Quantez

Plot synopsis:
Heller's (John Larch) gang of outlaws pull a robbery, kill a man and ride toward Mexico, fleeing a posse. To spend the night, they first head for the border town of Quantez, but are shocked to discover that it has become a ghost town, with no one else there.
Gentry (Fred MacMurray), the gang's most experienced man, finds liquor in the saloon, while Teach (John Gavin), a younger gunslinger, becomes interested in Chaney (Dorothy Malone), who is Heller's woman but upset over the murder during the holdup. Gato, who was raised by Apaches, is infuriated by Heller's referring to him as "breed" and making him proceed on foot after a horse collapses from exhaustion.
Gato (Sydney Chaplin) discovers a warning from Apaches to anyone who comes to town. He seeks out Delgadito (Michael Ansara), the tribe's leader, and proposes they kill the whites and divide the loot. Heller, meantime, is trying to get his partners to do the same, kill the others so there's more money to split among who's left. Gentry and Teach both have feelings for Chaney, who wants to leave town as soon as possible.
A wandering minstrel comes to town, calling himself Puritan (James Barton), and while he paints Heller's portrait, he sings a song about John Coventry, a legendary outlaw in these parts. Puritan is suddenly astonished when he spots Gentry and realizes that he is Coventry. The veteran gunman is trying to put his violent life behind him for good.
In a final gunfight, Gato is killed by Delgalito after a betrayal. Heller is killed by Gentry, and with arrows raining down, Gentry sacrifices himself, providing cover while Chaney and Teach make their getaway.

Tags: violence

Review:
John Coventry the lonely one, began and ended with a gun..
Quantez is directed by Harry Keller and written by R.
Wright Campbell and Anne Edwards.
It stars Fred MacMurray, Dorothy Malone, James Barton, Sydney Chaplin, John Gavin and John Larch.
A CinemaScope production in Eastman Color, with music scored by Herman Stein (supervision Joseph Gershenson) and cinematography by Carl E.
Guthrie.A gang of robbers hole up for the night in the ghost town of Quantez.
But what is the greater threat to their well being?
The Indians out in the hills?
Or each other?Maybe you get to be a killer?
But you will be sick to the stomach because of it.A smartly written and acted psychological Western, Quantez deserves to be better known and appraised.
This is all about characterisations and the hot bed situation they dwell within, the emphasis on dialogue and interactions as suspicion, passions, racism and treachery show their hands.
Standard characters do apply, the girl with a past she's not proud of, the loose cannon, the greenhorn kid, the duplicitous one and the guy with a secret tucked away.
There's even a late addition of a wandering minstrel (Barton), splendidly calling himself Puritan.
These characters are well blended for narrative strength by Keller, the director keeping things on the slow burn, an impending sense of implosion permeating proceedings.
Technical aspects are smart, the exterior filming, when the film comes out of the claustrophobic confines of the ghost town, is most pleasing, while the Eastman Color is gorgeous and never garish.
Cast score well, notably a stubble and grungy MacMurray, a pretty and emotionally fragile Malone and Larch, who is unstable and enjoying his chance for villainy.Except for a fist fight, an opening pursuit and the odd moment of macho posturing, the action is saved for the excellent last quarter, so first time viewers after a high energy Oater are advised that this is not the film for them.
But for those who like some psychological discord in their Westerns, where plot dynamics are simmering until the denouement, then seek this out if you can.
Tedious, too much talk.
I'm going to go against the positive few reviews so far posted here.
I was very disappointed, and found it the poorest of "gang in a ghost town" Westerns that I've seen.
Pity, because the cast was reasonably strong.
About the only interesting thing in it was what I thought was John Larch's resemblance to Gary Cooper.None of the characters is at all likable and most of the could be a stage play, with so much action confined to one room.
These aren't necessarily bad things for a film, but all the talking and no action was tedious, as were the white characters turning on each other and the inevitable interaction between Chaney and each of the four gangsters.I nearly turned off my recording of the film but struggled through to the ending, which was OK..
Stuck in a ghost town with an itch they won't scratch.
A western that has way too much talk, but the talk does draw some deeply etched characters is Quantez.
Had they pumped it up with a bit more action this could have been a classic.
That is despite Fred MacMurray who really never felt right in westerns.
He does all right by this one however.The hot tempered John Larch leads a gang of outlaws fresh from a bank robbery takes his three men fleeing a posse.
