The sheriff of a small Kansas town, Cass Silver (Robert Ryan) is expecting trouble. The town has managed to avoid violence and bloodshed for years, but that's about to change. A new railroad line has made the town an important cattle depot, meaning cattle drives can now use Cass' town as a destination. The first herd is due any day now, and along with them comes Honest John Barrett (Robert Middleton), a saloon owner who has quite the checkered past with Cass as a marshal. Barrett sees the town as a gold mine, the potential for money and riches just waiting at his fingertips. His problem? Cass knows how he operates and doesn't intend to be intimidated by him. The experienced lawman braces for Barrett's plan while also weighing how much a new deputy, Thad Anderson (Jeffrey Hunter), can help. Anderson too has his own secrets, one that could doom them all.
The 1950s were packed to the gills with westerns hitting theaters from bigger budget A-level movies with smaller scale, cheaper B-movies. From director Robert D. Webb, 'Proud' is a better, more enjoyable western because it falls in between the two. It's familiar stuff, the town sheriff protecting his town, his word and his honor against a power-hungry businessman. Familiar isn't bad. There's some solid casting with some A-list names, but they're not there for the sake of star power. The story is mostly relegated to the town set which looks a lot like the set from The Ox-Bow Incident (from 13 years earlier), but the crowded streets with bars, businesses and alleys ending up being a key ingredient to the escalating situation. I also really liked Lionel Newman's score, a combination of soft and subtle -- especially Cass' whistle theme, listen HERE -- with bigger, louder outbursts in tense action scenes. It's a lot of little things again, but combined together it works out nicely.
By 1956, Robert Ryan was an established star in Hollywood, a reliable tough guy know for his villainous roles but also his ability to play flawed heroes. Playing veteran marshal Cass Silver, Ryan's part definitely falls into that second category. He's good at what he goes, but his past is checkered to say the least, thanks in great part to his history with Middleton's Honest John (Get it? It's ironic!). Silver has a tenuous relationship with saloon girl turned restaurant owner Sally (always reliable Virginia Mayo) and has a definite future with her, if he can get out of town and his job alive. In a semi-interesting but still unnecessary twist, Cass also gets knocked over the head and starts experiencing headaches that render him temporarily blind. It seems like something more worthy of a spaghetti western. Isolated and all but on his own, Cass might fight for what he believes in, what's right and upholding his word. I liked the main character a lot, and behind him, things fall into place nicely.
Presenting the town marshal as a main character in a western is nothing new, but I liked what Webb did just the same. 'Proud' had to be an influence on Howard Hawks who three years later with Rio Bravo would make a western with some similar undertones (and some less subtle connections). Cass has two deputies, Jake (Walter Brennan, basically playing the same role he'd play in Rio Bravo), the old jailer trying to keep Cass on his toes, and Jim (Arthur O'Connell), the doting father worried about his expecting wife. There's also a great dynamic between Silver and Hunter's Thad Anderson, the cowboy turned deputy. He blames Silver for his father's death, but he doesn't know all the facts. It's not quite a father-son relationship that develops -- maybe more of a brotherly relationship -- but it's fun to watch Silver keep working with the young deputy, not knowing if he'll get a bullet in his back whenever he turns away.
Rounding out the leads, Middleton is smooth and slimy as Honest John, wanting to get his way no matter what or who stands in his way. In this case, his means to an end is to hire "friends," Pike (Ken Clark) and Chico (Rodolfo Acosta), gunfighters waiting to shoot Cass in the back. In a smaller role that basically has her disappear after an early intro, Mayo fits in well as Sally, Silver's girlfriend who worries about his pride costing him his life.
Released in 1956, 'Proud' is surprisingly dark for an American western of the time. It delves into greed, backstabbing, betrayal and out and out murder. Even cynicism is evident almost from the first scene on. Trying to live up to his job and his word, Cass sees the town turn to Sodom and Gomorrah once there is any sort of money on the line, in this case lots and lots of money. The gunfights are quick and hard-hitting, and the finale in a dark, claustrophobic barn features the earliest use of blood squibs I've ever seen. One character gets shot in the face, another in the head, blood shooting out on impact. It's a western I don't hear much about, but I liked it from the start. Highly recommended.
The Proud Ones (1956): ***/****
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