NOTE: This is not a new review. I originally wrote it on August 16, 2015 and published it as part of my “My Movie Journal” series.
Continuing my trek through the movies I took out of the library, I viewed one of the seemingly more random entries in the Criterion Collection, Delmer Daves’ 1956 Western Jubal. At the end of it, I wasn’t really convinced it deserved to be part of the Criterion canon, but it’s certainly a solid film in its own right.
The plot gets a bit thick, so here goes: Jubal Troop (Glenn Ford), is a hard-luck cowhand who’s found lost in the wilderness by cattle rancher Shep Horgan (Ernest Borgnine), and brought back to Shep’s ranch, where he’s given a warm reception, except by Pinky (Rod Steiger), who mocks Jubal for having herded sheep to make ends meet. Jubal discovers that Shep is married, and his wife Mae (Valerie French), is less than in love with her crude, boisterous husband. She soon begins a flirtation, which Jubal rejects, but which nonetheless deepens Pinky’s hatred of him, as Pinky was previously the object of Mae’s attention.
Pinky’s disgust is multiplied when Shep makes Jubal his new foreman, and when a caravan of religious settlers (possibly Mormons) stops on Shep’s land, drawing threats of violence from Pinky, Jubal’s decision to let them stay as long as they need to intensifies their feud. Naomi (Felicia Farr), a member of the caravan, is much taken with Jubal, and when the word (much exaggerated) gets around to Mae, she is devastated. Jubal becomes closer to Naomi (without making romantic overtures), and is threatened by another member of her company (can’t recall his name offhand), who reveals Naomi was “promised” to him.
Shep, hitherto oblivious to Mae’s dislike of him, has his suspicions raised by Pinky after Jubal accompanies Mae back to the ranch house from their camp and does not promptly return. He goes to the house and finds Mae alone, and when she calls out Jubal’s name in her sleep, he demands to know if she and Jubal slept together. She affirms it, even though Jubal rejected her advances yet again. Shep finds Jubal in a saloon with Reb Haislipp (Charles Bronson), another ranch hand who came with the caravan, and shoots at Jubal, not killing but wounding him. Reb throws the unarmed Jubal a pistol and he regretfully kills Shep.
A manhunt ensues for the two of them, goaded by Pinky, who expects to recapture Mae’s affection–but the truth will out, as the principals learn to their regret and/or redemption.
Othello is frequently mentioned as an influence on Jubal, and certainly Pinky has an Iago-esque quality to him; he may be less cunning than Iago, but he has the same relentless manipulative nature, while Shep’s pathetic gullibility is not totally dissimilar, if much simpler, than Othello’s “loving not wisely but too well”. But Jubal isn’t much like Michael Cassio and Mae is nothing like Desdemona, so the comparison isn’t perfect.
The acting is strong, with Ford showing both how Jubal has been beaten down by life and how morally steadfast he remains in spite of it. I haven’t seen much of Ford’s leading man-era work, but he’s very good here indeed. Borgnine, who got to play more sympathetic roles in the wake of Marty, makes Shep’s obtuseness cheerful and likable and tortured and pathetic with equal skill. Steiger is convincingly hateful, while French, a shaky accent aside (she was British; we’re told Mae is Canadian), makes Mae’s frustration and disgust, which eventually finds an outlet in flirtation, likewise believable.
The most memorable aspect of the film is Charles Lawton Jr.’s CinemaScope cinematography, which makes striking use of light and shadow and good use of the wide frame. The scenes of Mae watching from a window or from the shadows are especially memorable–along with French’s performance, they take the film close to Sirk territory. David Raksin’s score isn’t bad either. The script is fine; it’s a little too knotty for its own good, and the ending is pretty abrupt, but the characters are solidly drawn and there’s some shocking innuendo for the time (“Used to be, if you ever wanted some wood, you just called for Pinky”)
I still don’t really know why Criterion added Jubal to their catalog, besides wanting to twin it with Daves’ 3:10 to Yuma. But here it is, canonized for the nonce, and it’s certainly far from the worst entry in the Collection (Heaven’s Gate–coincidentally, another Western–is far, far, far worse). By all means worth a watch for Western completists.
Score: 80
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