pitcairn89 — 14 years ago(February 17, 2012 01:43 AM)

I've recently seen a number of Rock's early action films, the ones made at Universal, and am impressed by how enjoyable they are. People tend to write off these early films as just training grounds for him, and as preludes to his later, bigger-budgeted films. These ARE modestly-budgeted films, for the most part, but they aren't bad, and have lots of name talents involved. Classy directors like Budd Boetticher, Raoul Walsh, and Hudson's famous collaborator, Douglas Sirk. Anthony Mann, too, though his films with Hudson- "Winchester 73" and "Bend of the River" are really Jimmy Stewart films, and bigger-budgeted efforts. Production guys like cameraman Russell Metty, and composer Frank Skinner. And the acting talent- Anthony Quinn, Arlene Dahl, John McIntire, Yvonne De Carlo, Barbara Rush, Julie Adams, Jeff Chandler, and Piper Laurie. Not the biggest acting names in the business, but not bad.
Universal was still a second-tier studio at that time, and many of their action films were also sort of s5b4econd-rank affairs. The films with Hudson, and those with Jeff Chandler, Tony Curtis, and perhaps the westerns with Audie Murphy. As well as their horror and sci-fi films- "The Creature From the Black Lagoon," "The Mole People," "The Incredible Shrinking Man," etc. They did have the bigger-budgeted Anthony Mann- Jimmy Stewart westerns, and, by mid-decade, the Sirk-Hudson melodramas. Those later Sirk-Hudson films are great, and made a superstar out of Hudson. But there is still something to be said for his earlier action movies, I think. They were all well-made, had great color, nice costumes, good music, and many good supporting actors. And a number of them focused on offbeat episodes of history (though they take great liberties with the true histories- as films often do). "Captain Boycott, " directed by Sirk, about Irish rebels in the 19th Century; "The Bengal Brigade" on British India; "Seminole," directed by Boetticher, on the Seminole wars in Florida in the 1830s, etc. Some of his westerns- "Taza, Son of Cochise," directed by Sirk, about the U.S.- Apache wars, in the 1870s; "The Lawless Breed," directed by Walsh, a whitewashed bio of John Wesley Hardin, "Horizons West," directed by Boetticher, with Hudson and Robert Ryan as brothers; "Gun Fury," another by Walsh, etc. ("Sea Devils," also directed by Walsh, was released by RK5b4O, but is a very similar film to these Universal productions about smugglers in the Channel Islands, and their involvements in Napoleonic France).
What do other posters think about these films? I find them to be very enjoyable, and better than I had been led to believe. They are not just "B" movies, and only stepping stones for Hudson's rise to the top. They are well-filmed, and have a lot going for them. And how can you go wrong with directors like Walsh, Boetticher, Sirk and Mann?
The other Universal "B" level adventure/swashbuckler films, starring Curtis, Chandler, Alan Ladd ("Desert Legion"), and even Errol Flynn ("Against All Flags") are similar to these Hudson films, I think. "Yankee Buccaneer," "The Black Shield of Falworth," "The Purple Mask," etc. Not in the league of the Warners'- Errol Flynn or Fox- Tyrone Power actioners, but still not bad. And all these Universal films had good actors, production values, and production staff. For Curtis and Hudson, in particular, these movies led to bigger things. But on their own terms, they're not bad movies.
Anyway, I enjoyed these early Hudson action films. What does anyone else think about them?