Raw Edge (1956)

The Worst Film Ever

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Absolutely the worst movie.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

A very Different Western with its concern Focused on Sex. Competing with TV, the Movies of the Decade occasionally ventured into this Territory. The Movie Stars Two Beautiful Women, Yvonne De Carlo, and Mara Corday and the Complete Running Time is spent with both being Chased, Near Raped, and generally Lusted after.The Male Cast lead by Rory Calhoun also features Neville Brand, Rex Reason, and Emile Meyer. The Screen is On Fire from Frame One and the Chase is On to see who can Bed the Beauties First.It's Widescreen and Technicolor and Runs 76 Minutes. The Subject Matter Alone makes this one Stand Apart from other Fifties Western Fodder. Definitely Worth a Watch for Western Movie Fans and even those not usually drawn to Genre might find it Entertaining as it leans more toward an Adult Audience. Note...Director John Sherwood made a career as a Second Unit Director and only Directed three films. Other than this one...The Monolith Monsters (1957) and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956).

No doubt thinking he had made a wise decision, Gerald Montgomery (Herbert Rudley) creates a law by which any woman without a man will be the property of the first man who finds her. Well, this trashy but fun western shows how this will have the opposite effect . Quoting Pauline Kael about trashy movies:"What gives this trash a lift, what makes it entertaining is clearly that some of those involved, knowing of course that they were working on a silly shallow script and a movie that wasn't about anything of consequence, used the chance to have a good time with it." Writers Harry Essex (Creature from the Black Lagoon) and Robert Hill (The Private Lives of Adam and Eve) knew for sure what trash was about. There is a big flaw in the script already mentioned in another comment, in how could Montgomery being responsible for the death of Paca's (Mara Corday) husband, allowed her to go to her tribe, without predicting she would turn against him. Apart from this, "Raw Edge" is a good western, violent for its time, entertaining and with Yvonne de Carlo sexier than at any other film she made.

This is one of the most implausible Westerns I have ever seen. Despite the good actors, acting, cinema-photography and other good production values, the story reduces the movie to rubbish. ***Lots of spoilers.**** The movie centers on a stupid rule/custom of the locale that an unmarried woman can be claimed by any (strong) man. So when an Indian wife's (Mara Corday) white husband is hanged on flimsy grounds, she calmly accepts the man claiming her, even though the Indian helping her escape back to her tribe is also killed.. Vigilantes hung the husband for assault even though the wife (Yvonne De Carlo) of the big local land baron said the Indian's husband did not attack her. Rory Calhoun is looking for the land baron, who instigated the hanging (of Calhoun's brother), so some lustful townspeople follow along hoping to claim the land baron's wife and property after he is hopefully killed by Calhoun. Even though he had Corday's husband hanged, the land baron trusts Corday that the Indian tribe wants to see him, not kill him, but she lies and he is killed. Near the end one of the bad guys shoots his father in the back. To top it off, at the end De Carlo goes off with drifter Calhoun, seemingly leaving her wealthy husband's property behind.

This edgy and off-beat western has plenty of seething resentment amongst its characters (and there are lots of them: vengeful gunslinger, baddie, baddie's dumb henchmen, local gambler, baddie's wife, baddies girlfriend...) but isn't too believable. Some good action scenes but only average over all. (5