TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

a.lampert Andre de Toth directs faultlessly here bringing a big surprise to anyone who thought that 1950's westerns were watered down versions of reality. This is possibly the most uncompromising and bleak vision of the old west that I can remember seeing for a film from the 1950's. Brilliantly photographed against a backdrop of snow, hills and forests, with wonderfully composed shots of both actors and scenery, this is a minor masterpiece. Terrific choice of actors headed by tough guy Robert Ryan, folk singer Burl Ives and the beautiful Tina Louise with great supporting actors, Dabs Greer, Elisha Cook Jr, Jack Lambert etc. Great story, unfolding slowly and with completely unexpected events occurring throughout. Just when you think something is going to explode, de Toth holds it all back,racking up the tension to the bitter end. The best western I've watched in years. If only they made pictures like this still.

jeremy3 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. Now, Robert Ryan plays a pretty tough guy, and he can best a big guy in the fight but not all of them. That is the whole point. It is about the limits of being human. Burl Ives plays a character that you do not know whether to love or hate. He is very wise and charming, but also spends all his time trying to make decisions to keep his crew of roughnecks happy. He has a sense of justice, but also can turn and become the dictator as well. So, Robert Ryan's character knows that he cannot defeat the whole band, so he lets them know that this is their last chance to get out of town and make it to the warmer valley below, or self destruct in a town with just four women. In the end, he beats the outlaws not by strength and force, but by using the ultimate powers of nature to outwit and defeat the outlaws. The freezing cold and snow is what ultimately defeats them. I think this is a very unique and wonderful movie. I can't help but think that Robert Altman probably was inspired by this film to do McCabe and Mrs. Miller, another movie about nature as the ultimate decider.

Robert J. Maxwell It's the Wild West and there is a small valley town in the middle of a vast range of snowy mountains. Robert Ryan is the rancher who lives outside of town, a loner with no friends, and a past liaison with Tina Louise, now married to one of the townspeople. The townspeople either run the few shops or they're farmers. The farmers have been annoying Ryan, what with their staking out claims and stringing up barbed wire. Ryan rides into town to settle things with one of the more provocative squatters, calling him a "pig-bellied farmer." Now, if all this reminds you of "Shane," it ought to. "Shane" unquestionably provided the model for the first half hour of this movie. The name of Ryan's character is even Starett, pronounced "Start", as it is in "Shane." Then the "Shane" template is thrown out, the feud forgotten, as a half dozen raggedy ex-soldiers who are being pursued by the U. S. Cavalry for some miscreant act ride into town, collect all the guns, and take over. Well, as a kind of curtain call for the "Shane" plot, there is a brutal fist fight that pits Ryan against perennial villain Jack Lambert. As in "Shane," Ryan manages to deck Lambert but then is set upon by the rest of the gang.There follows almost an hour of the gang ruling the town. The men want booze and women, as men are wont to do, but their captain, Burl Ives, keeps them in check while he has his bullet wound tended to. There is also a young gang member who has never killed anyone and tries to be gentle with the townsmen and women folk.Burl Ives intends to kill everyone in town before leaving but Ryan saves them by agreeing to lead the gang to safety through the mountains. No point spelling it all out. You can probably guess most of the rest.The best thing about the movie is its location shooting in the Cascade Range of Oregon. A shame it was shot in black and white. Most of these inexpensive Westerns are shot in sunny California, in Corriganville or some other place set aside for just such enterprises. Usually one senses the caterer's table and the principals' trailers just off camera. But here the men and horses struggle through unblemished banks of snow. Probably it was a tough shoot.Ryan does his usual professional job. He was a strange actor. His features, depending on how they were used, could be menacing or not, and his dry voice could be full of evil or sympathetic. In "On Dangerous Ground" he displays his ability to play on both ends of the spectrum, and in "The Professionals" he's the tender-minded horse wrangler. Burl Ives was evidently a nice guy but I always found him slightly embarrassing on screen. The man always seemed to show through the role. I always hear "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" in the back of my mind.The director, Andre de Toth, was a workmanlike mediocrity with one or two of the more memorable noirs to his credit. Wardrobe, Make Up, and Set Dressing are perfunctory. The indoor sets do not look lived in. The clutter of everyday living is absent. Nobody even bothered to fill up the shelves of the saloon with bottles. And the ladies' hair styles don't even nod towards the period.Ryan's character's name is Blaise Star. We never see it in print during the story and I kept thinking it must be "Blaze." I wonder if the writers would have called him "Blaise" if they'd been thinking of Blaise Pascal, philosopher, theologian, co-inventor of the calculus. They'd have shied away in fright. It would be worse than calling him "Chester" or "Montmorency" or "Governeur." You know, I checked all this out. There was never a cowboy in history named Wade, Cole, Matt, or Clay. They all had names like "Isaac" and "Zealous" and "Ulysses." If I were you, I'd watch this if there were nothing else on. There were times when I had to prop my eyelids open with toothpicks.

Spikeopath Cowboys and ranchers must stick together when a gang of outlaws ride into town intent on causing trouble and abusing the town. Even tho their leader, ex army Captain, Jack Bruhn has them under some sort of control, salvation may have to come from the moody Blaise Starrett, who has his own secret agenda to deal with.Day Of The Outlaw {poor title not befitting the quality of the film} is directed by André De Toth {Ramrod, Crime Wave & House of Wax} and stars Robert Ryan, Burl Ives & Tina Louise. Adapted from the novel written by Lee E. Wells, it's a film that is crying out to be seen by more people, especially those with an aversion to Westerns. For although grounded in Western tradition, it comes across more as a moody Noir piece, the atmosphere throughout hangs heavy like a weighted burden, with this tiny tin pot town in the snowy swept mountains photographed starkly by Russell Harlan. This is some out of the way place that nobody but its small inhabitants care about, and even those that do are probably doing so more out of ill judged loyalty to having not tasted something else before.Robert Ryan was a terrific actor, often only mentioned when talk turns to famous pictures like The Wild Bunch & The Dirty Dozen, but it's with performances like here, or The Set-Up & Crossfire, that he really puts a depth and critical layers to his talent. Burl Ives is also great, his weary and scarred Bruhn is almost in empathy with Starrett and the townsfolk, so much so, we are never quite sure just how this picture will end. Tina Louise rounds out the leads, and apart from being an incredibly sexy woman, she does some great facial acting here, one sequence as the outlaws demand dances with the ladies is laden with a vile undercurrent, with Louise perfectly portraying the threat with acting gravitas. With astute directing and acting to match the almost sombre soaked story, Day Of The Outlaw comes highly recommended to fans of atmospheric enveloped cinema. 9/10