There Was a Crooked Man…

Of all the genre-bending, marginally “subversive” Westerns that were released in the 1960s and ‘70s, There Was a Crooked Man… probably holds up the best, due to the playful performances of stars Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda, as well as the snarky scripting of David Newman and Robert Benton. As was the fashion of the day (i.e., 1970), the film cheerfully dispensed with the white hat/black hat conventions of horse operas and used its period setting to propound a humorously cynical, antiestablishment point of view. Douglas stars as Paris Pittman, a convicted robber sent to an Arizona prison (after being caught with his pants down—literally—in a bordello). Paris is much liked by his fellow jailbirds, especially once they learn he has a half million dollars stashed away “on the outside” and is plotting to escape. All of which puts him on a collision course with saintly erstwhile sheriff Woodward Lopeman (Fonda), who gave up his badge to become the new prison warden. Before all is said and done, it's tough to tell the good guys from the bad guys. Douglas and Fonda are both great, and they receive top-drawer support from a terrific cast that includes Burgess Meredith, Hume Cronyn, Warren Oates, Lee Grant, and Arthur O'Connell. Joseph L. Mankiewicz's direction here isn't especially surefooted—the film vacillates from comedic to dramatic and fails to achieve a consistent tone—but in all other respects (except for the cheesy soundtrack), this is still rip-roaring entertainment. DVD extras include a vintage on-location featurette. Highly recommended. (E. Hulse)