weezeralfalfa
When I first saw Rod Steiger, in the role of 'Pinky' and heard his negative comments about the half dead man(Jubal) that boss Shep had brought home, I knew he had the be the main 'heavy'. I distinctly remember him as the tough that Curly(Gordon McRae) had to deal with in the previous years megahit "Oklahoma". He subsequently played other toughs, including Al Capone and Mussolini. This is a story about a group of men and women who serendipitously come together, most of whom feel lonely or in the wrong place or hitched to the wrong person, and are trying to find the right place and/or person for them. It's ultimately, an adaptation of Shakespeare's classic tragedy "Othello" which was reworked by novelist Paul Wellman, back in the '30s, in a western setting, in "Jubal Troop". Wellman wrote quite a few western novels, as well as histories, including "The Comancheros", later made into a John Wayne-starring film.We have two clearcut villains among the 6 :Pinky: Shep's de facto, but unofficial, foreman before Jubal arrives, and Shep's much younger wife, Mae. This whole sorry tale was precipitated by the wrongheaded marriage of Mae and Shep: two desirable people on their own merits, but totally wrong for each other. Mae evidently was a much sought after Calgary woman(claiming 23 marriage proposals!), who finds life on this scenic, but isolated, ranch boring, evidently much missing city life, and other women, and disappointed that Step's ranch home isn't more luxurious and that he isn't as rich as he claimed. She's also not really in love with Shep, despite his friendly, easy going, manner, considering him too old and plain-looking for her taste in a lover. She clearly also misses the romantic attention of a bevy of men, thus has had a few sexual encounters with the aggressive Pinky, whom she clearly actually considers beneath her. In contrast, she takes an immediate liking to Jubal, perhaps in part because he acts standoffish toward her, and she sees that he's quite adept at cowboy skills. Shep, a middle-aged man, evidently regards Mae as mostly a 'trophy wife', rather than a potential mother of a ranch family(although that might change). He seems oblivious to her often cool response to his attempts to show affection in public, and has no clue about her escapades with Pinky nor interest in Jubal.Unfortunately, Pinky detects the desire of Mae for Jubal as the apparent explanation for her recent rebuffs of his advances when Shep isn't around. Thus, he plants in Shep's mind the suspicion that Mae and Jubal are having an affair. Very unfortunately for everyone, Mae confirms this suspicion, to spite Jubal for his rebuff of her advances, he says out of loyalty to his friend. Combined with Pinky's subsequent brutal beating of Mae for again resisting his advances, soon 3 of the 6 will be dead(well, Pinky's is only assumed).Meanwhile , Jubal has struck up a friendship with Naomi: a romantically naïve woman tied to a small group of a religious sect, traveling westward toward 'The Promised Land': apparently imagined somewhere in Idaho. Jubal and Naomi have an intuitive trust in each other, and give each other a brief rundown of their lives. Unfortunately, Naomi has been promised by her father to marry one of this group, whom she doesn't like. Thus, it seems her relationship with Jubal is destined to soon end. However..... Charles Bronson serves the plot primarily as Jubal's only real male friend , besides Shep, on this ranch. They were both loner drifting cowboys and, in the final scene, he rides into the sunset along with Jubal and Naoimi. Twice, he saves Jubal's life by throwing him a firearm: when Shep, and later Pinky, are about to shoot Jubal. Jubal outguns both.One of Shep's prize possessions is his player piano, which dates this story to the late 1800s, at earliest. He has Mae and Jubal dance to Foster's "Beautiful Dreamer", not aware of Mae's relevant dream.Naomi(Felicia Farr) is characterized as quite shy and minimally animated, in marked contrast to the older Mae. Both are good looking. Jubal seems to have had minimal dealings with women, perhaps partly because of his rejection by his mother. Hence, they will perhaps make a good match. Jubal probably was meant to be a considerably younger man than Ford's 40 years. In fact, Ford was slightly older than bug-eyed Borgnine(Shep), who was characterized as middle-aged.Shep is perhaps too quick to make up his mind about new acquaintances. He lucked out with Jubal, who could have turned out to be a bad man. But, he wasn't so lucky in his apparent snap decision on a wife. The ending is a tragedy for all the principals, except perhaps for Jubal and Naomi, who are shown riding onward to find a new 'Promised Land'. We might wonder what is going to become of Shep's ranch, now that he and Mae are dead? Why didn't Jubal stay to keep the ranch going until its future owner or disposition was decided? Perhaps he didn't want to be reminded of the recent tragedies. Perhaps more important, Naomi needed to lose her association with the group she was in, in order to marry Jubal,. In any case, it seems tragic that they decided they had to flee this very favorable place for a ranch. I've only seen a few Glenn Ford westerns. I rate "Cowboy" as better than this too contrived screen play. However, the cinematography in both is excellent.
Robert D. Ruplenas
I caught this on Comcast's list of free movies, and considering the overall quality level of the flicks Comcast offers for free, I wasn't expecting much. However, I watched it after reading the generally positive comments here, and those comments were correct.There are so many westerns that, just by the law of averages, most of them are mediocre, but "Jubal" is an unexpected standout. The plot - a reworking of "Othello" as has been noted - is a disquisition on the themes of jealousy, loyalty, honor, betrayal, and friendship. Those themes have been done ad infinitum in other movies but I think two things stand put in "Jubal." First is the very high quality of the script. The dialogue is spare, straightforward and free of the hackneyed prose so endemic to most westerns. Second is the outstanding level of the acting, which is perhaps not unexpected with the likes of the great (and greatly underrated) Glenn Ford, Rod Steiger, Ernest Borgnine and Charles Bronson. Another factor that doesn't hurt is the outstanding cinematography of western vistas.A surprising sleeper, not to be missed if you get the chance to see it.
MartinHafer
If you remember the story of Joseph from the Book of Genesis, you may recall how Joseph was sold (by his brothers) into slavery in Egypt. However, he soon got a job with a guy named Potiphar and became his foreman--gaining his master's devotion and respect. However, Potiphar's wife was a frisky devil and had her eyes set on Joseph. But Joseph was a moral man and loved Potiphar and consistently refused--so the bad wife was about to hatch an evil plan. So much of this is the story in "Jubal"--and quite a bit more--a western that was clearly inspired by this Biblical tale.The film begins with a drifter (Jubal, played by Glenn Ford) coming upon a large ranch. While some of the workers are very hostile towards the drifter--particularly an annoying jerk, Pinky (played by Rod Steiger). But the owner, Shep (Ernest Borgnine), is a nice man and hires Jubal. Soon, Shep notices what a great worker Jubal is and soon he makes him his foreman but there are two serious problems. First, Pinky is a bitter jerk who is determined to undermine Jubal. Second, Shep's wife is a total skunk and is determined to sleep with Jubal--something he wants nothing to do with at all. Not surprisingly, this all comes to a very bad end. Like Joseph, will this all work out in the end or will poor Jubal be totally screwed? What I liked about this is that although the basic story of Joseph is here, there are a lot of difference--so it has some unpredictability about it. Also, the story introduced some new characters. While Pinky is pretty much Steiger's Judd from "Oklahoma", Charles Bronson plays a really great supporting character--one of the actors first solid roles. And, in a genre known for only a handful of basic plots, this one is really new and different. Overall, I really liked this one and recommend you give it a try. I can't imagine you not liking it.
