WARLOCK

Any Western that features Whit Bissell, L.Q. Jones, DeForest Kelley and Frank Gorshin in supporting roles is a winner in my book. And when the top billed stars are Henry Fonda, Richard Widmark, Anthony Quinn and Dorothy Malone, well, that's just icing on the cake.

Such is the case with WARLOCK, Edward Dmytryk's 1959 CinemaScope Western. Beautifully shot by Cinematographer Joseph MacDonald, this adult, psychological Western is short on action but long on compelling, conflicted characters, all of whom are seeking some measure of redemption in the small mining town of Warlock, Utah some time in the early 1880s. The town is at the mercy of a ruthless gang of cowboys led by Abe McQuown (Tom Drake). Among the members of the gang are Johnny Gannon (Widmark), his brother Billy (Gorshin) and Curley Burne (Kelley). When the acting deputy is run out of Warlock by the gang, the town council decides to hire a notorious gunfighter, Clay Blaisedell (Fonda), to protect the town for a price. Blaisedell arrives with his crippled partner, Tom Morgan (Quinn), who sets up a casino in the town. Things take a turn when Johnny Gannon decides to go straight and becomes the official town deputy. It then becomes a question of which man is the real law in Warlock, the hired killer or the duly appointed rookie with a badge.

To complicate matters, Blaisedell meets and falls for Jessie Marlow (Dolores Michaels) and decides to quit the gunfighter business and settle down. Morgan, who is revealed as the real power behind Blaisedell, wants none of that. And to add insult to injury, Morgan's old flame, Lilly Dollar (the luscious Malone), has arrived in town and soon takes a spark to Gannon.

Things come to an explosive climax when all of these characters and their various motivations collide. Someone has to rid the town of the bad guys and someone has to prove themselves as the ultimate authority in Warlock and that someone might not be just one person.

The screenplay by Robert Alan Arthur (from the novel by Oakley Hall), is literate and thought-provoking. All of the main characters are well drawn and interesting and themes of law and lawlessness drive the narrative. Every way you look at it, WARLOCK is a first class film.

Highly recommended.