source: Face of a Fugitive

*Plot analyzed* Face of a Fugitive (1959) is a nice little Western with the more than reliable Fred MacMurray. I like him in Film-Noirs (Double Indemnity (1944), Pushover (1954) and Westerns (Quantez (1957), Good Day for a Hanging (1959). Here he plays an outlaw, who isn't as bad as he seems. He makes an escape from a train with the unwanted aid of his brother, who gets shot and later dies. Also, the lawman was killed. So Fred MacMurray is on the run. Jim Larsen, alias Ray Kincaid (Fred MacMurray) hops on a train to the next town, where he befriends the sheriff and his sister. He's drawn into their world and even stands up for the sheriff (Lin McCarthy), who's engaged with a dispute with a cattle man, Reed Williams (Alan Baxter). Look for a young James Coburn as one of his henchmen. He's in a ridiculous scene where Jim Larsen, alias Ray Kincaid (Fred MacMurray) shoots a barbwire fence and it wraps around him tightly. Most of the action takes place in the small town, but still, it's a solid script and tight role for the likable Fred MacMurray.

Reasonably taut western-suspense has MacMurray, unwittingly on the run after his brother (Hayes) kills a lawman then dies during a bungled escape from custody. He quickly establishes himself with an alter-ego and his forthright, courteous style captures the attention of local widow (Green) whose young, somewhat precocious daughter (read matchmaker) has taken a shine to the amiable MacMurray. Trouble with local thugs (Baxter and Coburn principally) and a more pragmatic need of cash, prompts MacMurray to "go-straight" and take on a job as the struggling sheriff's (McCarthy) deputy, but his past is going to catch up with him soon. "Fugitive" can sometimes be a dark little suspense-thriller, carried effectively by MacMurray's sombreness as he reflects on the life of crime that ultimately cost his kid brother's life and now threatens to derail his chance at a future with Green. Baxter is prominent as the town bully, flanked by an imposing James Coburn in his second movie. Coburn has more dialogue and presence than would ordinarily be attributed to a minor supporting actor in that part, perhaps indicative of his potential. Climactic ending has a gunfight in an abandoned town under the cloak of a dust storm, as MacMurray attempts to redeem himself before judgement day. A western in appearance only, the themes are very transferable with good suspense and tension throughout.

If you had to pick out a single film to represent the less-than-A features Hollywood was grinding out in the 1950s, this might do the job. It practically defines "routine." It is inexpensively made on one or two Western ranches established only for use in cheap movies, it has no recognizable stars except the fading Fred MacMurray. The script, while not uninteresting, is strictly functional and lacks grace. The photography and direction do no more than get the job done, nor does the score by Jerry Goldsmith, still operating within strictures imposed by commercial considerations. Imagine if Goldsmith had written a musical score built around a trumpet and some plucked piano strings, as he did later for "Chinatown". He'd have had all the time in the world after that to sit down and write the Great American Symphony. The film isn't an insult to the intelligence though. MacMurray tries to help his reckless younger brother to escape and the brother kills a sheriff and is killed himself in return. MacMurray, heretofore a nice guy, is now involved in a murder. He manages to escape from the town and find a new place, where he makes acquaintances, assumes a new identity, and nervously awaits the arrival of the "Wanted" posters that will reveal him for who he is. He helps the clean-cut local sheriff out of a jam, gets the girl, and redeems himself. The characters have some complexity built into them. The bad guy, for instance, is Alan Baxter. He has possession of some grazing land that belongs to the public and he keeps fencing it off, despite the dire warnings of good-guy sheriff Francis De Sales. That's "bad", true, but Baxter himself has no desire to kill the sheriff unless it's absolutely necessary. And he's related to MacMurray's new girl friend, so allegiances aren't simply lined up, one side against the other, as on a checker board. But, aside from the main question of how MacMurray is ever going to recapture his virtue -- there's never much question about whether he WILL or not -- the script looks like an outline for a story. Absolutely nothing happens that doesn't advance the plot. I'll give one example of how simple it would have been to raise this story beyond the plodding. It involves Alan Baxter, the chief heavy. Baxter had a decent career in smaller roles but he was never a bravura actor and didn't show much in the way of range. Yet, in Alfred Hitchcock's "Saboteur" he played a well-mannered Nazi spy who has an extraordinary conversation with hero Robert Cummings in the back seat of a car. It's all very casual. Baxter tells Cummings about his son. He would like to raise him with long hair. When he, Baxter, was a child, he had long golden curls and he wonders about grooming his own child the same way. ("You'd be doing the kid a favor to get him a haircut", replies the all-American hero.) The exchange lasts about one minute but humanizes the villain. It tells us of his weaknesses, his misguided fantasies, his childhood, and his love for his son. There is nothing here that even resembles that moment. MacMurray, for whatever reason, slogs through his role in monotones, has the requisite fist fight in a bar, severs a strand of barbed wire with a shot from fifty feet away, crawls blooded through the dusty saloon of an abandoned town, and so on. None of the actors outperform MacMurray though. The performances are all routine. The whole production is routine.

This film starts off with Jim Larsen, (Fred MacMurray) being handcuffed on a train headed for a prison after he was involved with a bank holdup. As the train travels, Jim Larsen's young brother jumps on the train and tries to free his brother who did not want him to get involved and the brother is wounded and Jim puts him into the baggage car in order to give him a good place to hide. Jim Larsen decides to find a small town to settle in and he even sits next to a little girl on the train and when he gets to the town he becomes friends with the local sheriff, Mark Riley, (Lin McCarthy) and even becomes romantically involved with the sheriff's sister, Ellen Bailey,(Dorothy Green). You will never be able to figure out how this picture ends, but it was a perfect ending for a guy like Jim Larsen. Enjoy.

