The Man from Colorado

Plot synopsis:
In Colorado near the end of the American Civil War, Union Colonel Owen Devereaux (Glenn Ford) orders his regiment to fire on a detachment of Confederate soldiers, even though he (and only he) has seen that they are signaling their surrender with a white flag. Afterward, his best friend and second-in-command, Captain Del Stewart (William Holden), finds the flag and buries it as a surviving Confederate officer secretly looks on.
Immediately after the battle, the war ends. As the soldiers celebrate, Sergeant Jericho Howard (James Millican) gets drunk while on duty and is insubordinate to Devereaux, who has him arrested. At a ball, the mayor announces Devereaux's appointment as the federal judge for the region. Stewart asks Caroline Emmett (Ellen Drew) to marry him, but she later marries Devereaux instead.
When the Confederate survivor confronts Devereaux about the white flag, Devereaux shoots him, even though the man has already been subdued. Stewart realizes that Devereaux must have seen the flag and concludes that the war has unhinged Devereaux's mind. He agrees to serve as Devereaux's marshal after Devereaux promises not to participate in arrests.
Many of Devereaux's men owned mines before the war began, but a wealthy businessman named Big Ed Carter (Ray Collins) claimed the mines for himself. As federal judge, Devereaux upholds Carter's claim based on a legal technicality involving the soldiers' absence during the war.
Meanwhile, Howard escapes and stages a series of gold robberies. Devereaux's uncle, Doc Merriam (Edgar Buchanan), hopes that the end of the war and marriage to Caroline will restore Devereaux's sanity, but Devereaux hangs Howard's partner after a summary trial, prompting several other men to join Howard. Devereaux also threatens to hang Howard's younger brother Johnny (Jerome Courtland) based on circumstantial evidence after another robbery, even though Johnny is not part of his brother's gang. After warning Devereaux not to hang Johnny, Stewart finds Howard and persuades him to turn himself in, but Devereaux hangs Johnny despite Stewart's warning. Stewart resigns in disgust and joins Howard's gang.
After Stewart helps to rescue some men from being hanged, Devereaux lures him into town by spreading a rumor that Caroline is in danger, arrests him, and puts him in jail. When Caroline sees this, she breaks into Devereaux's desk and reads his diary, finally realizes that he has lost his mind, and persuades Doc Merriam to rescue Stewart. She begins to put Stewart and Doc Merriam on a carriage to alert the state government of Devereaux's insanity, but Devereaux shoots Stewart, so she joins Stewart and the doctor as they flee to a nearby mining town. Devereaux sets fire to the town. When Carter accuses him of being mad with jealousy over Caroline's loyalty to Stewart, he rides into town, confronts Stewart and Howard, and is killed when a wall from a burning building falls on him. Howard is also killed.
Stewart says goodbye to Caroline and others before traveling to Washington DC to plead on behalf of the dispossessed miners.

Tags: cult, suspenseful, murder, romantic, melodrama

Review:
Glenn Ford was as good as anyone playing an intense psychotic, which he does here in this above-average western.
Ford, playing "Col.Owen Devereaux," gets elected to the position of "judge" right after his distinguished career in the Civil War. Unfortunately, he has mental problems and this position carries too much weight for an unstable sort such as him to be carrying.
Del Stewart" (William Holden) sees his friend as he is and tries to reason with him and help him out but winds up being alienated, too, by the paranoid judge whose problems escalate as the story goes on.There's not a tremendous amount of action in here, but it still moves pretty fast and looks really nice on DVD.
This is one of the few color films of the 1940s.Ellen Drew, Ray Collins and Ed Buchnan provide good supporting help in the story.
Del Stewart, Devereaux grows ever more erratic by the day, his friends, his loves and all who cross him, are sure to pay if they can't rein in his madness.Starring Glenn Ford as Devereaux and William Holden as Stewart, directed by Henry Levin, The Man from Colorado, from a story by Borden Chase, is an intriguing psychological Western.
Having both become lawmen, it would have been easy for all to just play out a standard oater as the two friends are driven apart by not only their different levels of sanity (Holden's Stewart is an excellent counter point to Ford's blood thirst), but also the love of a good woman (Ellen Drew's petite Caroline Emmet).
It's fair to say that even a "c" grade Western can look nice if given a good transfer, but when the Technicolor print is good, you can tell the difference big time, and this piece is first rate.
