THREE VIOLENT PEOPLE

US, 1957, 100 minutes, Colour.
Charlton Heston, Anne Baxter, Gilbert Roland, Tom Tryon, Forrest Tucker, Bruce Bennett, Elaine Stritch, Barton Mac Lane, Robert Blake, Jamie Farr.
Directed by Rudolph Mate.

Three Violent People is a star vehicle for Charlton Heston. He had achieved prominence during the first part of the 1950s in such films as The Greatest Show on Earth as well as smaller-budget thrillers. He had just made The Ten Commandments (also with Anne Baxter) but it had not been released when he made this film. He was immediately a big box-office success and made a number of films including The Big Country and Ben Hur almost immediately. He was to command attention on the screen for several decades.

The film has a very strong supporting cast including veteran Gilbert Roland as well as newcomer Tom Tryon, who was to be The Cardinal and who was to leave acting and to write a number of successful novels including The Other. There are early roles for comedienne Elaine Stritch as well as the young Robert Blake and Jamie Farr who was to appear with great success in M*A*S*H.

The film is set in Texas, the clash between the carpetbag government of Texas wanting to take over some of the vast spreads. Charlton Heston is a Confederate officer returning from the war, a vast landowner, who has married a woman with a secret. The government discovers the secret that she was a saloon girl and not the lady that she pretends to be – a means of having some kind of control over Heston. He also has to contend with his black sheep brother, Tom Tryon.

There are certainly more than three violent people in this western.

The film was directed by Rudolph Mate, the Polish-born cinematographer who in the late 40s became a director mainly of small-budget films during the 1950s. However, he did direct some classics including The Dark Past, DOA as well as The Black Shield of Falworth and other action adventures.

1. The quality of the film as a Western: in the genre, conventions?

2. The emphases of the title? The fifties' Western style, this division, locations etc.?

3. The re-creation of the post-civil war period? Atmosphere and feel for the times and places? The opening fights, the taunts of the victors over the South? The role of government, taxes? Justice and oppression, the consequent violence? How well did the film help audiences understand the period and the issues?

4. The character of Saunders within this context? His war reputation, family background, impulsive and violent character, his strong qualities and weaknesses? His infatuation with Lorna? Marrying her? His tenderness towards her? His attitude towards his brother? Their both erring? His harshness and unforgiving nature towards their faults?

5. The character of Lorna? How credible a woman? Her arrival, her using of Saunders, the trick with the money? How much did she love him? Should she have told him the truth? Her role on the ranch? Attitudes towards Cinch? The discovery of the truth and the hurt for her? Her decision to go with Cinch with the horses? Her reaction to Saunders' unforgiving attitudes? Her having the baby? Her decision to leave? The final crisis and the revelation of the truth? How interesting and admirable a character?

6. The credibility of Cinch? His background and loss of his arm, attitude towards his brother, the ups and downs of his career? His stealing the horses? His going over to the Northerners and helping them? His inability to shoot his brother? His death and its significance?

7. The portrayal of the Mexicans as sympathetic people? Their role on the ranch? An advisor to Saunders? Their leaving him when he was so unforgiving? The influence in the final showdown?

8. The portrayal of the Texans as ugly, money-making, crafty? The investigator and his assistants, the tough shooter, the small-minded accountant? Their greed and their violence?

9. The value of the action sequences? With the cattle, life in the town, the violence with the Texans?

10. The dramatic importance and. impact of the showdown? The role of each of the main characters in the showdown? The consequences for each?

11. How appropriate was the happy ending for this kind of film? The change in each of the main characters? The values of this kind of Western? Human nature, law and order, justice, the American heritage?