This strange, little B-picture has a lot of the same characteristics as a mid-season replacement TV series. It also has quite a bit of camp value, with its improbable but not unentertaining premise of a Scandinavian Whale Harpooner taking on unscrupulous Land Grabbers in the Old West. The shot of grim Sterling Hayden lugging his giant harpoon through town for his big showdown with the villain is a scream - sort of a bizarre homage to "High Noon".
Joseph H. Lewis has an unusual take on Westerns here. His direction seems fragile, overly sensitive. When there is violence, it's staged very methodically, clumsily. (For some reason, people have a deadly habit of standing motionlessly whenever the bad guy gallops into view, instead of gee, I don't know, running?) And while Lewis supplies some style, at other times, he's surprisingly amateurish; like when a third character wanders into a Two Shot without any warning.
There's a lot of scenery-chewing going on too between Sebastian Cabot's fat, wicked Land Grabber and Ned Young's snarling, black-clad gunslinger. Particularly Young, who seems to have strayed off the set of the latest Mel Brooks' spoof with his hilariously noisy leather outfit (it constantly creaks and groans whenever he moves) and his vague, frustratingly obtuse insinuations before he is about to knock somebody off. He's quite ridiculous but quite watchable.
Hayden, as the reluctant hero, sounds somewhat comically like a refugee from the cast of "Fargo", but he's an intelligent actor and an appealing lead. At the time this film was made, he was nearing the end of the first phase of his career, where he was often a leading man in generally standard, lower budgeted films. He would soon enter a second and much more memorable phase as a formidable, mountainous character actor in all time classics like "Dr. Strangeglove" and "The Godfather".
Joseph H. Lewis has an unusual take on Westerns here. His direction seems fragile, overly sensitive. When there is violence, it's staged very methodically, clumsily. (For some reason, people have a deadly habit of standing motionlessly whenever the bad guy gallops into view, instead of gee, I don't know, running?) And while Lewis supplies some style, at other times, he's surprisingly amateurish; like when a third character wanders into a Two Shot without any warning.
There's a lot of scenery-chewing going on too between Sebastian Cabot's fat, wicked Land Grabber and Ned Young's snarling, black-clad gunslinger. Particularly Young, who seems to have strayed off the set of the latest Mel Brooks' spoof with his hilariously noisy leather outfit (it constantly creaks and groans whenever he moves) and his vague, frustratingly obtuse insinuations before he is about to knock somebody off. He's quite ridiculous but quite watchable.
Hayden, as the reluctant hero, sounds somewhat comically like a refugee from the cast of "Fargo", but he's an intelligent actor and an appealing lead. At the time this film was made, he was nearing the end of the first phase of his career, where he was often a leading man in generally standard, lower budgeted films. He would soon enter a second and much more memorable phase as a formidable, mountainous character actor in all time classics like "Dr. Strangeglove" and "The Godfather".