There Was a Crooked Man...

Plot synopsis:
Paris Pitman, Jr. has pulled off a $500,000 robbery and is the only one who knows where the money is hidden. He is seen in a bordello and is captured, tried, convicted and sentenced to an Arizona penitentiary.
A corrupt warden, LeGoff, is willing to cut the prisoner a deal. He will let Pitman break out of jail for an even split of the half-million dollars. Pitman agrees, but the plan goes awry when LeGoff is murdered by a Chinese convict, Ah-Ping, during an inmate uprising.
Former sheriff Woodward Lopeman becomes the new warden. Although they are enemies, he and Pitman work together to improve conditions at the prison. On a day the lieutenant governor visits, Pitman makes his move. He sparks a riot and manages to escape, but not before three inmates are killed, whereupon Pitman himself does away with two more, Ah-Ping being one of them. The other is Floyd Moon whom he shoots just as it appears the two have gained their freedom.
The money has been buried near a nest of rattlesnakes. Pitman heads for it, with Lopeman in hot pursuit. The money is his again when Pitman is suddenly bitten by a rattlesnake. By the time Lopeman comes across him, Pitman is already dead. Lopeman collects the money, as well as Pitman's body, and rides back to the prison. However, upon his arrival, he abruptly decides to leave the body and gallop off, absconding to Mexico with the money.

Tags: revenge

Review:
At the start of the film we watch how Kirk Douglas (Paris Pitman) has robbed the home of Arthur O'Connor with his gang.
Pitman is sent to territorial prison, where he meets Oates, Burgess Meredith (as the legendary Missouri Kid), Hume Cronym and John Randolph (a pair of swindlers who are also a gay couple), and others.
The film has wonderful sharp comedy, including the comic put-downs of Cronyn when undercutting the pompous Randolph, and when one sees scenes like Burgess Meredith taking his first bath.
The Bad In Every Man. For his next to last film Joseph Mankiewicz did his only western and it ain't the west of John Ford or Howard Hawks.
There Was A Crooked Man starts with the proposition that every man if given sufficient reason will turn dishonest.Kirk Douglas has never been afraid to appear as evil, but next to his performance in The List of Adrian Messenger, the screen's never seen him as diabolically evil as Paris Pittman, Jr. in There Was A Crooked Man. And it's clear from the start just how bad he is when he shoots the only other gang member after robbing miserly Arthur O'Connell of his half a million dollar fortune that he keeps in the house because of distrust of banks.So nothing that he does after this should surprise us.
Eventually he's caught and sent to Territorial prison from where he collects a gang of sorts and plots an escape.A year after the Stonewall Riots homosexuality finally comes to the west and its depicted in two ways.
He's really the only innocent in this film.The great moral figure in this is Henry Fonda, who's a lawman shot in the performance of his duty and now given the job of prison warden.
Besides Douglas, Fonda, and others I've mentioned look also for good performances from Warren Oates and Burgess Meredith as another two convicts that Douglas takes into his confidence.Just as man can rise to noble heights on some occasions, with a little temptation he can fall.
Some may interpret this as a SPOILER, but I am very careful not to expose anything specific crucial.Similar to "Paint Your Wagon" (1969) in it's use of a comedic western as a vehicle for social commentary, "There Was a Crooked Man" has a comic tone at times, but has difficulty being consistently one kind of movie: Is it a satire?
The town quickly and easily gives up hope in Fonda's ability to do his job, leading Fonda to volunteer as warden for the prison where both Douglas and Oates are incarcerated.Fonda begins a crusade to uplift the inmates of this desolate Arizona penal colony by abolishing obligatory hard labor and restricting cruel punishments upon the men.
It seems the only way to earn Fonda's enmity as warden is to draw lascivious pictures of scantily clad women, as all other crimes are forgivable and reformable in Fonda' eyes.While Fonda is trying to teach the prisoners self-respect, Douglas is luring them into his aid with promises of sharing the money he stole in the crime for which he was convicted and sentenced to the prison.
