YUMA (1971)

Now you listen to me you no good punk. What you're going to do is click on the following article, God damn it. Then read it. And then bask in its heavenly glory. If you don't, I'll cry. Cry like a big girl's blouse. Oh! Wait a minute. This reminds me of something. Please watch this 73 minute movie made in 1971, Directed by: Ted Post; and Starring: Clint Walker, Kathryn Hays, with Barry Sullivan. I thank you.


Yuma (DVD)

THE STORY:

When the new U.S. Marshall, Dave Harmon (Clint Walker), first moseys on into town, he honestly thought that he was keeping the peace by stopping two unruly brothers from messing up a local saloon.

But no. Not really. After he rents a room at Julie Williams' (Kathryn Hays) hotel, and hires Andres (Miguel Alejandro) to be his new squire, one of these brothers gets killed by two shadowy figures at the dead of night.

No. Not the one with the dirty beard. David shoots him earlier, whilst keeping the peace at the local saloon. It was the other brother. The nice one. Who he locks up in a jail-cell for not-so safe keeping.

OK. I know what you're thinking to yourself now, folks. 'Prey tell, who could these two shadowy figures that killed the nice one be?' Right? (Or words to that effect). Well, according to Andres, it could be someone who works in the army, because he spotted one of them wearing a nice pair of very shinny shoes.

Hey! Cut that out. Stop laughing. David believes what Andres says. In fact, he believes him so much, he gets on his high horse and visits a nearby army barracks, an Indian reservation, plus the home of the elder brother of the two dead brothers, Arch King (Morgan Woodward), so he can figure out what in damnation is really going on.

But then again, that's most probably why what next transpires all goes to TV when a Marshal's got to do what a Marshal's got to do. As a plot thickens - this story isn't like Dickens - the bad guys eventually come out to play - plus I'm pretty damn certain our Davy-boy isn't gay.  

Now who wants to go swimming? SPLASH!!!!

[ NOT A TRAILER - A BRIEF INSIGHT INSTEAD ]

THE REVIEW:

Now if there was only one word I could use to describe 'Yuma'; that word would have to be 'nice'. For instance, all of the sets were nicely decorated considering this was a made for TV production. Most of the actors did a very nice job portraying the characters they were supposed to portray. Plus the story in itself was very nicely written, having that evolving and engaging quality about it that normally came out of the cinema during this era.

Granted, not everything in this flick was 'nice' per-say. On occasion I did find those brass-band sound-effects used to emphasize a 'plot point' rather irritating. Plus here and there, the pacing was too slow or the narrative strangely illogical in execution.

Well. Let's face it. If you were a sheriff and you saw a gunman holding a kid hostage, would you allow him five minutes to get away just because he asked for it? Or what about that scene with the Native Americans, where 'The Chief' spoke in monosyllabic sentences as if he were sitting on a very large cactus!

Hey! Don't get the wrong idea, folks. I did enjoy watching the majority of 'Yuma'. It was a pretty good film, mainly because the main lead, Clint Walker, came across as if he were the Superman of the Wild West.

Go on. Just take a look at the pictures of him provided. Don't you think Clint looks like the man of steel too? Furthermore, if you ever get to see him in this Western, you'll also get to see that his acting style is very wholesome and earnest, especially when he's interacting with Kathryn's and Miguel's characters, who likewise help center this film in their rather subservient ways.

Anyway, before I waffle on too much, here, please check out these filmic-facts. (1) The 'ABC' television network first broadcast this production on the very same day that the British Comedian, Dave Gorman, was born -- the 2nd of March, 1971. (2) Ted Post, who directed this flick, also directed 'Magnum Force' with Clint Eastwood, and 'Beneath the Planet of The Apes' with some monkeys. (3) This project was the last screenplay Charles A. Wallace ever wrote for television. (4) After this movie was made, Barry Sullivan starred in an episode of 'Medical Centre', Kathryn Hays starred in an episode of 'Marcus Welby, M.D.', and Edgar Buchanan starred in a number of episodes of 'Cade's County'. (5) It has been speculated that this television movie was made with the intent of developing it into ongoing television series afterwards. This rumor has never been confirmed though. (6) The majority of this picture was shot in 'Paramount Studios', Los Angeles; plus Old Tucson, Arizona. (7) Clint Walker was so tough, that after he starred in this film, he somehow managed to survive a freak accident where the tip of a ski pierced his heart. (8) In the scene where the marshal orders the two brothers to drop their gun-belts, you'll notice that Rol does drop his gun-belt, yet a moment later, after his brother Sam gets shot, he's wearing it again, as if by magic. Ops! Continuity glitch.

Overall 'Yuma' was a very nice film to watch. The story was nice to follow. The acting was nice to engage with. And on occasion it was nice to see people attempt to kidnap small children.

Ops! Nuff said.

THE RATING: A