Day of the Outlaw

1959 American film

Day of the Outlaw

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Andre de Toth
Written by| Philip Yordan
Based on| Day of the Outlaw
by Lee Wells
Produced by| Sidney Harmon
Starring| Robert Ryan
Burl Ives
Tina Louise
Cinematography| Russell Harlan
Edited by| Robert Lawrence
Music by| Alexander Courage

Production
company

Security Pictures

Distributed by| United Artists

Release date

* July 1959 (1959-07)

Running time

| 92 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $400,000 or $1.1 million[1]

Day of the Outlaw is a 1959 American Western film starring Robert Ryan, Burl Ives, and Tina Louise. It was directed by Andre de Toth; this was de Toth's final Western feature film.[2]

## Plot

[edit]

Blaise Starrett is a ruthless cattleman who helped found the small, bleak community of Bitters, Wyoming. He is at odds with homesteaders who, having established new farms in the area, have taken to putting up barbed wire to keep their livestock from wandering. Starrett is particularly aggrieved with Hal Crane, who not only inspired this use of barbed wire, but is also married to Helen, the woman Starrett loves. In spite of the fact that Helen has told him she can never love him if he carries out his threat to murder her husband, Starrett sets his mind on doing just that.

The stage is set for a final, bloody showdown when into town rides Jack Bruhn, an ex-Army captain, and his band of rogue cavalrymen. This gang holds the town hostage while Bruhn, wounded in a recent bank robbery, receives treatment. Realizing that they would have no qualms about wiping Bitters out, Starrett tries to save his town. He takes the gang out into the desolate landscape, ostensibly to help them escape across the snow-covered mountains.

## Cast

[edit]

* Robert Ryan as Blaise Starrett
* Burl Ives as Jack Bruhn
* Tina Louise as Helen Crane
* Alan Marshal as Hal Crane
* Venetia Stevenson as Ernine, Vic's daughter
* David Nelson as Gene, a member of Bruhn's gang
* Nehemiah Persoff as Dan, Starret's Foreman
* Jack Lambert as Tex, a member of Bruhn's gang
* Lance Fuller as Pace, a member of Bruhn's gang
* Frank de Kova as Denver, a member of Bruhn's gang (as Frank deKova)
* Elisha Cook Jr. as Larry Teter, town barber (as Elisha Cook)
* Dabbs Greer as Doc Langer, veterinarian
* Betsy Jones-Moreland as Mrs. Preston (as Betsey Jones-Moreland)
* Helen Westcott as Vivian
* Paul Wexler as Vause
* Michael McGreevey as Bobby

## Production

[edit]

The film was based on a 1955 novel of the same title by Lee Edwin Wells (1907-1982), that also ran in several newspapers as a serialized story in the fall of 1955 and others in the late summer 1956.[3]

Producer Buddy Adler originally purchased the film rights as a vehicle for Robert Wagner.[4]

Philip Yordan read the novel and insisted on writing a script based on the book.[5] Filming took place in central Oregon at Dutchman Flat and Todd Lake Meadows near the town of Bend in late November and early December 1958, with Leon Chooluck, the second unit director, doing many of the long exterior shots.[6]

Yordan called the script "one of the best I've ever written," but said the problem with the film was that the budget, at $400,000, was not big enough. Yordan told author Franklin Jarlett, in his biographical book about Robert Ryan, that de Toth was having personal problems at the time of filming and it was apparent on the set. Other problems included Ryan's being out for a week with pneumonia; snowstorms causing delays in filming; de Toth's changing his mind about where some scenes were to be shot (from interior to remote exteriors); and finally de Toth's running out of money, packing up, and going back to Hollywood. Yordan lamented what "could have been."[7]

## Reception

[edit]

Roger Horrocks, in his book Male Myths and Icons, says that the film is a 'gold nugget' and on par with the Westerns of Budd Boetticher.[8]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Bob Ryan May Sell". Variety. December 24, 1958.
2. ^ Day of the Outlaw at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
3. ^ (NOTE: a selection of excerpts available at various newspapers over a year time period (1955-1956) at Google News).
4. ^ Parsons, Louella (March 13, 1957). "Special Story Bought for Robert Wagner". The Milwaukee Sentinel. International News Service \- INS. p. 13 (Part 1).
5. ^ Pryor, Thomas M. (November 16, 1958), "HOLLYWOOD SCENE: Offbeat 'Outlaw'", The New York Times, p. X7
6. ^ "Diner-Dance Bid Given Movie People", The Bulletin, p. 6, November 21, 1958
Grant, Ila S. (November 24, 1958), "World's Most Beautiful Red Head Here For Film", The Bulletin, p. 8
"Over The Pass (image)", The Bulletin, p. 8, November 24, 1958
"Movie Backdrops", The Bulletin, p. 4, December 6, 1958
Arnold, Jeremy, "Home Video Reviews: 'Day of the Outlaw'", Turner Classic Movies, Turner Entertainment Networks, Inc.
7. ^ Jarlett, Franklin (1997), Robert Ryan: A Biography and Critical Filmography, McFarland, p. 103, ISBN 978-0-7864-0476-6
8. ^ Horrocks, Roger (1995), Male Myths and Icons: Masculinity in Popular Culture, Palgrave Macmillan, p. 59, ISBN 978-0-312-12623-0

## External links

[edit]

* Day of the Outlaw at IMDb
* Day of the Outlaw at the TCM Movie Database

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Andre de Toth

* Two Girls on the Street (1939)
* The Five-Forty (1939)
* Wedding in Toprin (1939)
* Six Weeks of Happiness (1939)
* Semmelweis (1940)
* Passport to Suez (1943)
* None Shall Escape (1944)
* Dark Waters (1944)
* Ramrod (1947)
* The Other Love (1947)
* Pitfall (1948)
* Slattery's Hurricane (1949)
* Man in the Saddle (1951)
* Carson City (1952)
* Springfield Rifle (1952)
* Last of the Comanches (1953)
* House of Wax (1953)
* The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953)
* Thunder Over the Plains (1953)
* Crime Wave (1954)
* Tanganyika (1954)
* The Bounty Hunter (1954)
* Riding Shotgun (1955)
* The Indian Fighter (1955)
* Hidden Fear (1957)
* Monkey on My Back (1957)
* The Two-Headed Spy (1958)
* Day of the Outlaw (1959)
* Man on a String (1960)
* Morgan the Pirate (1960)
* The Mongols (1961)
* Gold for the Caesars (1963)
* Play Dirty (1968)

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