants to see the men hang but receives no answer and when Douglas goes into the jail to see the men none of them recognise him. That night while the town is in church the men are broken out of jail and flee with a young woman as hostage; the sheriff is wounded so his deputy leads a posse after the escapees. In the morning Douglas joins the posse and they track the men as they head for the Mexican border. As they go Douglas manages to corner the bandits one by one and each time shows his captive a picture of a woman; they all claim not to have seen her but he doesn't believe them. Back in town a friend of his, who he hasn't seen for five years learns his story from the town priest; one day Douglas had returned home to find his wife had been raped and murdered; the gang had been identified by a neighbour and Douglas had been after them ever since. When Douglas finally corners the last of the escapees he learns a shocking truth; one that will affect him for the rest of his days.I've always associated Gregory Peck with the mild mannered lawyer Atticus Finch from 'To Kill a Mockingbird' so it came as a shock to see him playing a character hell bent on seeing four men die; perhaps it is that surprise that made his performance seem so powerful. While Peck's performance carried the film the supporting cast, which included Joan Collins and Lee Van Cleef, did a fine job. The story of a man seeking revenge might be one of the oldest but that doesn't mean it is always cliché; the ending added an excellent twist that I'm sure would have taken me totally by surprise if it hadn't been hinted at on the blurb on the back of the DVD case. With many classic westerns the setting is almost as important as the story and this is no exception; the locations are stunning in a way that makes the action believable. When I sat down to watch this I expected something fairly average but was gripped from start to finish; I'm surprised this film isn't better known as it is a fine example of the genre... if you like Westerns this is a must see.