Perry Kate
Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Derrick Gibbons
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
Fatma Suarez
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Lela
The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
discount1957
A marvellous Western from Oswald, a director who brought an intensity and fluidity to the B-Western that seems impossible given the five-to-seven-day shooting schedule it and the equally impressive 'Fury at Showdown' (1957) shared. Burr and O'Brian are the baddie and peace officer respectively set on collision course, when O'Brian captures Burr only to have him escape. The action is breathtaking - the climax has Burr and O'Brian racing towards each other on horseback, guns drawn - but it is Oswald's assertive camera, creating a jail break in one long take, for instance, that one remembers.Ph. H.
MartinHafer
Hugh O'Brien plays Sheriff Addams--one of the few inhabitants of a stupid old west town. I say stupid because the folks don't seem all that bright and they seem to appreciate their sheriff about as much you'd appreciate Eczema! Clay Gipson is a 12 year-old who happens to see the wanted killer, Tris Hatten (Raymond Burr). When he tells the sheriff, Addams is able to capture the baddie. Oddly, many of the townsfolk seem to feel sorry for Hatten--even though he's killed several people! As I said, it's a very stupid town!! So, the trick is to bring Hatten to trial and convict him--while at the same time Addams and Gipson remain alive to see it! But, the conspiracy of stupids is strong!! The biggest weakness of this film is how fickle and stupid the townspeople were--a bit too stupid if you ask me. I also thought a few of the characters were ridiculous--such as Hatten's girlfriend (???). Clay's father wasn't much better. But, O'Brien does a nice job as does Burr--who is always great in baddie roles. On balance, worth seeing but far from a must-see picture.
gdonner
The only person who should have been shot in this movie is the writer. From a sheriff who sends a murderer to town under the auspices of his girl friend, to a father who has no regard for the safety of his son, this movie is ripe for some very rotten tomatoes.The dialog adds nothing, and the actors can't save the plot and keep the viewer's interest.By comparison, "Plan 9 from Outer Space" is at least humorous and entertaining. Would love to see this served on a platter to Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo.Don't waste your time on this when there are good westerns out there worth watching.
classicsoncall
With Raymond Burr forever etched in the minds of TV watchers as lawyer Perry Mason, it's somewhat uncharacteristic to see him toting a handgun as the main heavy in a sagebrush yarn like "The Brass Legend". He looks the part too, all gruff and unruly, and perhaps with a girth I hadn't noticed before. Hugh O'Brian looks just right for the part of a sheriff, whether here as Wade Addams, or as the lead character in "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp". Can you believe that series is over fifty years old?For a Western that follows a fairly standard formula, director Gerd Oswald provides some interesting scenes that were never staples of the genre. Like young Tom Gipson (Robert Burton) getting shot off his horse, or how about that fancy showdown in the saloon when the Sheriff takes out all three Barlow brothers? That scene came off as totally realistic, vindicating Addams' tarnished reputation in bringing outlaw Tris Hatten (Burr) to justice in the first place. Even the ending was done differently, instead of your standard showdown in the middle of a dusty street, you have both antagonists riding toward each other like jousting knights, but with guns blazing instead. There seemed to be just the right amount of satisfaction in Hatten's dying breath as he figures he outlived the hangman.But you know, I keep wondering about one scene. How many takes do you think it required for Burr to find his mark when he threw his holstered gun against the wall?
