There Was a Crooked Man...

A western set in a prison. Paris Pitman has pulled off a large robbery and hidden the money. He is caught and sent to a prison in the middle of the Arizona desert. His only concern is getting out and retrieving it. A new warden arrives, Woodward Lopeman. He believes in reform: he relaxes the rules, improves conditions and tries trusting the prisoners. Pitman sees an opportunity. The idea is that good intentions and cunning are set against each other, and the narrative leaves which will win open to the end. None of the characters is entirely good. The register is closer to black comedy than western; there is violence and the film does not take it seriously. The screenplay is by David Newman and Robert Benton, who also wrote Bonnie and Clyde. Kirk Douglas plays Pitman and Henry Fonda the warden. Hume Cronyn, Warren Oates and Burgess Meredith are in the cast. Joseph L. Mankiewicz directed; his only western. An interesting production for anyone who likes westerns and the mocking examples within the genre. For a viewer expecting a classical western, the narrative builds no heroism and its ending is hard.