The Lonely Man

1957 "Two of today's most publicized personalities Anthony Perkins and Jack Palance teamed in a great outdoor drama!"
6.4| 1h28m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 21 June 1957 Released
Producted By: Paramount
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Aging gunslinger Jacob Wade hopes to settle down with his estranged son, but his old enemies have other plans for him. Gunslinger Jacob Wade finds his long-abandoned son Riley, now a young man who hates his father but has nowhere else to go. Hoping to settle down, Jacob finds no town will have him. They end at Monolith, the ranch of Jacob's former girlfriend Ada, to whom he had no intention of returning. A mustang hunt finds Riley himself attracted to the shapely Ada...and Jacob having trouble with his eyesight. And his visions of a quiet life are doomed by the re-appearance of enemies from his past...

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Reviews

Interesteg What makes it different from others?
Nonureva Really Surprised!
Twilightfa Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.
Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.
bkoganbing Jack Palance looks kind of odd with that mustache he wore for The Lonely Man. Still he's not the psychotic Palance we've seen in many of his films. He's the world weary gunfighter who's looking to get out of the business. But the notorious King Fisher played by Neville Brand who nearly died from a gunfight with Palance is looking to settle old accounts with Palance.Of course King Fisher in fact was a real notorious gunman who operated in Texas. Brand gives a nice performance, but this is most definitely not King Fisher's story.Anthony Perkins who specialized in playing callow youths in the Fifties is Palance's son along for the ride unwillingly because Palance left his mother way back when who is dead now. Perkins just has no other place to go.In fact Palance has one very good reason for leaving gunfighting which I will not reveal. His only hope is that he can move as far as he can.Palance and Perkins do strike a nice balance as the world weary father and his rebellious and a bit stupid son. There's also a nice supporting cast with people like Lee Van Cleef, Elisha Cook,Jr. and Robert Middleton and Claude Akins. All tried and true cinema villains though they're not all villains here.A downer of a film,still nicely done.
JohnHowardReid A talkative and somewhat slow-moving western that gradually builds to a good climax, The Lonely Man is further hampered by the casting of two super-slow talkers, namely Jack Palance and Anthony Perkins, in the leading roles. When these two men are on screen, I always have the feeling that they speak slowly because they feel the dialogue has a depth to it which is not readily apparent to a bum director like Henry Levin, so they are forced to do his job for him by speaking extra slowly so that the audience will get all the hidden nuances that Levin has neither the guts nor the ability to bring out. True, Levin had a reputation as a fast shooter and I've no doubt the movie is not as effective as it might have been had Levin been forced to direct the rest of the film with as much care as he brings to the Palace-Perkins scenes and to the climactic gun fight. Fortunately, the rugged natural locales of the story are impressively captured by cinematographer Lionel Lindon, and a young actress named Elaine Aiken makes an impressive debut, but alas, nothing came of her career. She had minor roles in Doomsday Voyage, Night Flowers, Caddyshack and that's it! The Lonely Man is available on a very good Paramount DVD.
Nazi_Fighter_David Jacob Wade (Jack Palance) used to be a celebrated shootist just stepping into middle age and mortally weary of having to be asked to leave every town he rides into… To make matters worse, a few notorious outlaws, led by the vile King (Neville Brand), are also out to take him down… Now he tries to do something for his boy Riley (Anthony Perkins) by catching and breaking mustangs in Echo Canyon, the best wild horse country in the territory… Complicating the situations further is Jacob's bad relationship with a kid who hates him, and Ada Marshall (Elaine Aiken), a young woman whom Jacob met in a gambling hall, and shot a man on account of her…Here is a thinking person's Western that deals with one ex-gunman who also is unable to shake his past and whose ultimate goal for taking root again is by lynching… Levin shows a dark, depressing, and sadly realistic face of the west... In fact, the entire movie is a drama of characters… But watching the film, you would be able to feel how Levin equates victory with redemption
gitrich Jack Palance and Anthony Perkins give decent performances in this boring western that is filled with meaningless dialog and unbelievable situations. Location in Long Pine California brings some realism even in black and white but I still can not recommend The Lonely Man.