Just when I thought that my tastes had changed with age regarding westerns, I caught this one and was I ever surprised. It's just not the shoot them up type of western; there is a good story here with sentimental value. A younger brother catches a fatal bullet while trying to get his brother to escape from the law which is trying to get him to jail. The older brother, played wisely by Fred MacMurray, describes to his dying brother what led him down the wrong path. Upon coming to town MacMurray gets involved with a lawman who is trying to prevent a guy and his gang from erecting a fence up that will keep the people out. The guy has a widowed sister with a young child so you know that romance will bloom. The story takes place basically in one day as the town waits for the picture of MacMurray to be sent to them. The lawman-brother, goes strictly by the book as he reads his law books in preparation to become an attorney. This is a story of redemption and human kindness. The true hallmark of the film is that it ends too soon. You always want good pictures to continue, but the film ended at an appropriate point.

This is another example of a fine 50's B western -- one which in many respects outranks a number of it's "big brother" cousins. The action begins with Larson (McMurray) escaping from a deputy transporting him to prison for a bank robbery. Larson's kid brother shows up unannounced in the midst of the action and gets fatally wounded in an exchange of gunfire with the deputy as they are escaping. They manage to stow away on a train, where we find out some of the history of these men and their motivations. Along the way the brother dies and Larson takes the alias of Kincaid while plotting how to evade the law, which is now seeking him for murder (of the deputy, which his brother shot). Kincaid ends up in a small town and in short order gets involved in various ways with the locals while needing to escape the roadblocks before the wanted poster with his picture arrives! On the surface, this is pretty standard fare for a western. It stands apart from the typical film of its genre, however, because of the thoughtful way the characters in the story are handled. One gets a sense of realism, not so much from the clothing or set designs, etc., but from the way the characters in the story respond to circumstances and each other. The people in this story are real, genuine, believable people -- unlike the stereotypical "invincible, tough as nails" western heroes that dominated the genre in this period, or the mysterious, aloof personas found in the spaghetti westerns that followed. For example, there is a barroom fight in the film with the clichéd "one man vs. the group of bad guys". However, instead of the whole group mobbing the protagonist and beating him to a pulp, they allow the fight to be one-on-one between the two who are truly in conflict, preserving their own dignity and that of the ones actually fighting. That is not to say that they have no involvement or investment, but what part they do play is sensible and believable. It is this interaction and sincere character development along with an engaging plot which makes this a movie that is not only a decent way to pass time, but a true pleasure to watch. Oh, and it has a fun early part by James Coburn and a thrilling climax, too. And if you watch this and enjoy it, I would also highly recommend another similarly forgotten B-western of this era: "Gun the Man Down" with James Arness. I give both this and the aforementioned title a solid 7.5. Easily recommended.

I enjoyed this film for the fact that Fred MacMurray was the star and also because James Coburn played a minor role. The latter was noticeable even though he had only a few lines to speak. It was interesting to see him at the beginning of his career flash that big toothy grin of his. Fred was a bit staid for his role as a bank robber and with his honest looks not quite believable as the criminal type. He didn't seem to fool any of the supporting cast either. Perhaps that's why he changed direction in his career somewhat after this film. Still for a low budget western it's worth watching.

I was trying to sleep and came across this on the Western channel. It kept me up. The first time I saw Fred MacMurray was on reruns of "My Three Sons" when I was little. Then when I saw him in "Double Indemity," my whole opinion of him changed. He does very well as the anti-hero here. I didn't see the beginning of the movie so all I knew going on is that he is bank robber and while he is a "bad" guy," you start to want him to be happy. I won't give away too much of the movie, but it is definitely worth a look. The subtleness of the acting styles has a lot to be desired and the way the romance is handled is great. Like in all old (and new) movies, it happens quickly, but you believe it because the two people have a need that draws them together. I wasn't expecting the shoot out at the end to go the way it did. Yet, well, I can't say how it ends, but it was very well done.

Fred MacMurray doesn't really have the face for an outlaw, nor the voice, which makes it difficult to picture him in a Western. However in "Face Of A Fugitive", he fares much better than he did in "The Oregon Trail" from the same year. The unshaven look and casting as a loner adds to the appeal of his character Jim Larsen, who takes on the masquerade of a mine inspector looking for a change. Trouble finds him after escaping arrest from a territorial marshal, but the brother who helped him winds up dead, and things get even more complicated when circumstances find him siding with a lawman against Reed Williams (Alan Baxter), a rancher who intends to fence his range land in violation of a government order. Wouldn't you know it, sheriff Mark Riley (Lin McCarthy) has a widowed sister (Dorothy Green) who falls for Larsen/Kincaid, and the feeling is mutual. It's the typical recipe for trouble. You know, I had to stop and think about the value of merchandise as presented in the story. Larsen paid eighteen dollars for a gun belt and firearm, but only five dollars for a pair of pants and a jacket. Perhaps it was meant to indicate that protection had it's price in the old West, but I wonder if the numbers were accurate; I'll have to dig up an 1880's Sears catalog. The action takes place in a Wyoming town called Tangle Blue, which is one of the coolest sounding place names I've come across in a Western, and there are plenty. I wonder if that might have been the inspiration for Bob Dylan's song "Tangled Up In Blue"? Nah, I doubt it. You'll probably have to look long and hard for another story where the outlaw on the run needs to get as creative in dispatching a dead body. With no alternative, Larsen bundles up brother Jim in a canvas mail sack and heaves him off a train as it heads over a river crossing. Somehow you just knew that it wasn't the last you'd see of the young outlaw, he washes up ashore some time later, and for Larsen/Kincaid, it arrived with postage due. By the time it's all over, the Williams gang is no match for reluctant outlaw Larsen in a creative shoot out, leaving sheriff Riley a tough time matching up the face with the wanted poster.