Devil's Canyon

Sometimes I wonder if older movies even tried to be believable, authentic, or realistic. Granted, much of this can be attributed to budget -- or lack of -- but make an effort at least. It's always been a pet peeve of mine about westerns, especially with pre-1960 genre entries. The west was a dirty, dusty, scorching hot place that didn't exactly have all the facilities to make personal hygiene a priority. That's one reason spaghetti westerns are among my favorites, they made the west look like it actually was, albeit in Spain and Italy.

And yeah, yeah, I know audiences might not go see a glamorous 50s actress looking like a frontier woman who hasn't seen a bathtub in months, but at least try to make it look like that actress is not walking onto the set right from the photo shoot. Not that the guy's appearance isn't an issue, it's just not as noticeable in most cases. So is the case with 1953 B-western Devil's Canyon, an effort from RKO Pictures that had a fair share of potential but never rises to the occasion.

Supposedly based on a true story (names have been changed to protect the individuals involved, no joke, they use that line), Devil's Canyon tells the story of retired marshal Billy Reynolds (Dale Robertson) who no longer even wears a gun. One day in town, Abby Nixon (Virginia Mayo), a female outlaw, rides in and warns Billy that the Gorman brothers are coming to kill him. Billy disregards a local ordinance that has outlawed gunplay, kills the two Gorman brothers in self defense, and is still sent to the Yuma Territorial Prison with a 10-year sentence.

The problems are just starting for Reynolds as Jessie Gorman (Stephen McNally), the oldest of the clan, is a prisoner at Yuma and has every intention of getting his revenge. The prison warden (Robert Keith) wants to reform Reynolds, but there are other things afoot. Abby gets herself thrown into prison as well on a robbery charge and begins to go to work setting up a jail break with dreamy Reynolds and her old flame Jessie.

First off, besides some flaws I'll get into later with the small budget and any sense of realism, I liked this movie. It has a dark edge to it in telling a story almost completely self-contained in the real-life Yuma Prison. The build-up is enjoyable, the supporting cast is noteworthy, and the ending while predictable is particulary vicious. Three key members of the supporting cast include Reynolds' fellow cellmates, Arthur Hunnicutt playing Arthur Hunnicutt as he always did, George Lewis and Whit Bissell as an arsonist who burned down his own warehouse because he "likes to watch fire." Jay C. Flippen is also good as the head guard, and Earl Holliman makes his first credited appearance as one of Gorman's henchmen.

Mayo and Robertson are capable enough as the leads, but their appearances make me smile just thinking of it. Mayo is always perfectly done up with hair, makeup, and apparel, including strategically cut shirts that fall all the way to her chest. Convenient, huh? And in an all-male prison too, that makes sense. She also wears one of those pointy 1950s bras that look like they'd take an eye out if you weren't careful. Robertson is a little wooden as the stalwart hero, but let's face it, his hair is the star here. Robertson's WALL of hair must be five or six inches tall, and it is always nicely coiffed and gelled. McNally's bad guy doesn't let him off so easily, pushing his hair to the limit as well. Is any of this key to the story? Absolutely not, but it's hard to miss.

What works so well is the final jailbreak. The Yuma set is just that, an indoor set, which limits the capabilities of the story. Made years later and with a much bigger budget, There Was a Crooked Man showed what is possible with an outdoor, fully workable prison set. But in the end with plenty of shadows and full night colors, the jailbreak makes for an exciting end if not entirely original. If the showdown itself was in a movie made 10 years later, we're talking Bonnie and Clyde-esque violence. An enjoyable, utterly average B-western that I enjoyed, even if there was no Devil's Canyon ever mentioned in the story. Curious if you ask me although I did read some interpretations that were rather graphic and had to do with Miss Mayo's body. The particularly misleading trailer below seems to play that up.

Devil's Canyon <----TCM trailer (1953): ** 1/2 /****