Three Violent People

source: Three Violent People

"Three Violent People" re-unites stars Charlton Heston and Anne Baxter who had appeared together in DeMille's "The Ten Commandments" completed earlier that year. Heston plays ex Confederate Captain Colt Saunders who is returning home following the Civil War. Baxter is Lorna Hunter a lady with a past who arrives in town and immediately tries to rob Saunders after he is knocked out in a street brawl. Lorna's friend Ruby La Salle (Elaine Stritch) warns her against this. Then in the most ridiculous part of the film, Colt awakens and suddenly decides (without explanation) that he is going to marry Colt. She suddenly falls in love with him and agrees to an instant marriage. Colt and Lorna go to the Saunders ranch and find it in dis repair. Longtime vaquero Ortega (Gilbert Roland) explains that the carpetbaggers have descended on the area stealing away local ranch for taxes under the Provisional Government. Colt, it seems has a one armed brother Cinch (Tom Tryon) who still bears resentment against his brother for the tragic childhood accident that cost him his right arm. At a neighboring ranch, Colt meets Commissioner Harrison (Bruce Bennett) and his "assistant" Cable (Forrest Tucker) who have taken over the ranch formerly run by a close friend. Harrison's assistant Massey (John Harmon) recognizes Lorna from her past life but she denies knowing him. Harrison seizes the opportunity to grab the Saunders ranch by having Massey reveal Lorna's past to Colt. He does so and Colt develops a hatred for Lorna. Unbeknownst to Colt is the fact that Lorna has become pregnant. Cinch convinces Lorna to run off with him and a herd aof 300 horses that Ortega had hidden in the hills. Colt, Ortega and his five sons pursue the rustlers and take back the herd. Colt orders Cinch to stay off the Saunders ranch or he will kill him. Colt forces Lorna back to the ranch to await the baby's arrival After the baby's birth Colt prepares to send Lorna way despite the pleadings of long time friend Ortega. Just as she is about to leave, Cinch arrives at the ranch and challenges Colt to draw down against him. Colt refuses. Just then Harrison and Cable arrive and attempt to take over the ranch and............................................... Heston and Tucker had appeared together in 1953's "Pony Express" as Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickok respectively. Appearing as Ortega's sons are Ross Bagdasarian (of Chipmunks fame), Robert (Bobby) Blake and Jamie Farr (of TV's M*A*S*H). They didn't hide Tron's "missing arm" very well.

I'll take a stab at identifying the trio of characters in the title; I think it boils down to the three 'C's' - Colt (Charlton Heston), Cinch (Tom Tryon) and Cable (Forrest Tucker). Colt Saunders without question after watching him upend Lorna Hunter (Anne Baxter) with only undergarments showing; Cinch because as Colt's put upon younger brother, he carried a grudge that would have led to betrayal if he hadn't had the change of heart at the finale. I'm including Cable because he was ready to use his six-gun at the drop of a hat to take down Captain Saunders, and was the buzzard identified by Gran Vaquero Ortega (Gilbert Roland) in my summary line above. Well anyway, that's my take on things. I liked the way Gil Roland's character was written in the story. Innocencio Antonio Ortega was a romantic and a poet, with uncanny insight into the human condition. His welcome address to the new Mrs. Saunders was an inspiration to his five sons, right after Rafael got tongue tied and couldn't find the words to continue. I think it was right after this picture that Robert Blake was no longer credited as 'Bobby'; the nickname seemed more appropriate when he was Red Ryder's sidekick in the Forties. Now it made sense when Cinch backed down from challenging his brother, but what was going on when Commissioner Harrison's (Bruce Bennett) deputy Massey (John Harmon) appeared to go for a draw down on Colt earlier in the story? He had to know he would have been a goner, even if the rest of Harrison's deputies opened fire. Lorna's interference brought tensions back under control, but I couldn't figure out what the idea was here. For certain he was mortified for revealing Lorna's past, so maybe it was his way of committing suicide without having it pan out. With long time relationships under stress and a marriage on the rocks, anyone having viewed a few hundred of these era Westerns would have had a good idea that things would work out in the end. Even though Cinch cashed out as the redeemed younger brother, there was no way Colt and Laura Saunders were going to ride off into the sunset in different directions. As for those buzzards, well they wound up getting the guy with the red hair.

