DKosty123 This is a difficult cast to beat. Besides Glenn Ford, there is Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Rod Steiger, Noah Beery Jr. and Jack Elam. With this kind of cast plus a couple of actresses, this movie is loaded. The Paul Wellman novel gets a well done treatment here. Delmar Daves does a great job directing these folks.The story is one of women making trouble for all the men in the cast. One of them seems to be behind a murder, and in the meantime Rod Steiger stirs up everybody and murders a woman to boot. Ford and Steiger are the real star roles here, but Bronson makes a good impression in support.Borgnine and Ford are best friends, until late in the movie. Ford's character is a troubled one who ran away from his mother at age 7. The plot centers around when is he finally going to face major issue instead of running away. This is a very well done film and I highly recommend any Western fan to watch this one. For Glenn Ford fans, this one is an essential.

zardoz-13 Stalwart thesping by a veteran cast and stunning mountain scenery cannot compensate for the predictable script in "Broken Arrow" director Delmar Daves' modest ranching epic "Jubal," with likable Glenn Ford cast as the eponymous character. The story is fairly basic material. A lone cowboy staggers out of the mountains and onto the trail, starved, on foot without a horse, and practically dead. The owner of a sprawling ranch picks him up and brings him onto his property. Good Samaritan rancher Shep (Ernest Borgnine of "Marty") is a genuinely pleasant fellow who takes the cowboy, Jubal Troop (Glenn Ford of "Texas"), in and gives him a job. Meanwhile, one of the ranch owner's hands, Pinky (Rod Steiger of "On the Waterfront") doesn't like Shep's charitable gesture of kindness. He doesn't like it for another reason. Shep's beautiful wife Mae (Valerie French) is a no-good spouse who lusts after Jubal behind her husband's ignorant back. Pinky knows better, too, and does his best to aggravate a potentially nasty predicament. While Shep is hopelessly gracious to his men, overlooking Pinky's antagonism to Jubal, he is a complete fool where women are concerned and doesn't see what his faithless wife is doing to him. Pinky's wrath toward Jubal mounts when Shep gives him the rank of foreman. Meanwhile, some Christian settlers venture across Shep's land and Pinky leads an army of Shep's cowhands and other ranch hands from different ranches to drive these harmless folks out. Jubal intervenes on behalf of the settlers. Predictably, Pinky rides back to the ranch and warns Shep about Jubal's treachery. Initially, Pinky didn't like Jubal because he smelled sheep on him."Jubal" was one of those 'adult-themed' westerns that Hollywood made in the 1950s. The lady of the ranch throws herself at the hero, but he isn't having anything to do with her because he likes her husband. Unfortunately, Daves and scenarist Russell Hughes refrain from developing the roles into three dimensional characters. In other words, nobody changes over time. Every character remains steadfastly the same. Pinky epitomizes evil incarnate when he is not given his way. At one point, Pinky and Jubal opens fire their weapons on each other. As the only lady in this horse opera, Mae doesn't change an iota either. Eventually, Pinky convinces Shep that Jubal and Mae are having an affair under his nose and Shep calls an unarmed Jubal out. The ending leaves something to your imagination with regard to Pinky's comeuppance. Jack Elam and Noah Beery, Jr., co-star.

jpdoherty A novel called "Jubal Troop" by Paul Wellman was the basis for a fine screenplay by both Russell S.Hughes and director Delmer Daves for the Columbia Pictures' stylish western JUBAL (1956). Produced for the studio by William Fadiman it had all the skill and talent director Daves had injected into previous and future western assignments such as "Broken Arrow" (1950), "The Last Wagon" (1956) and his masterpiece "3 Ten To Yuma"(1957). Photographed by ace cinematographer Charles Lawton Jr. on beautiful locations in Wyoming the imposing Grand Tetons make for some amazing backdrops in many scenes. Seven years later Daves and Lawton would return to the same stunning locations for the spectacularly photographed Warner picture "Spencer's Mountain".JUBAL stars Glenn Ford as Jubal Troop a wandering cowhand who is rescued from near freezing on a mountain trail by passing rancher Shep Horgan (Ernest Borgnine). The rancher takes him back to his spread where he is taken care of and revived. The next day Horgan offers him a job to the chagrin of another cowhand Pinky (Rod Steiger) who has taken an instant dislike to the stranger and even suspects that he could be a sheepherder ("he stinks of sheep dip"). Trouble really begins when Shep's new wife - the flirtatious May (Valerie French) makes a play for the new cowboy. Jubal - being too fond of and grateful to Shep - will have none of it ("you're the boss's wife" he tells her as he walks away from her). But Pinky's hatred and jealously of Jubal sees him plant the lie in Shep's head that his wife is having an affair with the stranger. A furious Shep unwittingly confronts Jubal with a gun in the saloon ("get up Jube or I'll give it to you where you sit") but with the help of his friend (Charles Bronson) Jubal manages to out shoot Shep but regretfully kills him. Pinky now has the reason to round up a posse and go after Jubal who has taken refuge in a pilgrim's wagon train. The picture ends with Pinky beating up May but before she dies she informs the attending doctor (Robert Burton) that it was Pinky's lie that caused all the trouble and not Jubal.Performances are generally good throughout! Ford gives his usual dependable portrait of a likable western hero. Borgnine is good too in a big co-starring role after his Acadamy Award winning performance in "Marty" (1955) and Valeria French is excellent as the alluring and flirty wife. Wasted though is Felicia Farr making her debut in a syrupy and poorly written role as a pilgrim girl who takes a shine to Jubal. (She made up for it the following year when she and Ford were the brief bar-room lovers in Daves' brilliant "3 Ten To Yuma"). But the acting honours in JUBAL has to go to Rod Steiger as the mean-spirited and contemptible Pinky despite the actor's ill-advised use of a dubious southern accent. Others in the cast are likable bit players such as John Dierkes, Noah Beery Jr. and Basil Ruysdael. And holding the whole thing together nicely is the splendid music score by David Raksin. There is an infectious and jaunty main theme heard first over the titles and carried through for the early scenes. Then there is some exciting cues for the chase sequences and tender music plays under the picture's softer moments. The music from JUBAL is one of the composer's better scores.JUBAL is a fine memorable western and a splendid addition to the great classics of the fifties.

davdecrane A stolid Western offering minor interest because it focuses more on love and jealousy than action and violence, Jubal still feels like a long day in the saddle. The acting is generally according to type and nothing more: Glenn Ford is laconic if not emotionally stunted, with eyes that never display any emotion; Ernest Borgnine is better, a bit tamped down from his usual volatile self, though he stills careens from best-buddy to big threat; Valerie French is terrible as the bad Canadian (!) hussy but the role is mostly a device to animate Rod Steiger's jealous Pinky. He's the best character in the movie, but still one dimensional with no arc: bad to the bone from beginning till the end. Ford's eponymous Jubal character actually has a backstory out of Sergio Leone (a mother who wanted him to drown) but he reveals it in an unmotivated scene with Felicia Farr's young Mormon. (As always, the real fault lies with the screenwriter.) More interesting to watch than the characters is the beautiful Jackson Hole scenery, a welcome change from the dusty California backdrop of most oaters.