Customer Reviews

There Was a Crooked Man [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Look, if you're looking for a film that'll move mountains, forget it. You cannot take There Was a Crooked Man seriously. That said, if you're looking for a fun film, with a screenplay that departs just enough from the standard conventions of the Western genre to be interesting, then check this out. Think meatloaf and crinkle fries as opposed to steak and taters. The storyline is imaginative, the central characters are likeable albeit, mostly irredeemable, and the dialogue is humorous...even the awkward and slightly bad late sixties baroque pop score somehow works, even though you might cringe the first time you hear it open the film. There is enough entertainment value here to merit a DVD release. Take it easy...don't be a snob...you'll have fun with it if you allow yourself.

How could someone not like a western full of genial and persuasive cynicism, full of improbable piety and stuffed with vivid characters, from the two leads, Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda, down to just about everyone else. And look at the pedigree: Directed by Joseph Mankiewicz, who gave us All About Eve, Letter to Three Wives and that most elegant of cynical films, Five Fingers, and with a screenplay by David Newman and Robert Benton, just after their first effort, Bonnie and Clyde, made their bones for them in Hollywood. Well, the answer is, an awful lot of people didn't like it and even more ignored it...including the studio executives. There Was a Crooked Man was buried after it finally was released, with almost no marketing dollars devoted to it.

I think the studio had no idea what to do with the film. Not only is it a witty and cynical western, it has a climax which is mordantly violent and unexpectedly ruthless (especially if you weren't paying attention to a brief scene at the start of the film). Not just that, we wind up with one of the leads dead (snake bite to the throat, guaranteed to make you flinch) and the other...well, you may find yourself pondering just who is the crooked man all the fuss was about.

Me, I like the movie a lot. It's not perfect; it's too long; there are a couple of sub-themes that could have been established faster. Still, for an amusing, sardonic look at human nature, There Was a Crooked Man is hard to beat.

Paris Pitman, and don't forget the Jr., please (Kirk Douglas), is a charming, eye-glass wearing rogue. He could talk a coyote out of a chicken, one character says. He's a natural leader, smart and calculating. He's also a robber and a killer. He stole a whole lot of money and, we begin to notice, his gang one by one doesn't make it far. Paris does, but eventually is caught because of his fondness for easy women. Woodward Lopeman (Henry Fonda) is an upright lawman who doesn't drink, take bribes or, as far as we can tell, consort with easy women. The two meet at a desolate territorial prison set in the middle of nothing but desert scrub and blistering heat. Pitman is doing time for the robbery. However, he hid his loot before he was captured and he plans to find a way to escape. Lopeman is the new warden, determined to rehabilitate the prisoners when he can, and at least be fair to them when he can't. Before long Pitman has recruited his cellmates on a carefully organized breakout. They're an odd bunch, but Pitman has a role for each one. The Missouri Kid (Burgess Meredith) is an aged coot who a long time ago was a skilled bank robber. Dudley Whinner (Hume Cronyn) and Cyrus McNutt (John Randolph) are failed con artists, just a bickering old married couple with Whinner the shrewd one. Floyd Moon (Warren Oates) is a backstabber from way back who has never had a friend. He begins to think Paris is one. Coy Cavendish (Michael Blodgett) is a dumb but eager teen-ager who is scheduled to hang for inadvertently killing the father of the girl he was about to know too well. Ah-Ping (C. K. Yang) is a big, tough, silent Chinese who decides to follow Pitman.

We spend a lot of time in that sweltering prison observing how Lopeman tries to improve things and how Pitman step by step organizes the breakout. There will be explosions, misdirection, food fights with fried chicken and mashed potatoes, stolen dynamite...and deliberate killings, cold-blooded and murderous set-ups, and sacrifices those doing the sacrificing hadn't planned on. You can't help grinning at the cynicism or being a little revolted at some of the cold-blooded murders.

Pitman, of course, escapes and heads for the place he hid his loot, a natural cave with an opening just small enough to reach down and snag the bags stuffed with cash. Did I mentioned, Pitman chose the place because it was a nesting ground for rattlers. After we have experienced the cold-blooded cynicism of one of the two leads, it's nice to report that the movie ends with a satisfyingly bit of good-natured cynicism on the part of the other.

The DVD transfer looks just fine. There are a couple of extras with little interest. One is a featurette named On Location With There Was a Crooked Man. It seems to have been made at the time of the movie as a puff-piece promoting Michael Blodgett.

If you're a jaundiced observer of human nature, I think you'll enjoy this movie.

When I sat down to watch this movie, I expected to see a movie much in the tradition of, say, The Wild Bunch or The Searchers. You know, tough guys on horses being tough. What I ended up watching was a western-comedy that I honestly saw as the grandfather of Blazing Saddles. Honestly, to me, this movie is that funny. Douglas, Fonda, Burgess Meredith, and the always awesome Warren Oates all give performances worthy of all the praise you can give them. Prison movie? It just happens to be set there, and serves as the backdrop for the hilarious posturing going on between Douglas and Fonda. Right from the start, you'll be hooked.

