Benedito Dias Rodrigues Who are acquainted by Glenn Ford's characters will be surprised when see this movie,could be called Deveraux a mad dog...disturbed by the civil war when he command a massacre in the last and final battle a hundred soldiers even with a white flag in the hands....featuring also William Holden in top billing too,fine western!!! Resume: First watch: 1991 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7

dougdoepke Best friends Owen and Del, along with local men, are mustered out of the Union army at Civil War's end. Trouble is Big Ed has grabbed the men's gold-bearing land while the men were gone, and now, as a judge, Owen has to enforce the law in Big Ed's favor. This splits the community into warring factions.Gritty, character-driven western. We know at outset that Owen (Ford) is a flawed character when his Union detachment shells surrendering Johnny rebs. In fact, Owen hides his killer instinct behind an uptight rendering of authority, whether as a colonel or as a federal judge. Ford plays the authoritarian part so grimly (count the smiles—I stopped at zero), it's hard to see how the charming Caroline would be attracted to him. Nonetheless, the interplay between best-friends Ford and Holden is involving and forms the story's core. Alliances between the various factions are sometimes hard to keep up with, but are more unpredictable than usual. And I especially like that final maneuvering around the bridge that I didn't see coming.Columbia Studios popped for a lot of extras, along with fine special effects, especially when the burning wall comes down. Funny, though, how mountainous Colorado looks like greater LA. Too bad Columbia didn't pop for sending the crew at least to Lone Pine and the Southern Sierras. All in all, it's a very different kind of horse opera that avoids the usual clichés, with Ford at his absolute grimmest. Clearly, however, he and Holden are on their way up the Hollywood ladder.

Spikeopath The end of the Civil War is nigh and one last pocket of Confederate resistance is holed up at Jacob's Gorge. Knowing their time is up they hoist the white flag in surrender. Union Colonel Owen Devereaux sees the white flag but orders the attack anyway. Returning home with his friend and colleague, Capt. Del Stewart, Devereaux grows ever more erratic by the day, his friends, his loves and all who cross him, are sure to pay if they can't rein in his madness.Starring Glenn Ford as Devereaux and William Holden as Stewart, directed by Henry Levin, The Man from Colorado, from a story by Borden Chase, is an intriguing psychological Western. The story follows the theme of a man ravaged by war and his inability to let go of the anger and mistrust gnawing away at him. Perfectly essayed by Ford as Devereaux {great to see him donning some bad guy boots}, the film is rather grim in context. Light on action {no bad thing here at all} it's with the dialogue driven characters that Levin's film really triumphs. Having both become lawmen, it would have been easy for all to just play out a standard oater as the two friends are driven apart by not only their different levels of sanity {Holden's Stewart is an excellent counter point to Ford's blood thirst}, but also the love of a good woman {Ellen Drew's petite Caroline Emmet}. But Chase's story has other elements to keep it from ever being formulaic. There's a deep political thread involving power and those entrusted with it, while the treatment of returning soldiers is firmly given prominence. Here the "boys" return after 3 years of being knee deep in blood and bone, to find that their claims are no longer valid. Snaffled by a greedy corporate type, thus as the "boys" look to the law for help?.....As a story I personally found this to be excellent, all I needed to seal the deal was to have some technical aspects to harness it. Thankfully it's joy of joy there as well because the Simi Valley location work is fabulous. I'm not overly familiar with William E. Snyder's cinematography work, but if this is a marker then I'd like to sample more. It's fair to say that even a "c" grade Western can look nice if given a good transfer, but when the Technicolor print is good, you can tell the difference big time, and this piece is first rate. The dusty orange and browns of the scenery fabulously envelopes the blue uniforms, while the green lamps are vivid and shine bright as if extra characters in the piece. Even Ford's greying temples have a classy sheen to them, almost belying his characters anger. All Western fans simply must hone into High Definition TV because although we always knew how fabulous these pictures looked, now it's another dimension of rewards unbound.As the finale comes in a blaze of fire {hello, hell!}, The Man from Colorado has achieved the two essential Western requirements if it wants to be taken seriously, one is that it looks gorgeous, the other is that it has strong thematics. And then some. 8/10

jcohen1 Saw the complete version on Encore West last nite; I was disappointed. Despite the presence of two great stars in Glenn Ford (3:10 from Yuma) and William Holden (Wild Bunch/Stalag 17) the film is far from a classic. It starts out with great potential as a battle fatigued Colonel Owen Devereaux played by Ford massacres a 100 troop Confederate party (they have plainly raised their white flag)just as the Civil War ends. Captain Del Stewart played by Holden - looking more the Hollywood golden boy than a war weary officer, immediately deduces that Ford has massacred the troop. He is a loyal long time friend and keeps his powder (and makeup) dry. After being mustered out (with little time to ketchup with their mutual girlfriend) Ford gets appointed a Federal Judge ( Owen to the lack of any sanity clause in his commission) and Holden is named US Marshal. The first trial he presides over is one of the film's better scenes and shows how following the law doesn't always result in justice.Ford continues to slip deeper into insanity. He's a hangin judge you don't want to hang with. So what is the film's point? There was no hint of is illness to anyone but Holden before his high appointment so I'm lost as to the film's message. Power can corrupt, but Ford is not corrupt; the war has simply driven him mad. He must kill anyone who threatens him. He is not portrayed as a tragic figure.Look for Edgar Buchanan on leave from the Shadyrest playing the town doc and Ford's uncle. Perhaps a six month tour of Petticoat Junction would have been all Ford needed. I've enjoyed Holden in lots of flicks, but the guy's just too handsome and cleancut to be one day ex-military. He reminds me of the US interim provost in Iraq- Paul Bremer . The guy's clothes, beard and hair were always perfect while Iraq burned