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ACTOR
Vince EdwardsSylvia SymsBenjamin EdneyJack Palance
DIRECTOR
Henry Levin
SYNOPSICS
The Desperados (1969) is a English movie. Henry Levin has directed this movie. Vince Edwards,Sylvia Syms,Benjamin Edney,Jack Palance are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1969. The Desperados (1969) is considered one of the best Western movie in India and around the world.
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The Desperados (1969) Reviews
American/British Western in Italian style and filmed on location in Almeria , Spain
Unknown and tragic Western with unexpected final and ordinary actors as Vince Edwards and important appearance by the great Jack Palance who does an excessive playing . Passable Western in which Civil War deserters ravage the Old West ; it packs sad atmosphere , wonderful musical score and spectacular outdoors . It deals with a family whose father named Parson Galt (Jack Palance) is leader a violent bunch similarly to Quantrell-Bill Anderson's guerrillas , they are burning buildings , grisly raids , torching planted fields and shooting down livestock to deprive northern people of food , fodder, and support . Parson's men rode out in a little town and most of buildings were burning, including all businesses, his raiders looted indiscriminately and robbed the town's bank . The film is set during American Civil War when the eldest son named David Galt (Vince Edwards) decides the massacre needs to stop . David murders one of his own soldiers by accident during an attack and he is detained and condemned to death in a family run court . Anyway, Edwards getaway after fighting his brother Jacob (George Maharis) ; both of whom hate until death since one of them committed a crime . David goes to Texas, turning his name and living the good life with a spouse (Sylvia Syms) and a newborn. The ex-gunman hopes to settle down with his wife and son , but his old enemies have other plans for him . In Texas, only sheriff (Neville Brand ) knows Edwards' new identity . And his visions of a quiet life are doomed by the re-appearance of enemies from his past . David is taken prisoner and is humbled , beaten, shot, before he either changes certain elements of his character or learns the secret necessary to ultimately get revenge . Later on , there takes place a spectacular struggle between David and Jacob on Austin-Fort Bend train . Here is a thinking person's Western with elements of Greek tragedy that deals with one ex-guerrillero who also is unable to shake his past and whose ultimate goal for taking root again is impeded by killing and subsequent vengeance . Acceptable twilight Western with interesting dialogue , splendid cinematography by Sam Leavitt and memorable musical score by David Whitaker . This Cain/Abel Western results to be a typical story with Spaghetti influence in which blends the common scenarios , as vengeful and tough antiheroes , difficult and fast showdowns and raids with numerous deceases , some quick zooms and habitual Spanish scenarios . The mixture of action and drama is well balanced . Watch out for the final duel it's outstanding for a Western with unexpected resolution . The revenge as main theme might be usual for this genre but with all these dreamlike flashbacks about his mother from the key character it's a fresh look . Good main cast as Vince Edwards and overacting by Jack Palance ; the support cast is full of good British actors as Sylvia Syms , Kate O'Mara and Christian Roberts . Besides, good set decoration and art direction by Jose Alguero , filmed in Spanish studios and of course 'Almeria' and Las Rozas , La Pedriza , Madrid . Levin shows a dark, depressing, and sadly realistic face of the west. In fact, the entire movie is a drama of characters and family confrontation . But watching the film, you would be able to feel how Levin equates victory with redemption . This violent western well produced by Irving Allen and professionally directed by Henry Levin failed at Box office ; however , nowadays is best considered . Ex-actor ,director Henry Levin was a previous stage player who had a prolific and long career as filmmaker entering the directing in 1943 about every genre over the next 36 years . His heyday was in the 1960s , when he turned out several bright and frothy sex comedies, notably ¨Belles on their toes , Come fly with me , Honeymoon hotel¨ , his greatest films were on the adventure genre as ¨Genghis Khan , The wonderful world of Brothers Grimm , The bandit of Sherwood Forest , The return of Monte Cristo and Journey to the center of the earth¨ . Although Levin's forte was light comedies, one of his most interesting films was a dark, brooding western ¨Lonely man¨ (1957) and ¨Desperados¨ , both of them with Jack Palance. He finished his career piloting made-for-television movies, and died on the final day of shooting Scout's Honor (1980) (TV). If you are looking for Westerns with action , violence but also story and atmospheric scenes "Desperados" should be for you.
Hate runs in the family.
Jack Palance is much too Young to be a credible patriarch;how can we believe this par excellence "villain" ,Edwards ,Maharis and co are a family unit?When he is directed by an efficient man (Fleischer,Aldrich),Palance can be great ;when he is left to his own devices ,like in "desperados" ,he can be awful,overplaying and bawling his curse on the good son and invoking Cain.The movie had biblical pretensions :after his sons and his henchmen ransack the town ,daddy compares it to God's wrath on Sodom.For 1969,it is a violent movie ,and it may have puzzled the audience for its lack of a real happy end.Besides,Sylvia Syms enjoys a swim in the nude in the river. The tale,in which the brothers' jealousy sometimes recalls that of Joseph's brothers (Bible again), could have produced a worthwhile work,had it been given a good director and a good writer:but the story is desultory,the part of the mother who could have been interesting,had the flashbacks not been botched ;Devoid of a dramatic structure,for the scenes are repetitive ,"desperados" is a missed opportunity.
Tries a bit too hard.