It's an unfair comparison to connect a huge epic in production for years to a western, even if it was an A lister. But had this even cast somebody other than and Baxter in this, having Charlton Heston in the league would have automatically brought up mentions of that classic film. Today, Baxter's participation in the Ten Commandments is often greeted with giggles as she offered a camp performance as the Egyptian princess in love with Heston's Moses. She manages here to be less over-the-top and more sincere as a showgirl with a past who out of the blue marries land baron Heston who knows nothing about her. They move out to his ranch in the middle of nowhere, and rival ranchers use her past against them, leaving the playing field open to his one armed brother Tom Tryon the opportunity to move in. Her sudden pregnancy adds more conflict. This features some decent supporting performances with a young Elaine Stritch making her film debut as Baxter's old pal who runs a saloon/hotel in the closest town. Barely thirty when she filmed this, Stritch already shows the power of a veteran scene stealer, having been on Broadway for a decade. Gilbert Roland and Forrest Tucker are also incredibly good. Action packed and filled with personal conflict that makes for a good story, it still lacks the element of surprise. Baxter shows that she can hold her own, and interspercements of humor also adds to the entertainment value. But what could have been a week stern variation of classic theatrical drama like "Desire Under the Elms" is sadly never achieved. Heston's character becomes needlessly cruel for stupid reasons that dissipates sympathy for his character.

After a whirlwind romance and marriage with lovely Anne Baxter, ex-Confederate Charleton Heston returns home to his Texas ranch, where he has to contend with nasty carpetbaggers Forrest Tucker and Bruce Bennett, his embittered one-armed brother Tom Tryon, and his new wife's checkered past, which everyone is more than willing to use against him. Three Violent People takes it's time, but it's never boring, using great acting and excellent photography, direction to tell an atmospheric tale that's pretty hard-hitting, even though it's not a traditional action-adventure film. Heston, Baxter, and Gilbert Roland all play characters of great strength and courage, with the magnetic Roland in particular always incredible to watch and Tryon a brooding anti-hero. Why wasn't he a bigger star? A few years later, songwriter Ross Bagdasarian, who plays one of Roland's sons, bought bought a variable-speed recorder, changed his stage-name to David Seville, and invented the pop-culture icons known as The Chipmunks!

This film reminds me of many wedding cakes. They look great but aren't especially delicious. "Three Violent People" is a sumptuous looking film--a movie with great color and scope. BUT, like the cake, it's not exactly great, as the film seemed, well, a bit dull and DEFINITELY over-wrought. The film begins with a Confederate soldier (Charlton Heston) returning home after being gone many years. He soon meets a 'woman of easy virtue' (Anne Baxter) and despite knowing NOTHING about her, marries her. This makes little sense. What makes little sense as well is his reaction to her much later when he learns about her sordid past. Their marriage, inexplicably, is ruined and Heston sulks for most of the rest of the movie. Now on WHAT planet does this make sense?! There's quite a bit in between--including a plot involving evil Yankees and the Reconstruction (a popular theme--though historians are now recognizing that this theme never really was a problem in real life) as well as Heston's one-armed brother (Tom Tryon). None of this is especially engaging. In fact the ONLY part of the movie I loved was when Heston turned Baxter upside-down and shook her when they first met--because she'd stolen his money! But then, this is when he asked her to marry him!! Duh. Overall, looks great--but that's really about all.

After the American Civil War, Captain Colt Saunders (Charlton Heston) returns to Texas to his homeland Bar S Ranch, which has belonged to his family for generations. While in town, he has an incident and meets the former gal from St. Louis Lorna Hunter (Anne Baxter) and without knowing her past, he immediately proposes and gets married with her. When they arrive in Bar S, he meets his brother Beauregard 'Cinch' Saunders (Tom Tryon), the black-sheep of the family that lost one arm in his childhood and blames Colt for the accident. Colt has problems with the commissioner Harrison (Bruce Bennett) of the corrupt provisional government of Texas, and the situation gets worse when one of his men identify Lorna as "a flower of the Old South with whom he used to skip around with back in St. Louis". Colt has to deal with problems with the corrupt representative of the government that is collapsing, with his rancorous brother, with his pregnant wife and with his closest friend Innocencio Ortega (Gilbert Roland). "Three Violent People" is a reasonable western that shows an after-war period and its consequences. The story has some good moments, mostly when Anne Baxter participates in the role of a witty lady with a past that experiences love for the first time in her life. Charlton Heston fits perfectly to the role of Captain Colt Saunders. However, the conclusion is too much corny and moralist. Although not being a great movie, "Three Violent People" is a good entertainment. My vote is six. Title (Brazil) "Trindade Violenta" ("Violent Trinity")

