The Secret Of Convict Lake is a great Western that has fallen through the cracks and is neglected ( I base this on only 14 people commenting on it). One thing that makes it different is the dominant females in this movie. You have granny ( Ethel Barrymore) who is the leader of the ladies, Marcia ( Gene Tierney ( beautiful as always, but is tough as well)), and spinster Rachael Schaffer ( Ann Dvorak). All of whom are excellent. It is about 6 convicts who break out of prison ( led by good guy Jim Canfield ( Glenn Ford), and bad guy Johnny Greer (Zachary Scott)), and end up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California ( later named Convict Lake ( this story is a fictionalized account of a true story). They are after a stolen $40,000 that Jim was accused of stealing ( the crime was actually committed by Rachael's brother ( and Marcia's fiancé) Rudy). Besides that , Jim wants to kill Rudy because he lied in court and said Jim murdered someone ( a killing in self defense) so Rudy can steal the $40,000. It really becomes a battle of wits between four of the outlaws ( one died earlier) and the ladies with Jim in the middle. The worst of the convicts is a psychopath named Clyde Maxwell who tries to stab one of the women named Barbara, and when Jim tries to stop him, he gets stabbed. But Clyde gets his courtesy of pitchforks from the ladies and they are going to kill Jim as well except Barbara yells "He ( Jim) saved me." Spoilers ahead: Does the truth come out about Dale and that he framed Jim? Of course, does Jim end up with Marcia ( or better yet, Marcia with Jim ( if you watch the movie you will get what I mean)), and do the other convicts get what is coming to them ? Oh yes. But how it works out is extremely well done and I am not going to spoil the ending. This is a great western and a must see ( especially for Ford and Tierney fans). 10/10 stars.
Review of The Secret of Convict Lake