His henchmen are Fred MacMurray an experienced outlaw who doesn't talk much about himself, a young fast draw in John Gavin who is from the east and Sydney Chaplin a man raised among the Apaches in whose country they have to pass through.
And he also brings his main squeeze Dorothy Malone for those cold desert nights.The outlaws arrive in the freshly deserted town of Quantez, deserted because the Apaches under Michael Ansara have made it most uncomfortable to live.
What to do, but take stock of the situation and formulate a plan to get across the desert.
So while they're stuck there, the true character of all comes forth.
All of them are chafing under the leadership of Larch who once again is playing a rather arrogant, loudmouth individual who is a fast gun, but has little else to recommend them.
And of course there's the presence of Malone who just by being there is giving them all an itch that Larch won't them scratch.
Only one other speaking part is in this film that of James Barton who plays a wandering painter and who has an extra horse they might need to make it across the desert.
It would be smart if they all stuck together until the Indian crisis is passed or they're all dead, but Larch won't let that happen.It's plain that MacMurray should be the gang leader, but he has reasons why he's not and for that you see Quantez for.Quantez is a bit verbose, but the characters are interesting to say the least..
Could have been a good story but was just too slow..
Even though this film had a great set of actors and character development that was quite interesting, the pace of this story was so slow that it took away from the entire project.The movie begins as we see four bank robbers that was attempting to outrun a posse that was following them.
Plus you throw-in a sexy looking female that was also along for the ride and you can see that this is a unique set of people.
Anyway, they shake the cops and end up in an old abandon town.
And now, nearly through the entire picture, the writer starts to show all the distinct personalities of each character.
The only bad thing is that the introduction of the characters takes so long that viewers begin to lose interest in the movie.The first forty minutes of the movie is uneventful.
You have pleasant conversation, people watering the horses and some wandering where they should go to split-up the money.
The only hint of trouble comes when one of the characters stumbles on a Indian war stick that might just lead to some excitement.The last half of the movie was so much better.
There were actually action on the screen to break the tedious dialog that viewers were suffering.
And if viewers were still watching and not turned off by the dull first half, then you saw a story that was actually interesting.
John Larch, Fred MacMurray, Dorothy Malone and Michael Ansara all did an outstanding job with their character.
The problem is that it took so long developing the characters that it was easy to get bored and turn to another form of entertainment.
This was a hard watch but the ending made the long tiresome viewing a bit more enjoyable..
Tough guys and Dorothy Malone chased by the law and the Apaches..
Not many people heard about Quantez, but for those who enjoy westerns it is worth seeing.
It is that type of westerns where all of the men seem bad, they just robbed a bank and one of them brought his girlfriend along(Dorothy Malone).
She is by far the most interesting character, she flirts with the whole gang and has a very low self-esteem.
Harry Keller, the director, knew his way with westerns He was the editor of one excellent film "The Showdown" and also directed several Audie Murphy and Allan Rocky Lane films.
This film brings to mind "Yellow Sky" and "Ambush at Tomahawk Gap".
Some of the men will turn up to be not so bad as they seem, like in those films mentioned.
Sidney Chaplin is very good as Gato, half Indian, who is not trusted, because they don't know which side he is really on, as they are surrounded by Apaches.
John Gavin, more famous for romantic parts, plays very well a tough guy..
A real lost masterpiece..
It's really a shame and a great pain for me to have this one in my library since so many years, and not be able to see it again and again...Why, you may ask...Well, it's because I have it in f...Pan and Scan.
The guy who invented that would deserve to be hanged high.
F...bastard.QUANTEZ is a real masterpiece, a great western, a flaming, blazing movie that must be discovered again.
No one seems to have seen it.
outrageous Pan and Scan, it's really no worth while.
Forget it.
I hope that a TV broadcast will air it soon, and in LBX, of course.
Or this film released in DVD.I wait for this since so long.
There is something of WILD BUNCH in this movie.
In its topic.
Mac Murray plays here an outstanding character which reminds me the Holden one in Peckinpah's masterpiece.
When I'll see it again, it will be the most beautiful day of my life..
Five outlaws ride into an abandoned town....
As the opening credits end we see five riders crossing the desert at speed; we soon learn that they have robbed a bank and are fleeing the pursuing posse.
They manage to evade the posse but end up one horse down; hoping to find a replacement and somewhere to rest before continuing to Mexico they head to the small town of Quantez.
When they get there something is very wrong; the town is totally deserted; it looks as though everybody just left a week before.