"The Man From Colorado" opens in the closing days of the American Civil War. Two life long friends, Col. Owen Deveraux (Glenn Ford) and Capt.
Meanwhile, big time mine boss Ed Carter (Ray Collins) and the Governor's representative (Stanley Andrews) offer Deveraux the position of Federal Judge.
Glenn Ford playing against type, gives one of the best performances of his career as the psychotic Deveraux.
Holden does his best in effectively what is a supporting role, as the good friend.
Back in the day William Holden and Glenn Ford both had a unique contractual arrangement with Columbia Pictures.
Glenn Ford was Columbia's bread and butter leading man at the time and right after The Man From Colorado, Cohn sold half of Ford's contract to MGM and Ford also had two studio masters.What it meant for these two was that all projects had to be cleared through both studios and that Holden and Ford if they did an outside loan out would also have to be cleared from both.
Not that their respective studios didn't keep both these guys very busy.Holden and Ford had done a well received western, Texas, for Columbia back in 1941.
Texas was a rather lighthearted film about two cowboys turning to different sides of the law in post Civil War Texas, though it did feature the death of one of them.The Man from Colorado is also a story about the activities of Union Army war veterans.
Some of the town businessmen led by Ray Collins just look at the war record and decide Ford would make one fine federal judge.
Here however he's the best friend who stands by his former commanding officer even though he both sees the man has issues and Holden loses Ellen Drew to Ford.
The other really standout performance in this film is that of James Milliken who plays one of Ford's former soldiers who turns outlaw and in fact humiliates him in one of the few funny moments in The Man From Colorado.
Ford and Holden worked together more than once, and they took turns playing "good cop bad cop" as the saying goes.
Ford and Holden are ex Civil War officers who become the law in a mining town.
With usual poetic film license, the men from their unit live in that very town, and left mining claims while fighting in the war.
Chivington's daughter had been raped by an Indian, and he took advantage of a relatively mild act of legal disobedience by the Indians to kill a good number of them."The Man From Colorado" is not dealing directly with the Sands Creek Massacre (no Indians are involved in the story).
Instead, Chivington's character is transferred to Glenn Ford, who in the closing days of the Civil War perpetrates a similar atrocity, this time on surrendering Confederates.
Ford and his friend William Holden have been through the whole war together, but Holden has managed to retain a sense of balance despite the horrors he has seen.
Holden has lost his old girlfriend (Ellen Drew) to Ford, but he remains a friend.
Holden and Drew may be able to break it - Drew has seen Ford's diary.In the wake of World War II's returning men, and the many suffering psychological trauma, "The Man From Colorado" was a timely film.
"The Man From Colorado", filmed in 1948, portrays two men and how the trauma of the Civil War affected them, and those about them.
Glenn Ford delivers a truly mesmerizing performance as a Civil War commander who is slowly being gripped by madness due to the violence of the War, while William Holden plays the part of a veteran of the same war, is able to cope with the aftermath, and yet, is unable to prevent his friend from sinking into degenerate madness.After the war has ended, both men return to the same hometown to resume their lives.
Ford is appointed as a federal judge of the territory, and he, in turn, names Holden as federal marshal.
Ultimately, Ford's character sinks deeper into violence and glaring errors in carrying out justice, and Holden has to try and stop his former friend.Don't let the age of the film deceive you, this movie does pack a message that can be applied today.
Glenn Ford and William Holden.
Glenn Ford's character, Colonel Devereaux, has all the trappings of a man whose reputation is unquestionable, and therefore can be trusted.
The person who knows that is his best friend, played by William Holden.
Best friends Owen and Del, along with local men, are mustered out of the Union army at Civil War's end.
Nonetheless, the interplay between best-friends Ford and Holden is involving and forms the story's core.
Bill Holden return with a group of fellow soldiers to their home town after the Civil War has ended.
Collins backs Ford for the post of federal judge, and Ford appoints his best friend Holden as chief lawman.
Judge Ford also marries the girl, Ellen Drew, whom Holden also loves.
The movie ends happily, more or less, with Ford gone and Big Ray destroyed, and Holden riding off to Washington to see that the ex-soldiers and the rest of the town get their just due.
Released in 1948, it's full of references to war veterans and the problems they experience after returning to their home towns.
