Great Day in the Morning (1956)

After a card game Southerner Owen Pentecost finds himself the owner of a Denver hotel. Involved with two women - one who came with the hotel, and one newly arrived from the East to open a ... See full summary »

Director:

Jacques Tourneur

Writers:

Lesser Samuels, Robert Hardy Andrews (novel)

Stars:

Virginia Mayo, Robert Stack, Ruth Roman

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Virginia Mayo	...	Ann Merry Alaine
Robert Stack	...	Owen Pentecost
Ruth Roman	...	Boston Grant
Alex Nicol	...	Captain Stephen Kirby
Raymond Burr	...	Jumbo Means
Leo Gordon	...	Zeff Masterson
Regis Toomey	...	Father Murphy
Carleton Young	...	Col. Gibson (as Carlton Young)
Donald MacDonald	...	Gary John Lawford

Storyline

After a card game Southerner Owen Pentecost finds himself the owner of a Denver hotel. Involved with two women - one who came with the hotel, and one newly arrived from the East to open a dress shop - he then has to make even more fundamental choices when, with the start of the Civil War, he becomes one of a small minority in a strongly Unionist town.

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Plot Keywords:

based on novel

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Taglines:

THE BUGLE BLAST that echoed thru history!

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Genres:

Western

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 May 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

Skrupellos

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures, Edmund Grainger Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Owen Pentecost: Sure, I'm loyal. I've got an undying loyalty to myself and no one else, nothing else.

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Soundtracks

"Bonnie Blue Flag"
(uncredited)
Music taken from traditional Irish marching song
Lyrics by Harry McCarthy 91861)
Passages intgrated into the score

User Reviews

The last western directed by Jacques Tourneur

Great Day in the Morning was the last western directed by Jacques Tourneur. It's based on a novel by Robert Hardy Andrews and features Robert Stack and Virginia Mayo in key roles.

The action of the film takes place right before the beginning of the American Civil War. Directly from the start of the film we're introduced to the main character of Owen Pentecost (Robert Stack) who is trying to defend himself when attacked by the Indians. Things start to get pretty bad, but group of people appears headed by Sarg. Zeff Masterson (Leo Gordon) and saves his life. But when Masterson discovers that the man he's just saved is a Confederate, he resents himself for doing so and only is stopped from finishing Owen by his colleague Stephen Kirby (Alex Nicol). Soon they arrive to Denver, Colorado, where everything indicates that the war is ready to break out any moment. But Owen Pentecost more concerned about himself and about the real purpose of his coming to Denver, which is a load of gold that was dig by the confederate miners and is ready to be transported to the south to help the Confederate cause. The delay might ruin everything, and this is what Owen counts on, planning to take advantage of the situation for his own benefit. This is where Boston (Ruth Roman) enters the scene. She is beautiful woman who falls in love with him and having her own opinion about what Owen's future should be makes him a town's saloon owner and herself his associate. Meanwhile the time passes by and the Civil War breaks out with Confederates attacking Fort Sumter and urgent transportation of gold to the south becomes a matter of vital importance. That is where Stephen Kirby reveals his true identity as a Captain of a Union Army and gathers a group of volunteers intending to stop moving out the gold.

Great Day in the Morning can be hardly called a classic, but nonetheless is quite a good western worth to take a look at. 7/10