Night Passage (1957)

One of my all time favorites.

Just perfect...

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Would I rather watch this film (again) or a recent super-hero film?Answer: this one.It is a far-more-than-competent 50s western, with some really great stars and less-known characters (like Oliver Carey, wife of Harry Carey and mother of Harry Carey, Jr.). The music and scenery are great, and beautiful.The story is compelling and solid.(and, frankly, Audie Murphy was great in it. He was a far more accomplished actor than he is usually given credit for. He is easy to watch, comfortable in any role, and gives a very solid performance in any film. Jimmy Stewart could sing, and he could do a decent soft shoe. Do a youtube search and you will find him. Is it OK that I wish he was still alive and making movies? Is it OK that I wish Audie Murphy was still alive and making movies?

This one is Sure to Disappoint Everyone, except maybe those that will give it a Pass because of the Wide-Wide-Screen, Technicolor, and Accordion Music Lovers.Because there's Nothing Here to Please James Stewart, Audie Murphy, Dan Duryea, or Western Movie Fans in General. It is Overall an Embarrassment.James Stewart seems Determined to make it work and Displays some of the Worst Overacting of His Career. Audie Murphy is Miscast and is Filmed in all the Wrong Ways and Looks like a Baby, and also gives one of His Worst Appearances in a Long Career. Dan Duryea Shouts and Screams Every Line and it is just Cringe Inducing. Jack Elam and the rest of the Cast are Wasted in Throwaway Roles. The Dialog has No Edge and the Action is Dull. This could possibly be the Worst Western with the Most to Work With ever. A Definitive Missed Opportunity and Waste of Talent.It's one to Avoid, for Everyone On Screen has done much Better and this is Perhaps the Worst Movie for all involved, or at least the Worst with the most Potential, and should be Ignored and Forgotten if You have any Regard for the Actors or Westerns.

Night Passage comes across as one of those sparsely-seen, little-known American films of old that wouldn't be particularly hindered in any way by a remake. With a bleaker tone; villains whom might come across as a little more sadistic than they do here and a more convincing lead in the role of a former scoundrel-gone-straight, whom it is needs to be entrusted with a large amount of money, you might be looking at an interestingly rounded effort. For what it's worth, 1957's incarnation of Night Passage is a decent and involving enough little picture about a man's test of character and how both he and one other man balance dealing with the back-story they share with a raucous scenario they must come to face. There is additionally some ample support in the way of sub-text to do with young men and their venturing onto career paths, and how the coming to be torn between amorality and morality can rear its head.James Stewart plays a man named Grant MacLaine whom rides on into a town whose inhabitants are in the process of constructing a railroad, an ex-railroad employee himself, MacLaine's past is hinted at in that it involves a tarnished history involving a murder of some kind. He doesn't need to be in the presence of these people for very long before they become rather fond of him; the rendering of MacLaine as the centre of attention unfolds through his accordion playing and charming dialogue, of which the song he churns out eventually revealed to us that it was a number his father played to him and his brother to keep them from fighting, with the instance MacLaine himself ceasing to play seeing those around him begin to brawl with one another, thus, a childlike sensibility is instilled about most of those he's dealing with. MacLaine is the sort of guy whom now, we're told, and following his past nastiness, pauses to have friendly cups of coffee so as to talk about the local disused mines or even come to the aid of a young boy in distress at the hands of an elder cowboy. Here is a man we have to come to believe is reformed in whatever manner, with little-to-no bad blood as a result of his past railroad employment problems and additionally decides to reign in his more antagonistic skills.Whilst in and around the area, an opportunity comes about when his former boss offers him the chance to help in the delivery of an exceptionally large payment to be made to other railroad workers; a payment which has been hijacked en route so many times by the same gang that the situation is becoming desperate and the turning to McLaine is the result in spite of the past. With the young boy whom he rescued from earlier on, named Joey (De Wilde), in tow; MacLaine boards a train to head off unaware of the brooding plot lines begging to be set in motion off-screen as well as the agenda's certain characters yet unbeknownst to MacLaine have in store for the money. The film has Joey verbally establish the menace and presence of the gang of characters MacLaine will chiefly come to clash with before many of them have even appeared on screen, the cowboy from earlier whom was terrorising the boy a part of a greater network of thugs whom were the ones sabotaging the money's prior journeyings. As one of them attains their presence on board the train by way of infiltrating a carriage's roof before getting indoors with composed ease, Joey runs through the characteristics of particular gang members that have a greater say in the clan's own matters; they being Whitey (Duryea) and a younger man known as The Utica Kid (Murphy).Joey has us aware of a past bank raid in which each of them partook, the subsequent events to which was a successful haul turning out to be the turning on one another due to disagreements and the threatening of one another with firearms. We cut to the said group, Whitey and The Utica Kid correctly dominating proceedings, Whitey of whom is bedraggled and looks rough-and-ready; The Utica Kid far smarter and much more handsome with an ebony black wardrobe complimenting a stiff and regimental overall look. When we first encounter them, they're already bickering about the robbing of the train MacLaine and Joey are actually on; the fighting amidst themselves again correctly prominent as half wish to follow through with it and half do not. Eventually, they head out to rob it and through one means or another, end up with the money albeit it unwillingly and not to their own initial knowledge.The film is a competent effort surrounding the retrieving of the payroll, effectively a journey that takes on particular redemptive elements for MacLaine as he completely and entirely makes up for whatever bad blood was spilt between he and the railroad company in the past. Director James Neilson captures some wonderful location photography, including a quite stunning cliff-top train ride along some rather steep drops and has an eye for engaging narrative as well as the well choreographed shoot outs which occur as a result of it all. What Stewart in the lead role lacks in necessary menace given his past and given he's going up against the sorts that he is, he makes up for in the form of a particular boyish confidence in his character and techniques which ought to see him win out on the day. While nothing spectacular, Night Passage is a decent and well made Hollywood western of old which delivers in character and rather immersing drama alike.

This was supposed to be another in a series of 1950s Western collaborations between Stewart and director Anthony Mann but the latter bowed out because he apparently did not like Murphy. Even with Neilson taking the director's chair, this film is on par with the other Stewart-Mann Westerns, all tough and well-made but nothing spectacular. Stewart plays the accordion and sings (!) a couple of songs. Despite Mann's objections, Murphy does alright as Stewart's outlaw brother while Duryea goes a bit overboard as a loud outlaw. As in "Shane," De Wilde plays a character named "Joey." The scenery is nice and at 90 minutes, the film does not outstay its welcome.