And Glenn Ford has clearly been twisted by his wartime experiences, as have some character in other late- or post-war movies -- William Bendix in "The Blue Dahlia" or whatever it's called, who keeps hearing "monkey music" in his head, or John Garfield in "Pride of the Marines," or Brian Keith in "Five Against the House," I think it was.The topical references are the most interesting part of the movie, but they are grafted onto an otherwise routine plot.
Although it's a good-looking Technicolor western; this film attempts to explore the effect war has on one man, a colonel, (played by Glenn Ford) and those who fall foul of his obsessive behaviour.
Although Ford is a bit one-note in his portrayal of an officer unhinged by power and blood-lust, it's interesting to see him play a nutter, while his friend, William Holden, is (for the most part) a bland good guy.
I have a feeling that this western - one of the earliest with a "psychological" theme - wanted to say a lot more about the way people are deranged by the horrors of war, but it was probably constricted by the need to tell a box-office yarn.
Ellen Drew doesn't have much to do as the girl loved by both Ford and Holden.
Glenn Ford delivers remarkably in his role as Federal Judge and Marshall.
This film did not age, has a very good story from Borden Chase and a great performance by Glenn Ford.
Holden is Del Stewart, Deveraux's best friend who tries to stop his unnecessary killing.
At the beginning of the film Ford is responsible for killing confederate soldiers which are showing a white flag.
Who are acquainted by Glenn Ford's characters will be surprised when see this movie,could be called Deveraux a mad dog...disturbed by the civil war when he command a massacre in the last and final battle a hundred soldiers even with a white flag in the hands....featuring also William Holden in top billing too,fine western!!!
Though in many ways a traditional western, Levin's (Journey to the Center of the Earth, 1959) The Man From Colorado is also a psychological drama dealing with something as ever current as post traumatic stress.
In a western there is almost bound to be a bad guy to stand against the good guy and it definitely makes for a more dramatic story that the two are good friends torn apart by the psychological destruction of one of them.
No matter how bad decisions Owen makes, it is difficult to hate him, because Del never lets us forget that his friend is different and clearly affected by the war they have recently fought together.
Despite the presence of two great stars in Glenn Ford (3:10 from Yuma) and William Holden (Wild Bunch/Stalag 17) the film is far from a classic.
It starts out with great potential as a battle fatigued Colonel Owen Devereaux played by Ford massacres a 100 troop Confederate party (they have plainly raised their white flag)just as the Civil War ends.
Captain Del Stewart played by Holden - looking more the Hollywood golden boy than a war weary officer, immediately deduces that Ford has massacred the troop.
After being mustered out (with little time to ketchup with their mutual girlfriend) Ford gets appointed a Federal Judge ( Owen to the lack of any sanity clause in his commission) and Holden is named US Marshal.
Glenn Ford plays a colonel in the Union Army driven insane by his experiences in the Civil War. After the war is over he accepts a federal judgeship and appoints his friend William Holden as marshal.
As a judge, Ford continues to be as sadistic and cruel as he was during the war.
Skip it – An extremely young William Holden and a creepy-looking Glenn Ford star in this cheesy western.
Glenn Ford plays a power-hungry, Civil War ex-officer who begins to feel the psychological effects of a life of violence and killing.
After the war, his own friend (Holden) must turn against him to protect the livelihood of an entire town.
Henry Levin's post-Civil War western, shot in Techincolor, features real-life best friends Glenn Ford and William Holden (both RIP) as former Union officers who find themselves on opposite sides after Owen Devereaux (Ford) becomes town judge, and who begins to abuse his power to punish anyone who opposes him.
Del Stewart (Holden) is made town marshal but he sees that his friend is slipping more and more into insanity (which today would be referred to as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), brought on by his experiences during the war.
Of course, there has to be a showdown that only one man can win.Ford's son has referred to this film as "an oddball production", perhaps because it was a rarity of the time, a psychological western.
Ellen Drew is effective in her role, although I find her much easier to believe as Holden's love interest, but after seeing Ford with Rita Hayworth, the chemistry would be hard to compare.
The sun will rise in the east and set in the west, night will always follow the day, I've always enjoyed the twice daily ebb and flow of coastal tides and I knew that Glenn Ford will always play the 'good guy' in a movie.I have just watched 'The Man From Colorado' and my view of life has been left completely skewed and severely dented, because in this movie, Ford plays nothing short of a complete nutjob.Victorious from the civil war, union Colonel Owen Devereaux, (Ford), and his lifelong best friend, Capt.
