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Garden of Evil (1954)

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32 comments in total

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22 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
a choice between higher and lower values., 23 noviembre 2004

Author: tmwest de S. Paulo, Brazil

Henry Hathaway made so many and such a variety of films, that when he did something outstanding like this western, people were kind of anesthetized and did not give it the value it deserved. 'Garden of Evil' has a great story, great actors, and a fabulous scenery. Not even Anthony Mann achieved this perfection of blending scenery and story. The story is about three men, Cooper, Widmark and Mitchell which are on a steam ship that breaks down and has to be fixed on the coast of Mexico, at a time where there was no Panama Canal, and they had to pass through Cape Horn, so the Pacific Coast was kind of unreachable and mysterious. There, while they have to wait, they are hired by Susan Hayward to free her husband stuck on a gold mine on a territory full of Apaches. They all desire the gold and also the woman, and she uses her power of seduction to command them. When they get to the place, which is called Garden of Evil, and realize that they might not come out alive, each one makes a choice about higher or lower values. There is an impressive fight between Mitchell and Cooper where Mitchell is repeatedly thrown into the fire. Rita Moreno in a small part where she only has a chance to sing half of two songs, is breathtakingly beautiful. Susan Hayward is excellent, Hathaway was able to bring out the best in her as he did in 'Rawhide'. One of the best lines is when Cooper says to Hayward referring to her husband, that what counts is what one does and not what he speaks. This film should be on any list of the all time best westerns.

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14 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
A Moving Parable, 21 febrero 1999

Author: anonymous de Columbia, South Carolina, USA

Filmed on location in the volcanic deserts and banana jungles of central Mexico, this film quickly escapes Western routine through its effective use of complex characterization and unusual scenery. The sweeping musical score and other worldly backgrounds establish an epic atmosphere. The background painting used in the opening credits and again in the "gold mine" sequences strongly recalls the paintings of Frederick Churchward. Mysterious and unattainable Susan Hayward leads an odd assortment of morbidly pensive adventurers in a mortal quest. As the characters' hidden pasts unravel, they sacrifice themselves, one by one, to assure the party's escape from hostile Indians. We are reminded that a society's least wanted members may be its most most willing defenders. Beneath the big screen Western flash, this is a film about loyalty and responsibility. Cooper's ending speech says it all.

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18 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
Where is the DVD?, 22 octubre 2004

Author: chem6astei de Decatur,GA

The previous well done assessment of this film needs little further comment, except why has it not been put back into the loop as a wide-screen DVD? This movie is not one which plays often on the TV; I cannot recall having seen it in the last 30 years. The film and cast are excellent. Perhaps the film's flaw is the fact that it is not very well know as compared to some of the nonsense served up by John Wayne. Gary Cooper has made some really great films, and this is certainly one of them. Susan Hayward is always a delight for the eyes, and the Mexican scenery is most imposing. The one image which remains strongest in the mind about this movie is how, when, and where the Indians, single out which members of the rescue party are to be killed (one by one). I hope the industry which provides us with new DVD's every Tuesday will finally wake up and put this fine piece of work out on the shelf for sale where it belongs.

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13 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Ripe for a Cult, 8 junio 2005
Author: wonderboss de Atlanta, GA

This is a hugely underrated western as eccentric and individual as anything by Peckinpah or Boetticher. One of the early Cinemascope adventures from Fox, GARDEN OF EVIL has a superb cast at the top of their respective games, fantastic special effects, wonderful widescreen photography, and one of house composer Bernard Herrmann's very best scores (which is saying a mouthful). Best of all, it showcases an utterly unique screenplay full of strange, world-weary philosophy that sounds like Hemingway on acid. (Ironically, the chief writer, Fred Frieberger, is best known for producing the third and weakest season of the original STAR TREK -- notorious for its bad writing). At any rate, check this one out the first chance you get. Years of bad pan & scan showings on TV have destroyed its reputation -- but if you ask me, GARDEN OF EVIL is a gem waiting to be discovered, if not a cult waiting to be born!

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16 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
A SUPERIOR, UNROCOGNIZED WESTERN., 8 noviembre 2004
Author: Allan Provost (aprovost@cooperandhayes.com) de MIAMI, FLORIDA

While Garden of Evil is not known to most film fans, it is a favorite of many. Everything about this film is great. The scenery, the music, the incredible cast. Unlike today's films it has lots of say about greed, heroism, love between men, loyalty, and betrayal. It also has more great lines than most movies - all

delivered brilliantly by Susan Hayward, Gary Cooper and Richard Widmark.Here are some as I remember them (not necessarily accurate). Susan to Coop: You need me. Because without me, Mister, you're lost. And when you're lost in this country, you're dead. Widmark to Coop: See that. Every night the sun goes down, and it always takes someone with it. Tonight it's me. Coop to himself: If the earth would made of gold, men would kill for a handful of dirt.

