Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Rough Night in Jericho (1967)

Dean Martin plays a former lawman turned mob boss, basically. Oh, he plays outwardly nice, that Dean Martin charm as he explains that he only owns 51% of the hotel, 51% of the casino, the saloon, this thing that thing. But when one of his men is killed by a shopkeeper that decides to stand up for himself, Martin shows up with a mob of guys and cows the deputy into letting the shopkeeper be dragged out and lynched in the town square.

One of the few people in town that hasn't sold out is the local stagecoach business, but it's hard to make money when your stages keep getting bushwhacked. But the owner (played by Jean Simmons), has made a partnership with an old marshal and his deputy (John McIntire and George Peppard, respectively.) But the marshal was wounded on the way in, so while he's laid up, Peppard gets a good look at the situation and decides he wants no part of this fight. Of course, he has an 11th hour change of heart, and he and McIntire get enough people to back them to bring down Martin's operation.

This is one of those movies that highlights the dangers of playing by the rules or showing mercy and decency when your opponent ignores all that. Martin has maybe 30 guys on his side, but they're all brainless thugs (including Slim Pickens, wearing what looks like a 19th Century burgundy tracksuit under a vest much too small for his big gut.) None of them could have kept the operation running in his absence, because they aren't tough enough, and definitely aren't smart enough. During the climax, Peppard and McIntire take out a dozen guys in the casino, just the two of them. The whole operation is Martin's character, and he could have died 3 times in the first 30 minutes.

The deputy was locked up tight in the office with the shopkeeper, until Martin had a man climb the roof and promised to dump TNT down the chimney if the deputy didn't back down. The deputy could have killed Martin, who was standing there in the open at the front of his mob. Clear shot, but the deputy was too scared to take it. A minute later, Jean Simmons has the drop on them with a rifle, but wasted her time on warning shots until Pickens got the rifle away from her with his whip.

OK, murder's not that easy, even of a piece of shit. Fine, too bad for that shopkeeper that got lynched because he defended himself, but fine. Peppard fancies himself a gambler, so he's in the casino having a drink with Martin when a couple of trappers come in and refuse to check their guns. Martin's fighting both of them, and one is about to knife him in the back. Peppard, who has a clear sense of how things work by now, shouts a warning, giving Martin a chance to disarm the guy. All he had to do was keep his mouth shut and viola! Problem solved, and with no risk of him being killed like the other two faced

So it's a frustrating viewing experience, especially with how much time the movie spends waiting for Peppard to get angry enough to decide he actually wants to get involved, when you know that eventually, he is going to get involved.

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