Count Three and Pray (1955)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

George Sherman

Writers:

Herb Meadow (dialogue)
Herb Meadow (story)

Release Date:

October 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Western

Plot:

A pastor with a shady past moves into a rural town just after the Civil War. |

Plot Keywords:

Post Civil War | Orphan | Beautiful Woman | Number In Title

Cast

Van Heflin	...	Luke Fargo
Joanne Woodward	...	Lissy
Philip Carey	...	Albert Loomis (as Phil Carey)
Raymond Burr	...	Yancey Huggins
Allison Hayes	...	Georgina Decrais
Myron Healey	...	Floyd Miller
Nancy Kulp	...	Matty Miller
James Griffith	...	Swallow
Richard Webb	...	Big
Kathryn Givney	...	Mrs. Decrais
Robert Burton	...	Bishop

Also Known As:

The Calico Pony (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Spain:18 | USA:Approved (certificate #17406)

Filming Locations:

North Ranch - Lindero Canyon Road at Kanan Road, Agoura Hills, California, USA

Company:

Copa Productions

Trivia:

While Joanne Woodward had appeared in numerous television productions prior to this, this movie marked her debut in film.

From Hellraiser to Hellfire Preacher

Count Three And Pray finds Van Heflin one weary Union veteran from the Civil War, tired of all the killing he's seen and participated in. When a parson from the town he's from in the west is killed at Vicksburg, Heflin decides right then and there he's received a calling to take his place.

Before the war Heflin was quite the roughneck character, a gambling, fighting, and loving man if there ever was one. A lot of folks in the town just don't quite think he's changed. Some like town boss Raymond Burr are out to prove it in any way possible. Some like saloon owner and town madam Jean Willes have different ideas about getting Heflin back to his old ways.

If that isn't enough Van's got two other problems. One is a young orphan type girl, a budding Calamity Jane in Joanne Woodward who's decided to just move into the parsonage that Heflin's set up shop in and won't leave. Not good for a righteous preacher to be cohabitating with a girl just this side of minority.

But secondly Van's forgot that he has to get himself ordained somewhere. Minor little detail, but still one of those things folks can be sticklers about.

Count Three And Pray is a good western that sadly has the potential to be something far better. The cast is uniformly good and this was Joanne Woodward's big screen debut. She was quite lucky she didn't get herself typecast in roles like these.

A whole lot of issues are not resolved in Count Three And Pray and the ending is not quite satisfactory for me. Still it's a well made and very earnest film that seems to have been crafted by some skilled people.