Anne Baxter recreates her dance hall queen image in this film as she did in the 1955 picture "One Desire." The latter was far better than this. Ironically, in that one, her love interest was Clint Saunders.(Rock Hudson)In this one, she is Mrs. Saunders, married to Charlton Heston. It must have been great for Baxter and Heston to reunite after "The Ten Commandments." While this picture is a good one, it's obviously not in the same league as the DeMille masterpiece. Viewers must have certainly gone away disappointed with what they saw. The film again shows the endearing qualities of family relationships, anger and ultimate forgiveness, even when it's too late. Greed is the ultimate cause for much of the story here. Look for Jamie Farr in an almost speechless role as well as Ernest Wade, the maid, who was Sapphire in "Amos and Andy." Bruce Bennett is hopelessly miscast as the land representative sent to Texas after the Civil War. Along with his cohort, Forrest Tucker, they look to take advantage of the devastated south. In real life, Bennett had the last laugh dying at over 100 years of age a short time ago. There is a good performance by Tom Tryon as Heston's brother Cinch. Too bad we didn't see more of Tryon in films. Tryon exudes bitterness, and with his caustic personality, brings a fresh image to the film. Embittered by being one-armed, he turns to Bennett and Tucker when he is thrown out by brother Heston.

Three Violent People is directed by Rudolph Maté and adapted to screenplay by James Edward Grant from a story co-written by Leonard Praskins and Barney Slater. It stars Charlton Heston, Anne Baxter, Gilbert Roland and Forrest Tucker. Out of Paramount Pictures, it's a VistaVision production with Technicolor photography by Loyal Griggs and music scored by Walter Scharf. It's post Civil War Texas and Confederate Captain Colt Saunders (Heston) finds himself with a bride (Baxter) who has a secret past, and taxable assets at his ranch that scheming Carpetbaggers want for themselves. Into the mix comes Colt's brother Cinch (Tryon), who is minus an arm from an accident in childhood - where Colt was his heroic saviour. Things will come to a head as resentments, skeleton's in closets and post war greed will fracture the dynamic of the Bar "S" ranch. Try to remember that people aren't perfect. They just aren't. They make mistakes. And when they do, they suffer. They pay. Inside themselves they pay. It made little impact back on release in 56, where the release of Heston's other film that year, The Ten Commandments, dwarfed it considerably and simultaneously propelled Heston into the big league. It didn't help that Three Violent People is a very character driven picture, literate and heavy on the melodrama. This is no gun slinging action based bonanza, this features interesting characters talking a lot, where the screenplay has the big players nicely drawn, creating a pot boiler that only rewards those open to an intelligently paced structure. The title, sadly, is misleading and doesn't do the film any favours. You were one of the rear echelon heroes who hid on General Butler's staff while better men were getting killed in battle. Film has definite links to another "literate" Heston picture from 1954, The Naked Jungle. Sanctimonious macho male takes a wife and recoils when learning of her past. Cue the fleshing out of relationships for an hour until the pot starts boiling over and the pace ups and unfolds with a pleasingly suspenseful third act. Action until that third act is sparse, though there's good drama to keep one interested, very much so. This is also a gorgeous picture to look at, not just the rugged but beautiful landscape around the Bar "S" (Arizona), but also the colours that beam out from the screen, Loyal Griggs' (Shane) photography reason enough to seek out this undervalued Western. I got the one with the red hair ready for the buzzards. Lead cast performances are up and down, Baxter and Heston's chemistry is fine and sexy, but they do appear to be in competition with each other to see who can steal a scene. Baxter, looking positively ravishing throughout, really over does it early in the pic, while Heston forgoes his most agreeable subtlety from those early passages to ham it up later in the day. The best performance comes from Roland (Cheyenne Autumn), who as Bar "S" gran vaquero, Innocencio Ortega, not only looks immeasurable cool, he also casts a humanistic shadow over proceedings. Tryon, whose edgy one armed brother adds major spice to the narrative, turns in a rare effective performance. The problems are evident throughout, some over soaping by actors who should have known better and the villains are badly in need of flesh on their bones. Yet this is still a Western that plays better now to Western fans than it would have done back in the 50s. For now the character driven bent can be appreciated without expectation of a "yee-haw" fuelled Oater. This be one for the ears, eyes and the brain rather than the pulse. 7/10

Charlton Heston made two good westerns: "The Big Country" and "Three Violent People". "Three Violent People" will show you a rousing good time. It is about a former-Confederate soldier (Charlton Heston) married to a southern belle who is hiding her former job as a saloon girl (Anne Baxter). When the husband finds out, he loses interest in his wife. Then the soldier's brother (Tom Tyron) takes over. This is Anne Baxter's best western. I think it is her only western. Tom Tryon made two more good movies: "The Cardinal" and "In Harm's Way"; then he retired in 1971 and became a successful novelist. You will notice Hollywood's best supporting actors in this movie.