Burgess Meredith frequently steals the spotlight as a former flashy train robber that has been transformed by years in prison into a tired, gritty, petty old man who does nothing for free.The problem with this movie is not the excellent acting, but the tone and the Mickey Mouse musical score.
In the middle of a murderous rampage an (apparently) hilarious food fight ensues while a buxom visitor to the prison is gradually, but incompletely, disrobed.Unlike other satires released that year such as "Catch-22" (1970) or "M.A.S.H." (1970), "There Was a Crooked Man" doesn't succeed in delivering a message, but only appears to chronicle an improbable series of events that have no meaning outside of itself, all the while the most irritating and thematically contrary music imaginable scores nearly every scene.Despite good acting and some laughs, it's a tough film to recommend.
Henry Fonda is a straight-laced Sheriff turn prison Warden trying to reform the cunning thief in the territorial pokey.
Douglas of course intends to escape and go back to the hidden money, but he must enlist help from the likes of Warren Oates, Burgess Meredith and Hume Cronyn.
Terrific mix of comedy/western/prison film about clever thief Kirk Douglas who lands himself in jail after robbing a rich man of $500,000 which he's hidden in a mountain.
As well, it has some interesting themes and issues to explore, especially in the central battle between Fonda's warden and Douglas' prisoner.
The scene where Douglas confronts Fonda in the just built eating hall and exposes his self-serving interests and hypocrisy, is a great example of top-class screen writing.All the elements are there for a classic (or at least semi-classic) Western, but it doesn't quite reach that.
A unique combination of a western and an existentialist black comedy.The two foils are Kirk Douglas as a cunning and charming prisoner, and Henry Fonda as his steady and observant warden.
The story centers it's sights on Paris Pitman (Kirk Douglas), Jr. a thieving conniving, unscrupulous con and sneaky gunman who is fortunately sent to a territorial prison where he collects a motley group of Convicts whom he persuade to join him in a grand escape.
Lopeman (Henry Fonda) the new prison warden who suspects that Pitman is much too clever to remain behind bars without attempting to escape.
But, after the warden is killed, a new guy takes over (Henry Fonda) and he and Douglas develop a certain level of respect for each other--all the while Kirk is planning his escape.
As for Fonda and his motivation for befriending Kirk goes, this is all very vague until very late in the film--and I think this made for a better film.In addition to these two terrific actors, there are some wonderful supporting performances--especially by Hume Cronin and John Randolph who seemed an awful lot like a married couple!
About the only negatives were a few places where the script seemed ridiculous (such as the escape from the prison--they took their time and it sure looked too easy).I enjoyed this Kirk Douglas film quite a bit and I was torn between giving it a 7 and an 8.
Released in 1970 at a time when many films lacked the seriousness and focus of earlier eras.Douglas and Fonda are great but this is a major letdown by Mankiewicz.The movie is supposed to be a comedy with a Good, the Bad and the Ugly feeling but none of it is believable.The whole thing is cheesy and campy from the music to the script and all the way to the finale.Burgess Meredith is wasted.If it wasn't for Fonda and Douglas I would have given this a 1..
I love westerns, I loved Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda, but not this waste of time.
(Kirk Douglas) is detained for robbing and condemned for a long time in a remote , impregnable territorial prison .
But then , an innovative and incorruptible warden chief (Henry Fonda) takes over the Arizona town's prison and he has some new ideas about law and order .
Douglas and Fonda dominate this western comedy as two immensely likable roguish men making plans to collect the buried loot .
So we're given some pretty basic ordinary western material to begin with, but very quickly the film transforms into a framework of interesting symbols and morals.First of all, without giving away too much, the position of Kirk Douglas as the lead character but as the lead character 'in what direction' ?
Lopeman (Henry Fonda) arrives to improve the prison as the new warden and he laughs off Pitman's offer.This movie takes its time to get going mostly because Fonda doesn't arrive at the prison until much later.
Very original Western loaded with black humor starring Kirk Douglas & Henry Fonda.
Released in 1970, "There was a Crooked Man" stars Kirk Douglas as a charismatic, but ruthless criminal in the Old West sent to a remote Arizona prison.
The other prisoners include Warren Oates, Burgess Meredith and Michael Blodgett; Alan Hale Jr. plays a guard.I finally got around to watching this fairly well-known Western.