This should be on list of the ten best westerns, right up there with Shane and The Searchers

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12 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
One of Gary Cooper's best westerns. Why is it not on DVD?, 21 enero 2005

Author: Fred Caruso (fred44221@webtv.net) de United States

Coop and two other Americans heading around the cape to California, find themselves stranded in a hole in the wall village on the Mexican coast for several weeks while the ship they are sailing dropped anker for repairs.

A desperate woman arrives at the cantina looking for men to help rescue her husband trapped in their gold mine. The mine is deep in Indian territory and she offers them $2000.00 each to follow her into a land where white men go in but few come out.

Following her deeper into the bowls of h___ they each plan on taking the lady and the gold for themselves......the Indians have made other plans.

Garden of Evil is just plane good entertainment. If you see it listed on TV make time to sit down and watch it. You won't be sorry.

This is one of thousands of great movies, western classics, drama and film noir that the bean counters in Hollywood have failed to put out on DVD. It's an even bigger shame that this movie didn't even make it to VHS.

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12 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
A well-done character piece, concentrating on the evil influence of gold.., 24 junio 2002

Author: ironside (robertfrangie@hotmail.com) de Mexico

While Cooper's career spanned ninety-two feature films, in which he appeared as everything from a masked Cossack to an Italian Renaissance explorer, a foreign legionnaire, a baseball great and countless sophisticated romantic adventurers, he is best remembered as a Western star...

'Garden of Evil' tells the story of three American adventurers (Cooper, Widmark, and Mitchell) who are stranded in a Mexican fishing village after the ship that was taking them to California is put out of commission...

All three were headed for the Californian gold rush... Instead, they are now in Puerto Miguel, approached by a woman in trouble, a Spanish-speaking American woman, Leah Fuller (Susan Hayward), who offers to pay them handsomely if they escort her through hazardous Indian territory to rescue her husband who is hurt and trapped in a gold mine up there in the hills...

The mention of gold makes them agree and, together with a Mexican macho man named Vicente (Victor Manuel Mendoza), begin their long, arduous journey...

Emotions become tense when Leah discovers Vicente marking trails and, later, finds herself fighting off the crude advances of one of the three soldiers of fortune...

When the group arrives at what the Indians call the Garden of Evil, a sacred grounds atop a high mountain where the mine is located, they found Fuller (Hugh Marlowe) still alive, but embittered and with a broken leg...

The group's troubles grow when they discover they are in danger, practically harassed by savage Indians...

"Garden of Evil" was Cooper first motion picture in CinemaScope... Along the way, he proves himself a powerful leader with a commanding performance...

Susan Hayward kept her thoughts and her affections pretty much of a secret, remaining skeptical about her motives... This was her second movie with Gary Cooper since her appearance in William A. Wellman's superb, high adventure 'Beau Geste,' and her third with director Hathaway...

Richard Widmark proceeds his ways of gambling with a neat line in cynical cracks; Cameron Mitchell fails in his unwelcome sexual advances; Hugh Marlowe uses a variety of both conscious and unconscious processes to deal with his angry feelings; Victor Manuel Mendoza gets intensely angry after being hit; and Rita Moreno delights the environment with her sweet voice...

Hathaway was one of the great Hollywood veterans still in harness, a versatile director whose Westerns have been as variable in quality as his other films... Filmed on location in Mexico, his 'Garden of Evil' is a beautiful spectacle to behold... The vistas are strikingly clear and vivid... The film is a well-done character piece, concentrating on the relationships of the characters as on the evil influence of gold...

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9 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Solid western deserves greater popularity, 6 noviembre 2003

Author: NewEnglandPat de Virginia

This brooding western has an uneven pace and meanders in places but is no less interesting because of the star power of Gary Cooper, whose laconic Hooker is the film's centerpiece. The movie is a grim, spare adventure of a party of mercenaries who journey into Indian country for the promise of gold to save a woman's husband who's trapped in an abandoned mine. Susan Hayward's Leah needs redemption for destroying her husband's self-esteem and private demons weigh her down, especially guilt feelings about leaving her husband alone in Apache territory. The film tends to preach at times and has a moral about gold, greed and sacrifice. Richard Widmark has a role that seems to have been tailored for him as a cynical cardsharp and quick-draw loner who's as much a mercenary as is Hooker but not quite as noble. Cameron Mitchell has a thankless role as a weak-willed bounty hunter who seems tough enough until his bluff is called. Rita Moreno appears briefly and warbles a pretty tune in a saloon, and Bernard Herrmann's fine score has a pensive quality that dwells on the unseen dangers throughout the film.

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9 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
A woman, a missing husband, and four men to take her to her man...but don't forget the GOLD that moves them all., 22 julio 2002
Author: tneufeld de Tokyo, Japan

If you have never seen Susan Hayward, Gary Cooper and Richard Widmark together, this will be a treat! First of all, the story works....

