Warner Bros. Pictures
Not part of a collection.
There Was a Crooked Man...
Of All the Crooked Men in All the Crooked West One of Them Was the Best!
A charming but ruthless criminal is sent to a remote Arizona prison, where he enlists the help of his cellmates in an escape attempt with the promise of sharing his hidden loot.
- Original title
- There Was a Crooked Man...
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- —
- Revenue
- —
John Chard
Jan 13, 2019 · via TMDB
Don't tell me you can't make speeches; you could talk a coyote out of a chicken. There Was a Crooked Man... is directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and written by David Newman and Robert Benton. It stars Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Hume Cronyn, Warren Oates, Burgess Meredith, John Randolph and Michael Blodgett. Music is by Charles Strouse and cinematography by Harry Stradling Jr. Plot has Douglas as Paris Pitman Jr., an unscrupulous thief who after stealing and hiding in a rattlesnake's nest half a million dollars, gets caught and sent to an Arizona prison for ten years. Once there his plan is simple, to befriend as many cons as he can so they can help him escape. Dangling the carrot of sharing his stash with those who help him, Pitman's plan may be usurped by the arrival of new Warden Woodward Lopeman (Fonda)? Joseph L. Mankiewicz's only venture into the Western sphere is an odd picture in many ways, but not in a bad way, sort of! Coming as it did at the start of the 1970s when the Western was for what was to be some time, on its last legs, the pic blends comedy with cynicism and violence with choice characterisations. Taking bold decisions in not making this a straight run of the mill genre piece, it's unsurprising to find that Warner Brothers got itchy feet and cut a whopping forty minutes from the original cut of the film, footage that to this day has never seen the light of day. This is a crying shame for although it doesn't make the film a mess in any shape or form, it does stop it from being the more edgy piece it was meant to be, With a super cast list fronted by a strong dynamic between Douglas and Fonda, story thrives by pretty much having nobody being straight as an arrow. In fact one of the strengths in the narrative is in setting us up for some surprises, we are never quite sure how this is going to pan out. As the violence, crafty scheming and general crookedness that exists within the prison simmers along, it's set up a treat for the pay off at story's culmination, something which has proven to be divisive (for me it's a doozy). At times it feels like we are in a knockabout comedy, yet this is merely a trick in the tale, the makers are in it for sucker punch merit, craftily flipping the finger whilst embracing moral decay. Hard to recommend with great confidence for it is an acquired taste, but it's fascinating as a snapshot of when the Western was gasping for breath, and rewards are there for those willing to buy into its devilish oddities. 7.5/10
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
Philo
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
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
Martin Gabel
Warden LeGoff
Michael Blodgett
Coy Cavendish
C.K. Yang
Ah-Ping
Alan Hale Jr.
Tobaccy
Victor French
Whiskey
Claudia McNeil
Madam
Bert Freed
Skinner
Jeanne Cooper
Prostitute
Barbara Rhoades
Miss Jessie Brundidge
Gene Evans
Col Wolff
Pamela Hensley
Edwina
Karl Lukas
Otis
Ann Doran
Mrs. Lomax
E.J. André
Judge
Bill Borzage
Prisoner
Harry Caesar
Rioting Prisoner
Virginia Capers
Cook
Al Checco
Wheatley
Robert Cleaves
Grizzard
Byron Foulger
Member of Town Council
Bob Herron
Oran
Harry Holcombe
Hammond
Michael Jeffers
Church Member
Henry Kingi
Rioting Prisoner
John Lawrence
Jones
Norman Leavitt
Prisoner
Ian McLean
Cavalry Man
John McCook
Deputy
Boyd 'Red' Morgan
Hobbs
Paul Newlan
—
Jack Perkins
Prisoner
James Seay
Aide to Lieutenant Governor
Kelly Thordsen
Edwina's Father
Napoleon Whiting
Lomax Servant
Guy Wilkerson
Prisoner in Solitary
Bob Herron
Stunts
Gene LeBell
Stunts
Henry Kingi
Stunts
Tony Brubaker
Stunts
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Director
C.O. Erickson
Executive Producer
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Producer
Charles Strouse
Music
Charles Strouse
Original Music Composer
Charles Strouse
Songs
David Newman
Writer
Robert Benton
Writer
Once Upon a Time in the West
For a Few Dollars More
Duck, You Sucker
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The Wild Bunch
The Magnificent Seven
Calamity Jane
Support Your Local Sheriff!
Soldier Blue
Pardners
The Harder They Fall
The Salvation
The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again
A Man Called Horse
Joe Kidd
The Hallelujah Trail
Tickle Me
Thunder at the Border
Charro!
The Girl and the Gambler
Thieves Highway
High Plains Drifter
3:10 to Yuma
Broke
The Professionals
Hang 'em High
7 Men from Now
The Harder They Fall
Mackenna's Gold
The Missouri Breaks
Escape from Fort Bravo
Day of Reckoning
The Last Hard Men
Barquero
Gunslingers
Ain't Them Bodies Saints
The Mountain Men
Mad Dog Morgan
From Noon Till Three
The Outsider
Dec 25, 1970
