Main Cast: Robert Ryan, Burl Ives, Tina Louise, Alan Marshal, Nehemiah Persoff
Release Year: 1959
Country: US
Run Time: 91 minutes
Plot
Set in an isolated, snow-covered town in the far West, this story has a renegade army officer named Jack Bruhn (Burl Ives) and his henchmen riding into the town threatening their worst to the men and women there. Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan) decides to agree to Bruhn's demands for someone knowledgeable to lead them away from the law and the town, to safety. Mortally wounded himself, Bruhn opts to take Starrett up on his offer in one last act of generosity toward the townspeople, sparing them the mayhem threatened by his men. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Review
One-eyed director André de Toth helmed this unique low-budget Western filled with fine performances and a view of pioneer life that isn't as idealized as other films of its day. Rather than a sun-baked prairie, de Toth gives us a truly bleak Wyoming winter. Instead of a quaint frontier town, the few buildings are simple, ramshackle shelters surrounded by a mix of dirt and snow. This tiny community of 20 souls isn't too small to escape trouble between local farmers and the lone cattle rancher over barbed wire fences, but these problems become moot when a band of rogue cavalrymen take over the town. Robert Ryan is great as the bitter, conflicted rancher Blaise Starrett, a roughneck who fought to clean up the territory for settlers and is ostracized for his troubles. Both he and dying cavalry officer Burl Ives are dark heroes who set aside their contempt for one last stab at salvation. Day of the Outlaw relies less on gunplay than the tension between kidnappers and their quarry, and the final showdown is between man and the elements rather than a shootout in the streets. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide
Blaise Starrett (Ryan) is a ruthless cattleman at odds with homesteaders in a small, bleak western town called Bitters. Just as a feud between Starret and a local farmer is about to come to a bloody end, Jack Bruhn (Ives), and his band of thugs ride into town. They are on the run from the law after robbing a bank. The wounded outlaw is a former cavalry officer but that doesn't stop him and his gang holding the town's civilians hostage. Starrett must now find a way to save his town, and redeem himself in the process. By helping the bad guys escape, or so they think, across the snow-covered mountains.
Production notes
Russell Harlan's stark black & white cinematography captures the bleakness of the North American winter on location in Wyoming. Hungarian director Andre De Toth’s also created several terrific scenes, especially the Saturday night "dance" (where the women desperately try to fight off the outlaws’ loutish advances) and the extended final sequence in the chase across the mountains.
Day of the Outlaw received poor reviews when it was released in 1959. However it is now considered to be an unusual western with a good story and fine acting with scenes that maximise the coldness of the temperatures on screen.