I first saw this movie on an Amtrak train. Although I was only 7 at the time it made a lasting impression on me. I couldn't remember the name of this movie or the stars, just the story line.

I finally caught this movie on the Western channel and it is just as good as I remembered it. Not your typical Western, it's a comedy with a lot of star power behind it and just enough twists to keep it fresh.

Chances are you have seen this film before if you are looking this far since this film never received the notoriety that it deserves. If by chance, you have stumbled upon this title, check it out you'll be pleasantly surprised.

The recently released DVD of There Was a Crooked Man should be a must-have for fans of its stars Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda. Not many movie fans know about this movie, but hopefully this DVD release will spark some conversation. Paris Pitman Jr is a likable outlaw who robs $500,000 from a rich businessman, but unfortunately is later caught at the local brothel by the same man after he has already hidden the loot. Pitman is sent to the territorial prison where he recruits his fellow inmates to help him escape for a share of the money. But during his stay, a new warden, Woodrow Lopeman, comes along who wants to rehabilitate and reform these prisoners, using Pitman as his prime example. This western has just the right blend of humor and action. Much of the humor is pretty low-brow, but still funny, and the action is saved for the last half hour. With a quirky musical score, including the theme sung by Trini Lopez, and a great cast, don't let this little known western pass you by.

As affable outlaw Paris Pitman JR, star Kirk Douglas gives one of his finest comedic roles from his career. Pitman can talk his way out of any situation, and Douglas pulls off the part perfectly. It's not until the last 20 minutes though that you realize how ruthless he can be in pursuit of his money. Henry Fonda is also very good as Woodrow Lopeman, the warden with a limp who tries to reform the prisoners. Fonda is underused so you don't know much about his background, but what's there is good. Pitman's inmates is a list of great character actors headed by Hume Cronyn and John Randolph as Dudley and Cyrus, an old gay couple who pull off con jobs, Warren Oates as Floyd Moon, a notorious outlaw who believes he has found a friend in Pitman, Burgess Meredith in a great part as the Missouri Kid, a famous train robber who's been in prison 35 years, Michael Blodgett as Coy Cavendish, the young man guilty of murder trying to prove himself, and C.K. Yang as Ah-Ping, the silent "Chinaman." Alan Hale and Victor French play Tobaccy and Whiskey, two of the prison guards.

The new DVD is very well put together. It features the movie in a beautiful looking widescreen presentation (I didn't see a scratch till the movie's final minute), a theatrical trailer, and a 10-minute making of featurette made during filming with Michael Blodgett as the narrator. Don't watch the trailer or making of featurette before you see the movie because it gives away some important plot points. The featurette also introduces Warren Oates as John Randolph! Maybe they couldn't find a shot of Randolph, who knows. Regardless, this is a very funny and off-beat western with a great cast headed by Douglas and Fonda so don't miss There Was a Crooked Man!

A purposefully crass, low-brow, yet engaging Western comedy-drama featuring Kirk Douglas as a ne'er-do-well, debonnaire robber whose half-million dollar heist lands him in a miserable desert prison, which, of course, he is determined to break out of. Henry Fonda shows up as the newly-appointed, socially progressive warden who spars with this untameable scoundrel, and the two western movie icons have a good time matching wits in this antiheroic romp. It's not a great flick; the transgressive humor is very much of its time, but it is notable for the surprisingly sympathetic portrayal of two gay convicts who are part of Douglas's escape team... they in fact turn out to be the unlikely heroes of the film, which is as unexpected as it is refreshing.

In making "There Was a Crooked Man" Joseph L. Mankiewicz set out with the intention of creating a cynical Western, based on the view that there is a little bit of badness even in the best of men... What emerges in this long and expert exercise is a film so thorough1y cynical, so negative in its view of the human species that the viewer is allowed no point of view of his own...

For Kirk Douglas, the very crooked man of the title, the film gave scope for bravura playing but the characterization is black and utterly ruthless... Mankiewicz would have done well to consider the view that there is a little bit of goodness even in the worst of men... but the film remains admirable in its staging and in the performances of an exemplary cast...

Douglas, wearing steel-rimmed spectacles and with his hair dyed red, appears at the beginning of the picture as a somewhat cultured bandit; he raids the home of a wealthy rancher and escapes with half a million dollars in cash...

In making his escape, several of his men are shot to death and Douglas himself kills his surviving companion... Thus the swag is entirely his... He hides it in a rattlesnake pit in the desert but he is later spotted in a brothel by the rancher and we next see Douglas on his way to jail...

In the prison wagon are five fellow felons: Hume Cronyn and John Randolph, a pair of con-men, religious fakers and implicitly homosexual; a huge homicidal Chinaman, played by Olympic athlete C. K. Yang in a screen debut; Michael Blodgett, a young man who accidentally killed his girl friend's father when suddenly interrupted in an act of love-making; and Warren Oates, a stupid gunman who shoots sheriff Henry Fonda in the leg when the peaceful, unarmed lawman tries to persuade him to surrender...

These endearing rascals are then incarcerated in a cell with a dirty old fellow called 'The Missouri Kid,' played like a ferret by Burgess Meredith...

