The Man from Colorado [DVD] [2006]

The Man from Colorado was one of those rarities; a Western with something to say.

The story is concerned with Owen Devereaux (Glenn Ford), a small-town lawyer who has joined the Union army in the Civil War and been elected by the men to Colonel. As the war ends, and we join the action, Devereaux has become a man out of control. He is addicted to killing as well as having developed martinet tendencies. The film opens with the slaughter of confederate soldiers trying to surrender, Devereaux ignoring their white flag.

On their return to Colorado, the regiment soldiers are hailed as heroes and Devereaux is invited to be the federal judge, much to the disquiet of William Holden, playing his loyal friend who joined the army with him. Naturally Devereaux turns out to be a hanging judge of the worst possible kind and conflict is inevitable between him, upholding the law, and his former soldiers, many of whom turn to banditry when they are cheated out of their gold claims by stay-at-home businessmen using federal law. The irony is that they have not worked their claim for three years so, by law, the land returns to the federal authorities, but, of course, they've been fighting for the Union for four years, hence the injustice.

This Western works so well because it is not your usual good guy/bad guy shoot 'em up. It was made just after the Second World War, when hundreds of thousands of American men were returning to their homes and trying to integrate. Some of those men felt resentful towards the ones that stayed behind. Some of those men had killed and were lost in psychological confusion. The Man from Colorado spoke directly to those men. Partly it said 'it's okay to be affected by war,' partly - in the Holden character - it showed a way to cope.

The film was made just over 80 years after the end of the Civil War. Those times were still embedded in popular consciousness, and the evocation of ordinary men going to war and finding the world changing was superb.

Director Henry Levin, a former stage actor, draws a powerful performance from Ford as the tortured Devereaux. He is not a 'bad man' he is a sick man. That is recognised in the film, but Holden and 'the doc' have no answers to offer save 'going away.'

Holden is decent, Mr Reasonable, but even he gets to flex his acting muscles a bit when he loses out on the girl to Ford.

The Man from Colorado is mid-century American cinema at its best. In terms of Westerns, it is up there with The Searchers and The Wild Bunch, but in a far more mainstream, middle America setting.

Brilliant.

Having had this film recommended to me, and having read the excellent and informed reviews on this film, I did the decent thing and bought it. I am glad to say that I am in complete agreement with my fellow reviewers. What a pleasant surprise. A western that has not dated in the slightest and packs a strong punch. Looking at the director Henry Levin's films you have to wonder where this one came from. Most are very forgettable affairs, and he was certainly not known for westerns.

It is unusual to see a film of that period deal with the psychological damage that war can inflict on the human mind. The much later film "Regeneration" deals with the same subject in even more depth. In that film it was shell shocked first world war veterans as opposed to American Civil war victims. These are the unseen victims of all wars. An illness that we still fail to understand fully, but an illness that can be just as deadly as any bullet.

I would also agree with the reviewer who believed this was Glenn Ford's best film performance. His role as a Civil war captain with deteriorating mental health problems as a result of his war experiences, certainly demanded more of him than the usual easy going roles he generally undertook. It was a great surprise to me that he could be that good. It should also be said that William Holden was also excellent in one of his earlier roles. The film was long looked upon as an honourable failure, but time can give a different perspective. It is a film that deserves more recognition. Highly recommended.

If you like Glenn Ford In cowboy films you will like this one as I have been a fan of his since 7 years old some odd 60 years now,
So keep these old films coming as the modern day films have a long way to go to better these.
MJB