Not a great entry to the late '60's early 70's US Western' genre but for the most part an enjoyable fare and certainly easy enough to watch. Jack Palance recreates a role, only really seen in it's Italian counterparts and has been given a life long licence to completely overact. This might be a joy to some viewers but a tad unrealistic, if not at times irritating (here is also out of context). For sure there are some highly exciting set pieces, unusual camera angles (another Italian influence) with some rare aerial shots. Together with some death defying stunt work but as a whole comes across as somewhat contrived. More emphasis/input was needed on the script, acting, story and a little subtlety would have been greatly appreciated. 'Desperados' simply tries to hard (without the necessary class) but on the other hand is a nice little exploiter, for an extensive an ever growing western collection.
Strange on the Range or Daddy Dearest
What could have been an interesting tale of marauding renegade Confederates out for revenge becomes a slapdash, tawdry mess of a film. Ringleader Palance (a former parson!) and his sons Edwards, Maharis and Roberts, along with a huge gaggle of violent rebels blaze a path across the southwest frontier robbing, raping and burning anything in their midst. It's all because their own loved ones were brutalized when they were out killing Union soldiers on a raid. Finally, Edwards decides he's had enough and he and his wife (Syms) start over in a new town with an assumed name. They also have a son. However, it's only a matter of time before the relentless Palance and his band of un-merry men make their way to this heretofore quiet town. Edwards (his svelte, muscular days as a posing strap model long behind him) gives an exceedingly wooden performance. His character's motivations rarely make sense because of the weak script and because it's never really clear what he's thinking! Outfitted with Elvis-style porkchop sideburns, he mostly stares blankly and expressionless at the events around him (unless constipation can be considered an expression.) At the other end of the spectrum is Palance, who mercilessly overacts with an abandon not likely to be found anywhere outside the movie "Mommie Dearest". His ungodly performance has to be seen to be believed. Inexplicably drawing out certain words and syllables, screaming at the top of his lungs and throwing over-the-top tantrums every few minutes, he is a profound embarrassment. Maharis is given little to do as the middle son, but Roberts, as the youngest son, gives Palance a run for his money in the ham acting department. It is excruciating to watch Roberts mug and cajole incessantly through the film. O'Mara pops up rather briefly as a lame hooker (!) who hobbles around everywhere when she ought to be doing her job. She finally gets a little more to do near the end. Brand turns up as the rotund, but caring Marshall of the town Edwards has settled in. He pays for his friendliness with a sound beating. The lovely and talented Syms is FAR out of place in a movie this crass and tasteless. She provides the one ounce of class that the picture has. The sets look like something that Bonanza would reject as inauthentic, the camerawork is distractingly busy, the editing is choppy to say the least and the music is alternately abysmal and inappropriate. On good thing the film has going for it is a series of pretty decent action sequences. Some of the raiding is arrestingly done and there's a nifty scene onboard a moving train. The dynamic of the son turning against the father and having a fateful reunion could have been a great one, but unfortunately there were too many weak elements involved to sell it properly. Another oddity is the prevalence of British actors in the cast (playing Americans.)
A pretty desperate mess
It's a real shame, because there was potential for a truly compelling story here, and then you have a reliable director and Jack Palance on board. Is The Desperados the worst western of all time? No. Is it a terrible film? Not quite that bad? Was it a bad and disappointing film that could have done much more with what it had? Yes. The Desperados has three or four main things that keep it from being unwatchable. The scenery(Spanish?) is absolutely beautiful while showing off some gritty atmosphere too, and the costumes and sets are equally handsome and in keeping with the film's tone. Sylvia Syms brings a lot of elegant class in a film that has very little of that otherwise. There are some decent action sequences here, with the truly exciting scene on the train faring the best. Lastly, there is a very atmospheric bleak climax that is so powerfully executed that one wishes that it came sooner and lasted longer. Vince Edwards however is very wooden and spends his entire screen time looking numb. Don't expect Jack Palance to save the film, as much as I very much like Palance(he was also the main reason for watching) his performance in The Desperados is one of his worst. He has shown numerous times that he can be lots of fun when 'hammy' and over-the-top and this was the kind of role that Palance should have been perfect for, but like in Justine he has hammed up in a way that takes one out of the film and because everything else is taken so seriously here that was the case with his performance here. The rest of the cast, including an out-of-place Kenneth Cope, don't register and are further saddled with very one-dimensional and dull characters and very unnatural-sounding and severely underdeveloped dialogue. With the story, it was a great idea and could have been compelling but is let down by some sluggish pacing, very abrupt tone and story shifts that give the film a constant messy feel and scenes that are either not always relevant and go on too long or because of the tastelessness in serious need of more subtlety. The direction is workmanlike and gets the job done, but that's the best it gets, in other parts it's either static leaving extras standing like confused lemons or in desperate need of more reigning in the direction of the actors. Although the scenery, costumes and sets are great, the editing is often very sloppy and while some camera angles are unusual and interesting others get too busy and give the film a distractingly overblown look. The music does have some energetically bombastic moments but a vast majority of the time it's ridiculously inappropriate, sounding more 1960s romance than Civil War western. In summary, there are a few things that are just enough to make The Desperados a one-time viewing, but much of it despite its potential is a pretty desperate mess. 3/10 Bethany Cox