But, mostly, it's the all-star cast and their interrelations that entertain, not to mention you can't fault the film for being unoriginal.Despite being a prison picture, there are a few women to enjoy, like Lee Grant and Barbara Rhoades, amongst others.Some criticize the movie on the grounds that the protagonists are criminal scumbags, but (***SPOILER ALERT***) the ending shows those who insist on fleeing justice and spitting on the new warden's kindness getting their comeuppance while those who don't live.
It stars Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Hume Cronyn, Warren Oates, Burgess Meredith, John Randolph and Michael Blodgett.
Music is by Charles Strouse and cinematography by Harry Stradling Jr.Plot has Douglas as Paris Pitman Jr., an unscrupulous thief who after stealing and hiding in a rattlesnake's nest half a million dollars, gets caught and sent to an Arizona prison for ten years.
Dangling the carrot of sharing his stash with those who help him, Pitman's plan may be usurped by the arrival of new Warden Woodward Lopeman (Fonda)?Joseph L.
Mankiewicz who displayed several many rogue characters in the same roof, a prision in the desert, paying bribery to take an easy life, there are so many crooks includes the Warden, a fine picture with oriented humor, a bit cynicism in every takes, but who really stolen the show is Burgess Meredith as Missouri Kid whom for thirty years didn't took a shower and refuses it desperately by any means when has to do it, saying that was by basic principles, a priceless moment at all, the results is fantastic and unexpected due that all happened before, outstanding western which belonged of a new wave on humorous mode very fashionable in this period of time, amazing!!Resume:First watch: 1985 / How many: 4 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 8.25.
Mankiewicz set out with the intention of creating a cynical Western, based on the view that there is a little bit of badness even in the best of men What emerges in this long and expert exercise is a film so thorough1y cynical, so negative in its view of the human species that the viewer is allowed no point of view of his own For Kirk Douglas, the very crooked man of the title, the film gave scope for bravura playing but the characterization is black and utterly ruthless Mankiewicz would have done well to consider the view that there is a little bit of goodness even in the worst of men but the film remains admirable in its staging and in the performances of an exemplary castDouglas, wearing steel-rimmed spectacles and with his hair dyed red, appears at the beginning of the picture as a somewhat cultured bandit; he raids the home of a wealthy rancher and escapes with half a million dollars in cash...In making his escape, several of his men are shot to death and Douglas himself kills his surviving companion Thus the swag is entirely his He hides it in a rattlesnake pit in the desert but he is later spotted in a brothel by the rancher and we next see Douglas on his way to jail In the prison wagon are five fellow felons: Hume Cronyn and John Randolph, a pair of con-men, religious fakers and implicitly homosexual; a huge homicidal Chinaman, played by Olympic athlete C.
K. Yang in a screen debut; Michael Blodgett, a young man who accidentally killed his girl friend's father when suddenly interrupted in an act of love-making; and Warren Oates, a stupid gunman who shoots sheriff Henry Fonda in the leg when the peaceful, unarmed lawman tries to persuade him to surrenderThese endearing rascals are then incarcerated in a cell with a dirty old fellow called 'The Missouri Kid,' played like a ferret by Burgess MeredithThe theme, like that of all prison pictures, is escape, and with Douglas openly proud of his hidden half-million, escape becomes inevitable and the wily bandit, a born leader of men, can take his pick not only of his accomplices but of the prison warden (Martin Gabel), a degenerate gentleman, as eager to leave, his post as any prisoner However, a noisy fight breaks out among the prisoners and in trying to stop it the warden is killed One irony leads to another and the new warden turns out to be Henry Fonda, a solidly honest, humane man who dedicates himself to penal reform He quickly spots the officer-like qualities of Douglas and assigns him to supervising the building of a new dining hall It is during the inauguration of the building, attended by the state governor and his guests, that Douglas elects to spark a revolthis cover for escapeThe motion picture is graphic in depicting the sweat and stench of life in a desert prison, and the frustration and despair of its inmates The spirit of decency, exemplified by Fonda's warden, is almost a stimulating note in an atmosphere swirling with resentment and spite Mankiewicz' film has some memorable moments: Douglas, in his opening robbery, commenting on the excellence of the fried chicken being served at the rancher's table; Hume Cronyn, passing himself off as a deaf mute at a church gathering, backing into a hot stove and yelling a profane curse; a pretty schoolteacher reciting Henley's 'Invictus' at the dining room ceremony, watched by hundreds of hungry eyes; and in the long chaos of the revolt, a furious montage of incidents, particularly the old Missouri Kid sitting, weeping because he has been in prison too long and hasn't the courage to leave "home," and Cronyn, like a firm-minded old wife, leading his companion back into their cell and telling him they will serve out their sentence.