Del Stewart, (William Holden), return to their home town to pick up their lives where they left off three years previously.Devereaux, however, has come back a different person.
His war experiences have left him with an insatiable appetite for killing things and a sadistic streak as wide as Colorado itself.Unaware of his newly acquired 'personality issues', the Governor of the state appoints Devereaux as Federal Judge of the town, leaving him with the power of life and death over every man in it.
(I think you know what's coming).His buddy Del Stewart is offered the job as Marshall of the town, but before he can accept, Stewart and Devereaux, are ambushed by a crazed confederate officer, who had witnessed Devereaux's new found rage first hand during the war, when he butchered over 100 rebel soldiers that were flying a white flag of surrender.
and his capture becomes Devereaux's psychotic obsession.No longer able to 'keep a lid on it' the townspeople have now become fully aware that their Judge is a complete 'wacko', and when he torches the entire town in order to get the town-folk to reveal Stewart's whereabouts, it becomes painfully evident that the last dregs of Devereaux's sanity has finally dwindled away.The film turns out to be a great mesh between a standard western and a 'Hitchcockesque' psychological thriller, with both Holden and Ford turning in great performances, but once again, it's Glenn Ford who steals this movie with his portrayal of the evil Devereaux, a role COMPLETELY in contrast to his 'good guy cowboy' image we're more used to seeing, which proves what a powerful and versatile an actor he actually was.During Glenn Ford's lifetime, I was one of the many ardent campaigners who would have loved to see Ford live to receive some long overdue honour or award.
Sadly, this wasn't to be and after seeing the 'Man from Colorado' I am convinced now more than ever, that Hollywood has committed a monumental injustice, by failing to recognise Glenn Ford as one of the greatest actors of all time.This movie, has sadly debunked one of the great beliefs of my life, so I go now to reconstruct my injured viewpoint.
This is a fine Western from 1948 with Glenn Ford giving a great performance as a former Civil War Col. obviously unhinged by his experience in that conflict.
He returns to small town life with his best friend and former Captain, played by William Holden.
It's not long before Ford is made a federal judge and in turn makes Holden a federal marshal.
Before long, the men are on opposite sides of a growing conflict between former soldiers and a mining company fighting over the rights to a gold-rich mountain.Ford is really the whole show, twitching and bulging his eyes every time anyone even suggests he's acting crazy.
Catch this film for the formula Western action but groove to Ford's performance, really one of his finest..
The film begins in the last days of the Civil War. Glenn Ford is a colonel in charge of Union troops and they've backed a company of Confederate soldiers in a canyon.
Then, the end of the war is announced--just after this killing.In the next scene, Ford is asked to become a federal judge in this territory.
As for the acting, it's good--and not surprising considering Holden and Ford are in the leads.
And, given that the film takes place in Colorado, the men certainly would NOT have just been sent home right away, as Texas and the western region continued seeing some minor skirmishes..
Produced on a grand scale, The Man from Colorado is one of the first so-called "psychological westerns".
The Man From Colorado is directed by Henry Levin, has a screenplay by Robert Hardy Andrews and Ben Maddow, the film stars Glenn Ford, William Holden and Ellen Drew.Owen Devereaux (Glenn Ford) and Del Stewart (William Holden) are best friends and colleagues during the American Civil War. Devereaux slowly begins to go insane because he begins to actually enjoy killing the enemy and can't make himself want to stop doing so.The film takes a good(if somewhat brief)look at the psychological pressures those who go to war face, they seldom return from battle the same person who left.
A very young Holden is good as Del struggling to accept what is happening to his friend but realising that he must be stopped.
Ellen Drew is very good as the beautiful Caroline Emmett who is torn between the two men.Ford is the standout among the cast for me, he looks so haunted and deranged and really does a good job of showing Devereaux's descent into madness and evil..
"The Man from Colorado" is a film time has forgotten.
I'd never heard of it, but decided to watch, because the story (not the script) was from Borden Chase, the man who gave us at two famous homoerotic Westerns ("Red River", "The Far Country" *).In this film, Glenn Ford's character has definitely entered the far country (if not the twilight zone).
That Doc Merriam (Edgar Buchanan) would find this plausible seems unlikely, as the belief didn't become common until WW I.The story opens with Ford killing a hundred Confederate soldiers waving a white flag in an attempt to surrender.
think tanks, but Glenn Ford as Union Col.\Colorado Judge Owen Devereaux out-thinks them all.