Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

Flyerplesys Perfectly adorable

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

writers_reign This oater was known variously as The Voilent Men and Rough Company though they could just as easily have called it six clichés in search of a plot given that we have a little of this, a little of that and more than just something borrowed. We have the ruthless rancher determined to buy out or in one way or another get rid of the settlers surrounding his empire, as if that weren't enough we have the man who refuses to wear a gun for the first three or four reels, the nod to Lady Chatterley via the powerful man who has lost the use of his legs, driving his wife into the arms of - in this case - his brother; all these elements are thrown into the mix and if it weren't for Eddie Robinson, Barbara Stanwyck and Glenn Ford, there'd be nothing to attract an audience; Stanwyck does a passable carbon of Crawford in Johnny Guitar albeit without the upfront clout yet nevertheless, like Crawford, possessing the only balls in the place. Rudolph Mate phones in some fairly pedestrian helming and the whole thing is forgotten as you're filing out of the theater.

Tweekums As this western opens rancher John Parrish is preparing to sell up and head back east with his fiancée but when the only buyer, Lew Wilkison of the Anchor Ranch, offers him a ridiculously low amount he declines the offer... even though he knows he will take it in the end as he promised his Fiancée he'd sell for whatever was offered. That is until one of his men is murdered by Wilkison's hired guns; to everybody's surprise Parrish shoots and kills the gunslinger responsible then returns to his ranch to prepare for war; and war is what he gets! Lew Wilkison might be the owner of the Anchor Ranch but it is his scheming wife and his brother Cole who really control it and they want Lew out of the way more than anybody. Soon Anchor men come and burn his ranch but he is prepared and not only does he manage to kill several of them he also returns the favour and burns Anchor to the ground... this leads to him being declared an outlaw for the murder of Lew Wilkison and a posse of gunmen sweeping into the valley to kill or burn out anybody who stood against Anchor... if Parrish is to put a stop to the killing he will have to face Cole; and only one of them will survive! This western certainly lives up to its title as heroes and villains alike use guns and fire to further their cause; the story of a powerful cattle baron trying to force everybody else off the land he wants isn't exactly original but it provides a good story with plenty of action. Glenn Ford puts in a solid performance as hero John Parrish but it is Barbara Stanwyck who steals the show as the wicked Martha Wilkison; the film's true villain. There is plenty of action to be seen here including shootings, a man being brutally whipped, an impressive cattle stampede and numerous ranches being torched. Director Rudolph Maté took full advantage of the widescreen presentation and the spectacular scenery to give it an epic feel even if it is only a B-Western. I would certainly recommend this to people who like their westerns packed with action.

jpdoherty Another cracker of a fifties western is Columbia Picture's THE VIOLENT MEN (aka "Rough Company"). Produced by Louis J. Rachmil for the studio in 1955 this enjoyable oater regrettably seems somewhat forgotten in these days of sparse western productions. It is a pity really for it is quite an absorbing colourful western tale directed with a genuine flair by Rudolph Mate and boasting an all star cast in Glenn Ford, Edward G. Robinson, Barbara Stanwyck and Brian Keith. With splendid production values it even has a score by the legendary Max Steiner who was borrowed from Warner Brothers. This was the second score the formidable composer wrote for a Columbia picture after his great success the previous year with "The Caine Mutiny" (1954). From a novel by Donald Hamilton THE VIOLENT MEN was well written for the screen by Harry Kleiner and beautifully photographed in Cinemascope and colour by W.H. Green and Burnett Guffey.A recuperating Civil War veteran John Parrish (Glenn Ford)- along with some other small ranchers - is running his holding in a valley dominated by the powerful Anchor Ranch owned by big land baron the crippled Lee Wilkinson (Edward G. Robinson) and his unfaithful wife Martha (Barbara Stanwyck). But Wilkinson wants all the ranches in the valley to be Anchor owned and his younger gunslinging brother Cole (Brian Keith) is riding roughshod over them and burning them out when they refuse to be bought. Wilkinson offers to buy out the Parrish place and when he refuses and one of his hands is killed by some Anchor riders he decides to fight Wilkinson. Before long a full scale range war begins culminating in the Anchor stock being stampeded, the Anchor ranch set alight and finally Parrish taking on Cole in an exciting fast draw shootout.THE VIOLENT MEN is an action packed and handsome looking western. Performances are fine from all concerned. Ford is his usual likable unforced self, presenting his affable cowboy image with that familiar attractive casualness. He was only two years away from his greatest western role in "3.Ten To Yuma" (1957). Good too is Barbara Stanwyck as Wilkinson's scheming cheating wife. A part the actress played many times before in her busy career. But miscast is Edward G. Robinson! The great pint sized actor simply doesn't suit the part of the big rancher in a western. Watching him here you can't help but wonder if he was only brought on board the production to replace someone like Lee J. Cobb or Albert Dekker or perhaps Raymond Massey.Holding the whole thing together is the splendid music of Max Steiner. As the credits unfold a jagged staccato statement from the orchestra is heard to emphasize the film's title before segueing into an attractive broad loping western melody. Later in a resplendent sequence this lovely theme is heard in full bloom when we see Ford riding (with characteristic crooked elbows) across some spectacular locations at Lone Pine and The Alabama Hills with what looks like Mount Whitney in the background. A captivating example of the beautiful combination of film and music. Steiner's score was conducted by Columbia Picture's conductor in residence Morris Stoloff. A rare occasion when the composer's music was conducted by someone else.THE VIOLENT MEN is an enjoyable and memorable motion picture and a fine addition to the list of splendid westerns that were thankfully brought to us in the fifties.

MartinHafer In many ways, this is a very typical sort of western. One of the most common themes in films, if not THE most common, was the idea of a boss who wanted to use his bully-boy tactics to drive out all the ranchers. Here in "The Violent Men" we have such an amoral and ambitious man (Edward G. Robinson). What makes it a little different is that one of the local ranchers (Glenn Ford) has a fiancée and her family who are strongly encouraging him not to fight this injustice but to sell out cheaply and move back East. What also makes this different is the strange love triangle going on in the household of the boss-man. Together, these subplots manage to breath some life into a very, very tired and overused plot.Although Ford is quite willing to walk away from this fight and take a very poor offer from the boss-man, eventually he is just pushed too far. When one of his own men is killed, Ford reluctantly goes to war with this band of cut-throats.The chief punk working for Robinson is Matlock (Richard Jaeckel). Jaeckel played this sort of gun-crazy punk in approximately 46923 films (give or take 6). What would have been surprising would have been if Jaeckel had played a level-headed nice guy! Eventually, it all culminates in an all-out war--with some interesting twists. Still, despite this, it really is just a well made version of the same old thing you've probably seen dozens of times before...and will see dozens of times again.By the way, as far as the casting goes, this is an odd film. You don't expect to see Robinson out West nor can you really picture Barbara Stanwyck playing his wife. And, oddly, it's very hard to picture Brian Keith as Robinson's brother. As for Ford, he's pretty adept at such a film role.