How could someone not like a western full of genial and persuasive cynicism, full of improbable piety and stuffed with vivid characters, from the two leads, Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda, down to just about everyone else.
Despite this, many things are in its favorthe cast, the interesting performances from actors as good as Fonda and Douglas.
It's a bit long but is helped considerably by an excellent cast and witty script.Kirk Douglas gives a good performance as a feisty outlaw in a territorial prison who squirreled away $500,000 in cash before being caught.
However, he is foiled at nearly every turn by the new Warden, Lopeman (played by the great Henry Fonda).
When the final body count is tallied, it becomes very clear that a score like this doesn't belong in a movie like this.What does work well in this film is the performances of the secondary figures who make up an almost who's who of great 1970s character actors.
However, such light moments are offset by dark ones; later on in the film during the jailbreak, Meridith's character gut shoots Hale's character, despite the fact that two seem to be old chums.The ending of this movie is anticlimactic--its a foregone conclusion that Douglas'character will pay, but its more an act of serendipity than the expected confrontation between he and his pursuer, a prison warden played by Henry Fonda.
The "moral" of the story, that even a stand up fellow like Fonda can be lured by greed seems tacked on.Sadly, had this film been shot with the same actors, but by a director like Sergio Leone who would matched the tone of the movie (particularly the score) to the darkness of the movie's content, it might have worked.
In fact, this could be called the "Grand Hotel of Prison Movies" with its eclectic group of characters in a desert prison where bandit Kirk Douglas ends up after he robs a respectable house during their respectable dinner.
Douglas is soon caught and sent to prison where a sudden change brings in new warden Henry Fonda who wants to establish prison reform.
I didn't note that much chemistry between the two leads, Douglas and Fonda, unlike say, Douglas and Lancaster but the film does benefit from a rich assortment of support in the shape of John Randolph, Warren Oates, Arthur O'Connell, Burgess Meredith and Lee Grant.
I've always loved westerns and am a sucker for a good prison break story, so of course I am a fan of THERE WAS A CROOKED MAN..., a cynical and revisionist western, which for some reason was released at Christmas of 1970.
is very entertaining and the main reason is the two leads, played by Douglas and Henry Fonda, portraying devious criminal Paris Pittman Jr. and honest Warden Woodward Lopeman respectively.
is a great showcase for both Douglas and Fonda, the only time the two ever worked together.
For better or worse, new ground was plowed in the western genre in the scenes where the guard played by Freed is shown openly lusting for young inmate Michael Blogett, and in the characters of Cyrus and Dudley (Randolph and Cronyn), two aging con men who carry on like an old married couple.For fans of Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Warren Oates, or westerns in general and just plain movie buffs, THERE WAS A CROOKED MAN...
Literate But Cynical Prison Western with Douglas as the Outlaw.
Mankiewicz helmed "There Was A Crooked Man" with Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, and Warren Oates.
Lopeman (Henry Fonda) plays along with our anti-hero who takes advantage of the warden's liberal attitude toward the prison reform.
The manipulative way that Paris Pittman uses his cellmates for his own ends is what makes "There Was Crooked Man" so entertaining.
The two homosexual lovers and comic buffoons played by Hume Cronyn and John Randolph have the most interesting character arc with an outcome which is the only time in the film someone isn't totally out for themselves.
Although I would call There Was a Crooked Man a funny movie, it is not the kind of film in which I find myself laughing but rather laughing inside to myself.