The Hard Man (1957)

Just the thing for a lazy Sunday afternoon - like all those TV westerns from 50s/60s which this reviewer found when perhaps more impressionable - when men were Men, spoke deep, dressed clean and drew sixguns easy fast. The story/plot in detail is (surely ?) corny ridiculous soap - to this nonAmerican anyhow - but, once that is accepted, this film can entertain as a straight "shoot 'em, cowboy" with a hero in the Hollywood tradition of the (semi-official) vigilante from the Lone Ranger to the Dark Knight. Definitely competently acted and made q well enough, this film is a nice reminder of how the fun Western used to be. Canadian Lorne Green went on to greater fame; going by this movie, Madison and French were unlucky not to do same.

This is a very poor western; I found it difficult to watch. For the first 80% or so, it has a ridiculous, pompous, almost juvenile, turgid screenplay. A second strike against it is that it is bad despite its decent production values and cast. One interesting aspect is that it is unlike most poor movies which often start out as an intriguing, entertaining situation, but are eventually found out for what they are when it's silly plot plays out for all to see. But this movie reverses that -- things actually improve in the end.Typical of the many embarrassing plot contrivances is when Valerie French, the wife of the overwhelmingly richest man in town, sneaks into Guy Madison's room. She walks up to him (a complete stranger to her); they embrace and she offers to hook up with him if he'll take her from her husband! In another silly scene, Lorne Greene (the husband) is in a Guy Madison-friendly place at night, and he tells Madison that he has hired someone to kill Madison. By all rights Madison could safely and should have killed Greene right there, but no.Some decent scenes at and near the end of the movie do NOT redeem it: (1) there was a fun, campy whose-afraid-of-Virginia-Wolf-type scene between Greene, French and Greene's lawyer (who is involved with French). They let it all hang out. Greene leaves a gun near the other two; French grabs it, points it at Greene and clicks the trigger, but Greene deliberately left it there unloaded. Still Greene won't let his wife leave him! And (2) there is a suspenseful shoot-out at the end, which leads to a twist in the story.

Steve Burden(Guy Madison)usually brings them in dead, maybe being easier than bringing the bad guy in alive. He actually loses his job for being too quick on the draw. The last man he was forced to kill was a friend from his past, who may have actually been framed for murder. The Sheriff of El Solito hires Burden to be his Deputy and he begins searching for the man who framed his friend. He thinks he has found that man...Rice Martin(Lorne Greene),who seems to have the town under his thumb. Martin's attractive wife Fern(Valeri French)warns Burden that her husband has hired gunmen to put him down.Madison seems to be a run-of-the-mill good guy. Greene(better known as Ben Cartwright, the Bonanza patriarch)makes for an overbearing villain. Also in the cast: Barry Atwater, Rudy Bond and Robert Burton. THE HARD MAN is no great shakes, but good enough to hold your attention.

This is a better western than some made in the 50's. Guy Madison is good as the reluctant fast gun. Lorne Greene (pre-Bonanza) is excellent as a thoroughly ruthless land baron. Valerie French is pretty. Myron Healy who has been in countless pictures is not even credited but is the reason for Guy Madison to go to the town where Lorne Greene is the boss. Madison does a good job of showing how a lawman can sometimes be as ruthless as the outlaws if not careful. He is forced to kill his friend and then finds out the friend may have been framed as a killer. He rides to the town where his friend committed the crime and runs into a lot of road blocks (most notably Lorne Greene's character) as well as a beautiful woman that he is not sure of.