Tribute to a Bad Man

A western set in the American west. Jeremy Rodock raises horses. He has a large herd in the mountains and is the strongest man in the district. A young man comes to the ranch. Steve has come from the east and is looking for work. Rodock takes him on. There is a woman at the ranch. Jocasta lives with Rodock. Steve is drawn to her. From there the film is a story of watching. The young man observes how Rodock works. Horse theft is common. Rodock's method is plain: he hangs whoever he catches. The law is far away. Nobody in the district calls him to account and he waits for no court. Steve objects. Rodock counts that as weakness. A herd is stolen. Rodock goes after it. When he finds the thieves he does something. He does not hang them; he takes their boots and drives them on foot into the desert. The narrative holds that section long and approves of it nowhere. What the narrative is interested in is not crime but a claim to justice: its idea is that Rodock puts himself in the place of the law, and that this makes him a slightly worse man each time. His relationship with Jocasta carries the same thing. He keeps her like property. The narrative does not draw Rodock as wholly bad. He works hard, pays fairly, and keeps his word. The landscape is hard. It was shot at altitude in Colorado. Another actor was cast in the part first. Spencer Tracy left the production at the start of filming and it passed to James Cagney. Cagney made very few westerns and this is one of them. Robert Wise directed. James Cagney, Don Dubbins, Stephen McNally and Irene Papas are in the cast. Who it is for: anyone who likes 1950s westerns and morally difficult characters. Who it is not for: anyone looking for action; the narrative is slow and the conflict is mostly in the talk.