There Was a Crooked Man... (1970)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Writers:

David Newman (written by) &
Robert Benton (written by)

Release Date:

25 December 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Western

Tagline:

Once upon a time, there was a crooked man. When he was good, he was very, very good. And when he was bad, it was murder...

Plot:

Charm, intelligence and success in criminal career doesn't prevent Paris Pitman Jr. to start doing ten years in prison...

Plot Keywords:

Loot | Arizona | Prison | Escape | Corporal Punishment

Cast

Kirk Douglas	...	Paris Pitman, Jr.
Henry Fonda	...	Woodward W. Lopeman
Hume Cronyn	...	Dudley Whinner
Warren Oates	...	Floyd Moon
Burgess Meredith	...	The Missouri Kid
John Randolph	...	Cyrus McNutt
Lee Grant	...	Mrs. Bullard
Arthur O'Connell	...	Mr. Lomax
Martin Gabel	...	Warden LeGoff
Michael Blodgett	...	Coy Cavendish
C.K. Yang	...	Ah-Ping
Alan Hale Jr.	...	Tobaccy (as Alan Hale)
Victor French	...	Whiskey
Claudia McNeil	...	Madam
Bert Freed	...	Skinner

Runtime:

126 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | UK:15 (video) | UK:AA (original rating) | Portugal:17 (cut version) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Joshua Tree, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The "enormous" dressing trailer for star Kirk Douglas stood just outside the location's prison set. Reportedly, it had a white picket fence, a mail box, two flower boxes, and a green lawn planted in front with a water fountain and lounge chairs.

Goofs:

Continuity: After escaping from prison, Pitman visits the widow Bullard and leaves the prison mule in her corral and takes a horse. After being bitten by the snake and dying, the warden takes his body back on the horse he rode, which now is a mule again.

Quotes:

Cyrus McNutt: They're killing me by inches, Dudley!
Dudley Whinner: You'll outlive us all. You got a lot of inches.

Movie Connections:

Edited into La classe américaine (1993) (TV)

Soundtrack:

There Was A Crooked Man...

The Judgment of Paris

This is an interesting black comedy, from Joseph Mankiewicz, about the gullibility of man, and how greed can corrupt anyone. Henry Fonda is a lawman, in typical Fonda-style (before WARLOCK and the spaghetti westerns changed his image). He is a firm support for law and order. However, he has been shot and left lame by Warren Oates, a drunken outlaw. He may have to retire as a result sooner than he expected.

At the start of the film we watch how Kirk Douglas (Paris Pitman) has robbed the home of Arthur O'Connor with his gang. They are killed off in one way or another. Pitman escapes with the money, and hides it in a hole full of rattlesnakes. But later he is captured. Pitman is sent to territorial prison, where he meets Oates, Burgess Meredith (as the legendary Missouri Kid), Hume Cronym and John Randolph (a pair of swindlers who are also a gay couple), and others. The warden is Martin Gabel, who soon makes it clear that if Douglas wants to be out sooner he needs the warden as a partner. But in a riot Gabel is killed, and Fonda is appointed the new warden.

Fonda tries to reform the prison, improving facilities and setting up an honor system. Douglas, the total cynic, sneers at all this, and makes his own plans. He is not going to rot for two decades or so in prison while a fortune awaits for him. So he starts plotting to get out, and Fonda keeps watching to counter his plotting.

I won't add anything else, but in the end one wonders if Paris Pitman's view of mankind is the truth of us all or not. The film has wonderful sharp comedy, including the comic put-downs of Cronyn when undercutting the pompous Randolph, and when one sees scenes like Burgess Meredith taking his first bath. I strongly recommend this film to fans of unusual westerns.