NR | 1h 32m | Drama, Western | 1959
These films draw audiences in by offering the promise of untold stories. The secretive past of these figures begs to be revealed, making for a gripping narrative.
Cold and Icy Rivalries
It’s winter in Bitters, Wyoming. That’s not just the town’s name, it’s the general mood. This is the kind of place where the snow is deep, the tempers deeper, and even tumbleweeds would rather stay indoors. As two cowboys urge their horses through the frostbitten wilderness, viewers get our first bleak glimpse of Bitters. This is a place that looks like it was built solely to be snowed in.
The two cowhands ride in: Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan), and Dan (Nehemiah Persoff), his right-hand man. Starrett is a rancher with a chip on his shoulder, a gun on his hip, and as viewers will soon see, someone else’s wife on his mind.
Blaise helped tame this little stretch of Wyoming, and now the very homesteaders he cleared the land for are fencing him out with miles of barbed wire. His main adversary? Hal Crane (Alan Marshal), a fence-stringing farmer who also happens to be the husband of Blaise’s old flame, Helen (Tina Louise). Although Starrett communicates with cold stares and grim ultimatums, Helen still has feelings for him.
Blaise rides into town ready to solve his problems the Old West way—with bullets or fisticuffs. But just as he’s about to settle things with Crane, cue the dramatic door swingin’ open, and in walks a new kind of trouble.
Former cavalry captain turned gold-thieving sociopath Jack Bruhn (Burl Ives) leads his merry gang of deserters, who storm into the saloon, guns drawn. Suddenly Bitters’s townsfolk become less concerned about barbed wire and more about basic survival.
Bruhn, equal parts charismatic and cold-blooded, is bleeding out from a bullet lodged near his heart. You’d think it would slow him down. But no, he tries to run the town with fading strength and ruthless willpower, while telling everyone that he and his gang are just passing through. However, things begin to shake out (pun unintended) differently.
Interesting Plot and Unusual Setting
This isn’t your typical dust-choked western. Forget sun-baked plains and cacti. “Day of the Outlaw” throws viewers headfirst into a world of frostbite and moral frost. The stunning wintry scenery was shot in Oregon’s Mount Bachelor region. There are even glimpses of dormant volcanoes’ peaks, looming like silent judges over the drama below.What begins as a land dispute and a love triangle quickly pivots to a tense standoff wrapped in existential dread. A straightforward cowboy shootout instead becomes a chilling meditation on survival, moral compromise, and a the blurry, ever-shifting line between hero and villain.
Ryan’s Starrett looks like a man who’s been chewing on an invisible lemon for three days straight, while Ives commands the screen with a mix of haunted resolve and slow physical collapse.
There are a few stumbles. Starrett’s sudden turn toward sacrificial heroism feels like it comes out of nowhere. Did he hit his head out on the range? And Crane’s loyalties swing faster than a saloon door in a tornado. One minute she’s defending her husband, the next she’s basically offering herself to Starrett like a winter coat during a cold snap, which obviously isn’t a good message to put out there about marriage.
The supporting cast has its charms. David Nelson brings surprising depth to Gene, the outlaw with the most humanity. Perhaps as a marketing gimmick, the film’s posters show a sultry Tina Louise; in the actual film, true to its chilly setting, the film keeps things relatively modest.
“Day of the Outlaw” carves out its own niche in the genre. With its breathtaking landscape and moral dilemmas, it trades the expected sun and swagger for snowdrifts and psychological strain. Not quite a favorite in my western pantheon, the film is a bold, moody detour through frozen frontier justice, and it’s worth the ride.