The theme, like that of all prison pictures, is escape, and with Douglas openly proud of his hidden half-million, escape becomes inevitable and the wily bandit, a born leader of men, can take his pick not only of his accomplices but of the prison warden (Martin Gabel), a degenerate gentleman, as eager to leave, his post as any prisoner...

However, a noisy fight breaks out among the prisoners and in trying to stop it the warden is killed...

One irony leads to another and the new warden turns out to be Henry Fonda, a solidly honest, humane man who dedicates himself to penal reform... He quickly spots the officer-like qualities of Douglas and assigns him to supervising the building of a new dining hall... It is during the inauguration of the building, attended by the state governor and his guests, that Douglas elects to spark a revolt--his cover for escape...

The motion picture is graphic in depicting the sweat and stench of life in a desert prison, and the frustration and despair of its inmates... The spirit of decency, exemplified by Fonda's warden, is almost a stimulating note in an atmosphere swirling with resentment and spite...

Mankiewicz' film has some memorable moments: Douglas, in his opening robbery, commenting on the excellence of the fried chicken being served at the rancher's table; Hume Cronyn, passing himself off as a deaf mute at a church gathering, backing into a hot stove and yelling a profane curse; a pretty schoolteacher reciting Henley's 'Invictus' at the dining room ceremony, watched by hundreds of hungry eyes; and in the long chaos of the revolt, a furious montage of incidents, particularly the old Missouri Kid sitting, weeping because he has been in prison too long and hasn't the courage to leave "home," and Cronyn, like a firm-minded old wife, leading his companion back into their cell and telling him they will serve out their sentence...

This is a quirky little western with a bevy of interesting characters and a style all it's own. Kirk Douglas is a convicted robber who tries to outwit warden Henry Fonda (and vice-versa) who knows Douglas has a large amount of money hidden in the desert.

This is one of those you love it or hate types of films. It is irreverent, slightly off center and, as I said , quirky. Even the inappropriately contemporary film score, usually out of place for a period western, seems, well, appropriate.

Odd? Yes. Enjoyable? Absolutely. Give it a try. I think you'll "love" it more than "hate" it.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents "THERE WAS A CROOKED MAN" (25 December 1970) (126 min/Color) (Fully Restored/Dolby Digitally Remastered) -- An offbeat 1970s black-comic Western with an all-star cast, this Joseph L. Mankiewicz film is set in 1883 in Arizona. Paris Pitman, Jr. (Kirk Douglas) is the leader of a band of outlaws that steals $500,000 from a wealthy businessman named Lomax (Arthur O'Connell) --- The other gang members die in a shootout, but Pitman escapes and hides the loot in women's underwear and drops it into a snake pit --- After Lomax recognizes Pitman in a brothel, he is arrested by Sheriff Woodward Lopeman (Henry Fonda) --- At the territorial prison, Pitman bribes Warden Le Goff, offering him a share of the hidden money if he lets him escape --- But before the scheme is carried through, the warden is killed by a prisoner --- Lopeman becomes the new warden, and he is bent on ridding the prison of corruption --- Pitman convinces Lopeman that he will cooperate with the reforms, then he uses the new freedoms given to him to plan an elaborate escape with several other men --- The escape is to take place during an inspection by the governor.

The screen writing team for this film was Robert Benton and David Newman, who had penned the brilliant Bonnie and Clyde.

An excellent movie with a jaw-dropping cast (nice song sung by Trini Lopez)

Under the production staff of:
Joseph L. Mankiewicz [Director]
David Newman [Screenplay]
Robert Benton [Screenplay]
C.O. Erickson [Executive Producer]
Joseph L. Mankiewicz [Producer]
Charles Strouse [Original Music]
Harry Stradling Jr. [Cinematographer]
Gene Milford [Film Editor]
Edward Carrere [Production Design]

BIOS:
1. Joseph L. Mankiewicz [Director]
Date of Birth: 11 February 1909 - Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Date of Death: 5 February 1993 - Bedford, New York

2. Kirk Douglas [aka: Issur Danielovitch Demsky]
Date of Birth: 9 December 1916 - Amsterdam, New York
Date of Death: Still Living

3. Henry Fonda [aka: Henry Jaynes Fonda]
Date of Birth: 16 May 1905 - Grand Island, Nebraska
Date of Death: 12 August 1982 - Los Angeles, California

the cast includes:
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

Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 4 Stars
Performance: 4 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 4 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]

Total Time: 126 min on DVD ~ Warner Bros. Pictures ~ (12/19/2006)

A noble experiment, this film was certainly interesting and its goals broad -- social commentary, prison reform, morality, corruption, wry comedy, you name it, all packed into a film laden with great performances by top-notch character actors, not to mention the leads Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda.

As much as I wanted to like this movie, and I did, I found the end somewhat disappointing. From what I have read, much of Henry Fonda's plot development toward the end was left on the cutting-room floor, which makes it difficult, given the narrative of the film, to understand or accept his motivations in the final sequence.

Still, on balance, I would rate this one a keeper, and worth watching for all the wonderful scenes by so many great actors, most of whom have left us now. A quirky find.