Next, the lines work and the performances are perfect: Susan Hayward's voice is the feminine equal of the stoic, knowing and forceful sound of Gary Cooper's voice: those voices are the trademarks of both of their film careers, and in this movie the interplay of their vocal tracks are very significant, definitive performances in both their careers....just listen to their lines and you will appreciate the fact that this movie is one of the high points of the dramatic art of two great performers...

You will also enjoy the visuals in this movie....Hayward is sexy, and backed by beautiful vistas. Cooper is strong and incorruptable, as are the stark and clear views that back his appearances....

Richard Widmark creates an excellent "gambling" persona...with a bit of backbone.

If you haven't seen it...DO!

If you like it, check out "The Big Sky" starring Kirk Douglas...it is black and white if I remember rightly...but well worth checking out!

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Just misses being a better western, 2 octubre 2007

Author: theowinthrop de United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I am giving a "7" for the cast, and production. I have no problems with the performances of the six leads, and only wish Rita Moreno had been given more than a few scenes she did well as the singer in a cantina. But this might have been an "8" or "9" as a film western with a bit better care in the script.

Don't get me wrong - the story is not the most difficult to accept. Three men (Gary Cooper as "Hooker"; Richard Widmark as "Fiske"; and Cameron Mitchell as "Daly) are stuck in a Mexican sea town while their ship is being repaired. All are headed for the California Gold Fields (so the year is 1849 - 50 or so). While drinking together in a cantina (where Moreno is dancing - it is owned by her boyfriend Victor Manuel Mendoza, here as "Madariaga") they are all approached by Susan Hayward (as "Leah Fuller") to assist her in rescuing her husband (Hugh Marlowe as "John Fuller") who is an engineer exploring a gold mind. There was a partial cave-in, and he is trapped under the beams of wood. She is willing to pay any man who assists her $2,000.00 for his help. After some discussion Cooper, Widmark, Mitchell, and Madariaga agree to do it. They are aware of one catch - the location of Marlowe and the mind is deep within Apache territory.

The story continues as they follow Hayward to reach Marlowe, constantly aware of the Apache danger (they are traveling during a holiday that tribe celebrates by hunting white men), and they are aware of problems among themselves. While each has been willing to take a chance on the mission for the $2,000.00 fee, at least two of the mercenaries (Mitchell and Madariaga) see it as an opportunity to possibly get rich on that gold mine. Cooper and Widmark may think of it too, but both are smarter - the Apache danger is more important to consider than some possible wealth. Also both men are attracted to Hayward, although both are equally wary of her motives. It looks at first like she deeply loves her husband, but she isn't really behaving like she does.

Personality conflicts develop. Mendoza tries to leave a trail for his friends to follow along the route, but Hayward and Cooper keep destroying his sign posts. Mitchell makes a play for Hayward, and is forced to confront Cooper. Some ugly points about Mitchell's past (he's a bounty hunter with a dubious modus operandi) come out, but he is put into his place. Widmark watches - a cynical man of the world and card player. Yet he and Cooper manage to create a kind of friendly relationship, although Cooper wonders if he is the kind of man who could fully meet the dangers of this trek in hostile territory.

They reach the mine and find Marlowe alive - and get him out. But they find him a bitter man - he feels Hayward hoped to find him dead so she could keep the mind. It is obvious that Hayward's behavior towards him in rescuing him was not due to lingering love but to a sense of guilt that he got himself into this mess trying to prove himself to her. But whatever the reason, the six find themselves suddenly facing the problems of returning to the Mexican town they left 100 miles or so away, facing a now visible and deadly Apache threat, and hampered by an injured Marlowe.

On the surface the story is interesting enough, but too many points are left dangling. Cooper's Hooker is a Texas lawman (which is why he knows about Mitchell), but Widmark knows of Cooper (he can't quite place him) and we wonder if Cooper has left Texas for some similar black mark against him. Widmark's cynicism or wisdom is done well - but how he'd get that way is never explained. The complications of the Hayward - Marlowe marriage are given to us in one scene in their cabin when the others are out, and we really needed something to fill in the background.

Still the performances are good - uniformly well done. I note particularly (and probably few would think of it) Victor Mendoza. Mexico has had one of the best movie producing industries in the world for decades, that is only belatedly getting the attention it deserves in the U.S. It is more than simply a transplanted Luis Bunuel making films there, or Cantiflas' social comedies. Mendoza's character of Madariaga is as complex as Cooper's Hooker, Widmarck's Fiske, Mitchell's Daly, or Hayward and Marlowe's twisted Fullers. He is the jealous boyfriend of Moreno, and when he tosses a rival out of his cantina he comes over to the three gringos and explains to them why (he noticed their interest in Rita too). He is an opportunist setting up personal signs leading to the mine, but he is willing to keep his word regarding rescuing Marlowe. His final moments are memorable too, yelling defiance at his unseen Apache tormentors. Fact is, he was a fine actor, and while never an "Oscar" winner or nominee won several equivalent Mexican awards in his career (see his thread on this board).

GARDEN OF EVIL is a good western and worth watching. Just a bit more fine tuning and it would have been a great western.

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