The Real Trail

What's a cowboy? If 1958's Cowboy doesn't answer the question I don't know what would. The term has long been applied to any fella with a broad-brimmed hat and a pair of six shooters but, once upon a time, it was a job, it was herding cattle across hazardous frontier. Glen Ford and Jack Lemmon star in this magnificently shot film about a fascinating relationship between two men. The beginning of the film is a little awkward and the ending is strangely abrupt but the stuff between is terrific.

Frank Harris (Lemmon) is a hotel clerk who dreams of driving cattle across the open plains, earning a fortune in the process, and also maybe approval of his girlfriend's father. Frank loves Maria (Anna Kashfi), the daughter of a wealthy and influential Mexican cattle rancher (Donald Randolph).

Enter the illustrious cowboy Tom Reese (Glenn Ford). Frank begs him to give him a job as one of his men. Tom finally relents after Frank gives him 38,000 to help him win a poker game. Tom regrets it later but finds himself saddled with the greenhorn on a long drive south into Mexico.

The relationship between the two is a volatile clash of personalities as the two look for reasons to respect or excuses to despise each other. Gradually, Tom gets to thinking his instinctive dislike for Frank means he's feeling fatherly affections and there's a nice scene where Tom suddenly starts stuttering through an attempt to console Frank over his broken heart.

The friction between the two goes to a new level when it comes to the issue of people's lives. When do they ruthlessly look after the dollar interests of the herd at the cost of men's lives? When do they sacrifice two hundred head of cattle for one man? It's damnably murky and it's a miracle the tension doesn't make them try to kill each other.

The film has some amazing stunts, some of them even performed by the actors. Once scene where Tom has to put a ring on an angry bull's horn must have used a stuntman but it was so cleverly shot it's impossible to tell what shots are Ford and what aren't.

The end of the film is really abrupt and the relationship between Tom and Frank, which feels like it could have taken up another hour of screentime, is suddenly and weirdly resolved. But this is still a damned fine Western and you could do worse on the Fourth of July.

Cowboy is available on The Criterion Channel.

A Rare Life, a Rarer Good

A young man in the wilderness, at the point of death, is found and rescued by the first man who'd ever been good to him. 1956's Jubal shows how difficult such a seemingly simple relationship can be in the proximity of dissatisfied people, spurred by passionate compulsions. A Delmer Daves western with stunning location shots and a fantastic cast, parts of this film don't really work yet it's hard to say exactly what you could take out without breaking what does work.

It's a story with shades of Othello and a number of great, sweaty love triangle movies of the '50s (A Streetcar Named Desire, Baby Doll). Jubal (Glenn Ford), the young man, gets a job as a cowhand at his benefactor's ranch, a gregarious and simple hearted man named Shep (Ernest Borgnine).

Trouble begins almost immediately when a cowhand named Pinky (Rod Steiger) shows an intense dislike for Jubal. It's hard to explain why Pinky feels so strongly--he derides Jubal for being willing to accept work as a sheephand but the hatred feels more personal than professional disgust. Much of the plot is driven by Pinky's inexplicable hatred. It's a good thing method actor Rod Steiger is in the role to give it reality of some kind with his bizarre but credibly loud and scenery-chewing performance. Instead of being a flat villain whose existence is entirely about being a foil, Steiger creates someone who seems like he has real psychological issues the film simply never explores or hints at.

The other thorn in everyone's side is Mae (Valerie French), Shep's wife. Her attempts to seduce Jubal make a lot more sense; just try to imagine what life must be like, staying at home on a remote ranch, sleeping with a big dope night after night. One can understand her boredom even if one doesn't approve of her betrayal of Shep who really is a nice guy.

Ford's performance is the film's acting centrepiece as he struggles to keep ahold of the solid, simple thing he has going with his new friends for the first time in a hard life. He admits he is attracted to Mae but he tells her there's a difference between that and being in love with her. He doesn't have to sleep with her to find out this truth unlike so many other film protagonists. He just desperately hopes his insight is enough to save things. But the best intentions make no account for maliciously propagated misunderstandings when Pinky imposes a likely interpretation on Jubal being late from escorting Mae home one night.

With some good supporting performances from Charles Bronson and Jack Elam, this is a lovely western and tragedy. Jubal is available on The Criterion Channel.

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