IMDb RATING
7.1/10
7.1K
YOUR RATING
A famous gunman becomes the marshal of Warlock to end a gang's rampages, but is met with some opposition by a former gang member turned deputy sheriff who wants to follow only legal methods.A famous gunman becomes the marshal of Warlock to end a gang's rampages, but is met with some opposition by a former gang member turned deputy sheriff who wants to follow only legal methods.A famous gunman becomes the marshal of Warlock to end a gang's rampages, but is met with some opposition by a former gang member turned deputy sheriff who wants to follow only legal methods.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
DeForest Kelley
- Curley Burne
- (as De Forest Kelley)
Robert Adler
- Foss
- (uncredited)
Joel Ashley
- Murch
- (uncredited)
Don 'Red' Barry
- Edward Calhoun
- (uncredited)
June Blair
- Dance Hall Girl
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaEdward Dmytryk later denied that the gay subtext was intentional.
- GoofsBefore the shootout with Billy, Morgan sees Calhoun and fires once to stop him, with the second shot heard coming from Calhoun's rifle. All of the other gunshots heard or seen were from the participants of the shootout. After the shootout, someone says Calhoun was shot three times, once in the throat and twice in the chest. Morgan says he aimed all three shots at his chest. He could not have shot him three times since he only fired once.
This is just gunman braggadocio. Bragging and self-aggrandizing are normal behaviour. However, since only three shots were fired in the opening salvo, with two bodies as a result, there is a shooter missing, who had a lucky coincidence of putting the extra two holes in Calhoun simultaneously with the sound of two of the other shots.
- Quotes
Johnny Gannon: He just saved your life, Billy! I wonder why...
- ConnectionsFeatured in This Is Us: Vietnam (2018)
Featured review
tight, layered, well acted, well filmed Western that rises just a little above the rest
Warlock (1959)
Director Edward Dmytryk is one of those dependable Golden Age mainstays who is pulling off tightly made movies even this late in the game. After many archetypal movies, often just short of greatness, he is still putting on a good game with first rate camera-work (Joe MacDonald) and top shelf actors (Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn, and Richard Widmark, all in major roles). And so this is actually a strong, complex movie.
It helps that the plot, even though apparently another retread of Western clichés, is complex and well balanced. That the bad guys are partly very good and vice versa is exactly what the genre needs, and it is filmed so gorgeously--the night and interior stuff especially--it has a feeling of total command. It's a strong if still conventional film, a true Western in the best Anthony Mann sense rather than John Ford.
The plot is too complex to even analyze quickly, but a couple key elements play out. First, Fonda and Quinn play hired marshals who come into towns overwhelmed by some bad guys. They are hired for their ruthlessness because the town has no choice, but when they get to work, the town begins to doubt itself. And then there are all the secret past events that seem to converge here, almost too perfectly, but creating a layered and sometimes confusing backstory that gradually moves front and center.
All three male actors are in top form--I'll assume it's because the whole lot of them were consummate professionals there to get a job done well. While this was made years after the official end of the old studio system, it still is made (on location) with the same general factory ethic--tight production standards, familiar genres, efficient entertainment. It works, and it works better than it should. Certainly not a classic like "High Noon" or "Stagecoach," but a solid entry even for people who think they don't like westerns.
Director Edward Dmytryk is one of those dependable Golden Age mainstays who is pulling off tightly made movies even this late in the game. After many archetypal movies, often just short of greatness, he is still putting on a good game with first rate camera-work (Joe MacDonald) and top shelf actors (Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn, and Richard Widmark, all in major roles). And so this is actually a strong, complex movie.
It helps that the plot, even though apparently another retread of Western clichés, is complex and well balanced. That the bad guys are partly very good and vice versa is exactly what the genre needs, and it is filmed so gorgeously--the night and interior stuff especially--it has a feeling of total command. It's a strong if still conventional film, a true Western in the best Anthony Mann sense rather than John Ford.
The plot is too complex to even analyze quickly, but a couple key elements play out. First, Fonda and Quinn play hired marshals who come into towns overwhelmed by some bad guys. They are hired for their ruthlessness because the town has no choice, but when they get to work, the town begins to doubt itself. And then there are all the secret past events that seem to converge here, almost too perfectly, but creating a layered and sometimes confusing backstory that gradually moves front and center.
All three male actors are in top form--I'll assume it's because the whole lot of them were consummate professionals there to get a job done well. While this was made years after the official end of the old studio system, it still is made (on location) with the same general factory ethic--tight production standards, familiar genres, efficient entertainment. It works, and it works better than it should. Certainly not a classic like "High Noon" or "Stagecoach," but a solid entry even for people who think they don't like westerns.
helpful•100
- secondtake
- Oct 30, 2011
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Shoot Out at Warlock
- Filming locations
- Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah, USA(target practice scene)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $2,400,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $8,892
- Runtime2 hours 1 minute
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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![Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn, Richard Widmark, Dorothy Malone, and Dolores Michaels in Warlock (1959)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZmMwZWFjYTEtNjE3ZS00MzM0LThjMjUtMDZhYWYzNjU3ZmJmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzc5MjA3OA@@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,2,90,133_.jpg)