A Time for Killing

A bunch of Confederate prisoners escape a Union fort near the end of the civil war, and a Union Major is dispatched to hunt them down and save his girl. One of the last relics of the fairly banal white hat/black hat era, this is exactly the sort of Western that just didn't cut it anymore post-Leone/Eastwood. Some of the acting is appalling and the music is all really hokey...in fact the whole thing gives off a "Disney Family TV movie" kind of vibe. Um, except for the rape scene.

The cinematography doesn't help the film, nor does the music. Then Max Baer's character laughing is like fingernails on a chalkboard. With no likable characters, everything seems futile and a waste of time.

Roger Corman #9

The character parts are well cast, the shots are well-framed, the camera movement is fluid and elegant, and there is an ambitious--if unsuccessful--attempt to make this Civil War saga a commentary on Vietnam. But the dialogue is preachy, the plot confused, Hamilton is miscast, Ford phones it in, Stevens--in her post-rape sequences--looks rumpled rather than violated, and TV stars Paul Peterson (innocent Union recruit) and Max Baer Jr. (giggling Reb psychopath) give truly ghastly performances.