Day of the Outlaw

At numerous times when they are going through the mountains, it is obvious that the horses are walking in plowed trenches.

None of the horses has a winter coat of hair.

In the town there are puddles of water when everything else is frozen.

The stacks of precisely-cut firewood that are often seen in the village must have been made by using C20th machinery.

"Day of the Outlaw" is a dark psychological little black and white western centered in a small dead end town somewhere in Oregon in the middle of winter.Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan) is a powerful cattleman who objects to farmer Hal Crane (Alan Marshal) stringing barbed wire across his property thereby depriving Starrett to his usual free access to the former open range.

Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan) un duro ganadero harto de las alambradas puestas por los granjeros que impiden a sus reses caminar libremente, se dirige a un pequeño pueblo de apenas 20 habitantes al pie de unas montañas, con la intención de matar si no retira la alambrada a Hal Crane (Alan Marshal), un granjero casado con un antiguo amor (Tina Louise), al que además de por el tema de las alambradas, odia por estar casado con la mujer que todavía ama y que ya nunca podrá tener, y por creer que como hombre que ayudo a pacificar esas antaño salvajes tierras, no puede permitir la conducta contraria a sus intereses de los pacíficos y a su juicio interesados granjeros.Montañas heladas presidiendo el nevado pueblo, Starrett y los granjeros, una vez agotado el dialogo, esperando la caída de una botella puesta a rodar por el mostrador de un bar como señal para dirimir a tiros la cuestión, y justo en el momento en que la botella está a punto de caer, la puerta se abre violentamente dando paso al grupo de ladrones renegados del ejercito mandado por el Capitán Jack Bruhn (Burl Ives): 5 malencarados facinerosos, y un chaval que se ve tiene buen fondo, que toman al pueblo como rehén para curar una fea herida del Capitán y seguir camino antes de que lleguen los soldados que van en su busca por el robo de una fuerte suma de dinero.

"Day of the Outlaw" is a mean, tough and very tense western. It has a strong cast and beautiful exterior photography.

There's a fine off-beat (b/w) western hiding behind that generic title. In a small snowed-in outpost town, a land dispute between self-appointed lawmaker Robert Ryan and other residents is interrupted by the arrival of runaway cavalry soldiers and gold thieves (led by Burt Ives, who's very good, as is the whole cast).

Well, this is one of those movies you watch without any preconceptions because you have never heard of it before and it creeps up and socks you in the jaw. Starts, seemingly simply enough with Robert Ryan as the old school cowboy coming up against the more conservative farmers and settlers.

I like Westerns and here we got one on our hands with a different approach story-wise. In fact this movie does what I look for which is a story within a story making one want to follow the movie and plot screen by screen.

This movie has so much to it. It is about a band of outlaws who invade a small town in the mountains during the winter.

This is a strange one: superb performances and realistic action set in a wonderfully harsh and beautiful setting, yet let down by plodding, uninspired direction. The sub-plot/romance concerning young Gene and the blonde girl reminded me of "3.

This is an excellent western by Andre de Toth. It is mainly remembered for its final thirty minutes,an extraordinary ride in the snow ,where the director makes the best of black and white pictures while he's filming all the tired horses ...