source: The Man from Colorado

The Man from Colorado

Fine psychological western filmed in Technicolor. Glenn Ford plays a colonel in the Union Army driven insane by his experiences in the Civil War. After the war is over he accepts a federal judgeship and appoints his friend William Holden as marshal. As a judge, Ford continues to be as sadistic and cruel as he was during the war. Holden realizes he has to stop him. Ellen Drew plays the woman torn between the two men. Ford and Holden are solid. Looks good, particularly the location shooting. Mature themes will please many who don't normally care for older westerns. Never quite 'pops' the way you want it to but it's entertaining nonetheless.

This is a fine Western from 1948 with Glenn Ford giving a great performance as a former Civil War Col. obviously unhinged by his experience in that conflict. He returns to small town life with his best friend and former Captain, played by William Holden. It's not long before Ford is made a federal judge and in turn makes Holden a federal marshal. Soon tension begins to arise, aggravated by the love of both men for one woman and Ford's continued descent into madness. He begins to abuse his power as judge and leads hanging parties, much to Holden's dismay. Before long, the men are on opposite sides of a growing conflict between former soldiers and a mining company fighting over the rights to a gold-rich mountain. Ford is really the whole show, twitching and bulging his eyes every time anyone even suggests he's acting crazy. Catch this film for the formula Western action but groove to Ford's performance, really one of his finest.

One of several morose postwar westerns addressing the untidy aftermath of the Civil War, incongruously shot in pristine Technicolor; all the better, presumably, for Columbia to showcase it's fresh young stars. Glen Ford and Bill Holden. Ford - giving the strangest performance he probably ever gave as the psychotic sheriff - was in reality two years older than Holden; but the grey-templed hairpiece Ford wears (either to make him look older or to show the toll the war has taken on him) actually makes him look even younger.

"The Man From Colorado", filmed in 1948, portrays two men and how the trauma of the Civil War affected them, and those about them. Glenn Ford delivers a truly mesmerizing performance as a Civil War commander who is slowly being gripped by madness due to the violence of the War, while William Holden plays the part of a veteran of the same war, is able to cope with the aftermath, and yet, is unable to prevent his friend from sinking into degenerate madness. After the war has ended, both men return to the same hometown to resume their lives. Ford is appointed as a federal judge of the territory, and he, in turn, names Holden as federal marshal. Ultimately, Ford's character sinks deeper into violence and glaring errors in carrying out justice, and Holden has to try and stop his former friend. Don't let the age of the film deceive you, this movie does pack a message that can be applied today. An 8/10 viewing mark

Glenn Ford was as good as anyone playing an intense psychotic, which he does here in this above-average western. Ford, playing "Col.Owen Devereaux," gets elected to the position of "judge" right after his distinguished career in the Civil War. Unfortunately, he has mental problems and this position carries too much weight for an unstable sort such as him to be carrying. His best buddy, "Capt. Del Stewart" (William Holden) sees his friend as he is and tries to reason with him and help him out but winds up being alienated, too, by the paranoid judge whose problems escalate as the story goes on. There's not a tremendous amount of action in here, but it still moves pretty fast and looks really nice on DVD. This is one of the few color films of the 1940s. Ellen Drew, Ray Collins and Ed Buchnan provide good supporting help in the story. If you like some of the Anthony Mann-James Stewart westerns of the late '40s/early '50s, you should like this one, too.