Day of the Outlaw

A nasty little western, oozing with the possibilities of violence from the first appearance of the outlaw band. Burl Ives is fine as the only outlaw with any integrity, the bad man who will save the good people from a worse fate--if he lives.

This is a helluva Western --why isn't it ever talked about as being among the best of the genre? "Every damn fool has his reasons," makes a good pull-quote, underlining the layered characterizations and the bitter outlook. The desolate location is put to terrific use as well.

Stock plot on the surface but very well executed with a strong cast with interesting motivations. While Ryan is the lead, Ives owns this picture with a great performance where he just owns the screen whenever he's on it. I think the ending felt a bit tacked on (the ending they seemed to be leading to probably would have been more powerful), but there's very little to complain about here. It's a very competent, taut western that is entertaining/interesting even if it's not exactly groundbreaking

While very colorful, I found some of the characters to be incoherent, perhaps especially Bruhn with his perpetual indecision on how he feels about violence. The writers clearly intended to imbue him with a semblance of complexity (see also his poor health), in itself a worthy aspiration for a villain, but he's a little too morally willy-nilly for believability. Otherwise, it's a fairly engaging hostage-themed thriller-western.

Memorable turns from Ryan and Ives. The ending doesn't stick the landing but for a while there this simple western soared.

It oddly felt like a twilight episode set in the old west. Criminally overlooked.

the festering 1st act is THE SEARCHERS if wayne hung around, the funereal 3rd is what happens to him after he leaves. the 2nd may as well play inside blaise's head, the outlaws bursting in (burl mfkin' ives!) as though directly out of his gun, here to hold a warped mirror to his merciless face. the epilogue contains no happy reunions or resolutions and implies merely the next cycle of violence; the omnipresence of figures like blaise is why societies tend to be snakes eating their own tails.

Smoldering, intense and well made western featuring the highly underrated Robert Ryan.

A fair thriller-Western: the setting helps keep the plot coherent, but the acting felt a little stilted. I'd only known Burl Ives as the holly jolly Christmas guy; here he puts in a good shift as a former army commander gone bad but still trying for some respectability.

Pretty good

I haven't seen Burl Ives in a lot, but I didn't expect this. He was excellent, as was the rest of the cast. Great western.

Forgotten gem of a western. A few minor changes and this would have been considered a top 10 western of all time.

There should be a tradition, where every 35 years someone makes a shot for shot remake of this.

Not sure why this is called Day of the Outlaw. The Hateful Eight would have worked better.

A great looking film. The cinematography is far more expansive than most other Hollywood Westerns and two scenes stick out in particular: the dancing scene with its amazing camera-work and the desperate slog through the snow towards the end. That said, I thought the film as a whole was kind of stodgy. Burl Ives was great, but we were only given glimpses of his character, which is too bad. I can see why this is highly rated, but it didn't do much for me.

The dance scene is just plain fantastic camerawork. I'm amazed it's not talked about more. Score is not a grade.

Had Kubrick done a Western, it might have looked something like this. Gorgeous. The coda is pretty pointless.

If a typical western has more in common with an action movie, this one is more like a suspense. The setting really contributes to the sustained tension throughout, culminating in the final act. I like the way the central problem is resolved slowly, bit-by-bit, rather than with a climactic gunfight. I don't really have any rational reason my score isn't higher, other than perhaps that Robert Ryan's character is a bit too typical for the genre.I just don't get into westerns the way some people do.