The group consists of four men; Heller, the leader who killed a man during the robbery; Gentry, a man who seems to eschew violence; Teach, a young gun from back east and Gato, a white man who was raised by the Apache; the fifth member of the gang is Chaney, a beautiful blonde woman who Heller considers his but Teach clearly has an eye on.
It soon becomes apparent to Gato, and the audience, that everybody left because they were chased out by the local Apache; he meets up with them and offers them half the takings from the robbery if they will kill the others.
Back in the town's saloon tensions rise amongst the others; Chaney can't get over seeing a man die and keeps screaming and Heller can't abide any other man going near her.
When an elderly man rides into town tensions rise further as it is obvious that Heller intends to kill him for his horse and Gentry intends to make sure he rides out alive.
As the night passes it looks increasingly likely that they will start killing each other before the Apaches get a chance to strike in the morning.Most B Westerns are fairly action packed with a hero who goes from one action scene to the next until he finally confronts his nemesis; this one is different though; there are no heroes; even the more sympathetic characters are villains and rather than having a succession of action scenes we get a series of moments each of which serve to raise the tension but providing no relief until the finale when the expected action occurs.
With no heroes all bets are off as to who, if anybody will survive!
I hadn't heard of this film until I saw it advertised in the TV guide this morning; I'm glad I chose to watch it though as I really enjoyed it.
The small cast did a fine job; particularly Fred MacMurray, Gentry; Dorothy Malone, Chaney and John Larch who played the vicious Heller.
This may be a little known western if no big name stars but if you are a fan of the genre I definitely recommend checking it out if you get the chance..
Dorothy Malone.
One thing I need to say right away is that this film moves very slow the first 45 minutes.
It's very deliberate in how the characters are presented and how we get to know them.
What's interesting is that we see Dorothy Malone joining the men in the beginning, this group of outlaws on their way to Mexico, but she is very much a peripheral figure at first.
We get to know the other characters first.
But then gradually, we see how the men behave a certain way around her, and how all of them secretly (and not so secretly) have designs on her.
So mid- way through the picture, she is more the central presence, a woman who represents their fantasies and the flesh and blood reality of having a woman ride along on the trail.
The scene where they intercept some painter to do her portrait is well done.
And also what makes it work is that she has her own demons, her own insecurities to overcome.
But it's the last ten to fifteen minutes that are the best.
At this point, the plot begins to pick up speed and we have a very dramatic pay off on the edge of a canyon.
We still don't know who she's going to end up with.
I won't spoil it, but she did wind up with the guy I wanted her to be with...so it was ultimately very satisfying.
And the ending is kind of shocking; it leaves you with a lot to think about.Highly recommend QUANTEZ for western fans who have the patience to sit through the slower scenes at the beginning..
A ponderous waste of time?
I didn't think it was that bad at all.
Copyright 1957 by Universal-International.
New York opening at RKO neighborhood theaters as the lower half of a double bill with a second run of "Tammy and the Bachelor": 6 September 1957.
U.S. release: 1 October 1957.
U.K. release: 7 September 1958.
Australian release: 5 July 1957 (sic).
80 minutes.
Cut by Rank Film Distributors to 68 minutes in the U.K. for release on a double bills.SYNOPSIS: A gang on the run after a successful bank robbery hole up for the night in Quantez, a mysteriously empty frontier town.VIEWERS' GUIDE (all versions): Strictly adults.COMMENT: CinemaScope seems an odd choice for a "B" western that, aside from its opening action and solid climax, is largely set indoors.
Mind you, it still offers well above average entertainment, though it says much for the general standard of acting that the best performance comes not from any of the big-name players, but from the little known (as far as most moviegoers were concerned) James Barton, who provides a wonderfully engaging interlude as a wandering minstrel.
On the other hand, Fred MacMurray's playing seems a bit too off the cuff to be wholly convincing.
You would think that he had just that moment memorized his lines, but had not been given any opportunity to practice them and get the feel of them.
And, although no fault of her own, Dorothy Malone also betrays the obvious haste with which the movie was made, thanks to her glaringly obvious make-up.Even the sound recording is unusually rough by Hollywood's usually meticulous standards.
OTHER VIEWS: This film sets out with half-hearted self-consciousness after a theme — that the man on the run is hunted down from within as much as by external forces; but it succeeds only in being an object lesson in ponderous time-wasting.
— Monthly Film Bulletin (reviewing the 68-minute version).