From the 1950s: The Proud Rebel

1958 Western 

From Buena Vista

Directed by Michael Curtiz

Starring

Alan Ladd

Olivia de Havilland

Dean Jagger

David Ladd

Cecil Kellaway

Harry Dean Stanton

Tom Pittman

James Westerfield 

Henry Hull

John Carradine

Mary Wickes

This western film brought Alan Ladd the most success he'd had since making Shane five years earlier.  While Ladd turned in one of his finest acting jobs in Shane, it was the beautifully-executed film itself that got the most attention.  The same could be said here.

It's not that The Proud Rebel is in the same category as Shane.. and it is most certainly not.  It is similar in a few aspects, however, with a boy at the heart of the story, a man going to work for a family on its ramshackle farm and ominous threats from a bad element.

Southerners John Chandler (Ladd) along with his son David and their sheep-herding dog Lance make their way out of the ruins of the Civil War to the small town Aberdeen, Illinois where the father hopes to find a doctor to cure his son of being mute.  The sweet boy lost his ability to speak when he witnessed a fire that killed his mother.

He runs up against the bullying Burleigh family, the one-armed father (Jagger) and his two idiot sons (Stanton and Pittman) who goad him into a fight for no reason other than he's a southerner.  Chandler lands a good punch and is jailed for it.

At his trial a strong, kind rancher Lynette (de Havilland) pays his fine and tells him that he can work for her to pay off his debt.  Father, son and dog can stay in one of her outbuildings.

She is hated by the Burleighs because her land keeps them from expanding theirs.  And now they hate her more because she's got Chandler on board.  Still, the Burleigh boys set fire to her barn.  

Chandler finds out that the only medical facility that's near that can possibly help is in Minnesota but he cannot afford the trip to go there.  In one of the film's heart-tugging moments Chandler decides to sell Lance to a sheep-herder... without telling David.

The decision is made for Linette to accompany David on the journey (she dearly loves the boy and he loves her).  Chandler stays behind to guard the property and to take the dog to its new owner.

When Linette returns, she advises that the operation didn't work.  David has a fit when he discovers Lance is gone and he will have nothing to do with his father.  Chandler decides to get the dog back but discovers that the man sold Lance to, of all people, the Burleighs because Lance would not do his job.

The non-gun-toting Chandler straps one on and heads out for the Burleighs.  He does not know David has run over to their place as well.  A gunfight ensues and just as one son is about put Chandler away, David, who has been witnessing it, struggles to call out to his father but manages to do it.  After Chandler dispatches one more Burleigh, he turns to his son and there are tears of joy in their eyes.  Predictable perhaps but mighty touching.

While the film was generally praised, one bone of contention from the press and public was the lack of a love story.  Those folks carped that the overall film would have been better and more involving had there been one.  I would have found that nice myself, but I am not so sure it's not better without it.

The story makes very clear that Linette has fallen for Chandler but she doesn't pursue a romance.  She realizes, I think, the same thing that I sensed... he is a proud man with a singleness of purpose.  His entire reason for living is his son and the need to get him help.  The only other thing he thinks about is how he's going to get the money to do it.  He simply has no time for romance.

By the end, however, with the kid's voice, the dog's returned and the Burleighs no longer an issue, there's time for romance and we know that's exactly what will happen.

As a person who has seen every single B western that Ladd made and loved them all, The Proud Rebel is not only his best western since Shane but it is also the last classy film he would make.  It should certainly not be dismissed as just another Ladd shoot-'em-up.

By the time of The Proud Rebel, Ladd had fallen on some hard times.  They weren't financial, per se, but they did certainly fall into the category of emotional with poor self-esteem at the top of the list.  The actor always had  self-esteem issues.  His childhood was textbook awful and he'd largely lived an adult life that he found unfulfilling. 

He didn't think he was as good-looking as people said and he was always extremely self-conscious of his height (5'5" to 5'6").  He was in movies largely because his wife was also his agent and she was the family mouthpiece.

He found his movies largely unrewarding and too B and his incredible fame undeserved.  By the time he had signed on to this film, one could add alcoholism to his woes.

The one bright light in his life was his son David who was eight at the time of making this movie.  His previous two roles were also in films with this father, Shane and The Big Land, the latter made a year before Rebel.  Ladd's face lit up when David was around or even if his name was mentioned.

Ladd was thrilled to be offered The Proud Rebel.  His career was in the doldrums with no hit in several years and the disaster of making 1957's Boy on a Dolphin in Greece which he said nearly ruined him.

Samuel Goldwyn Jr. got a hold of James Edward Grant's short story, The Journal of Linnett Moore, and knew he wanted to turn the book into a family western.  Grant, by the way, is the same Grant we just mentioned in the posting on Hondo, a few days back.  Obviously the man knew his way around a western. 

The producer apparently saw a lot of heart in Grant's work and he was keen on doing a western that tugged at those heartstrings.  He was certainly motivated by the fact that a kid is the central character.  Hmmm, I wonder if star and producer talked of Shane.   

Goldwyn wanted both father and son for the roles but if the father said no, Goldwyn wanted him to know he still wanted the son.  Ladd knew he had to deliver... as opposed to knocking one out the park... and he delivered.  

His looks caused some chatter as the movie spilled into theaters.  Just a mere five years from Shane, Ladd didn't look the same.  He appeared bloated and looked kinda worn out.  News of his drinking certainly hit the cheesy magazines I was reading. I linked it easily with what I was seeing on the screen and this is a time when someone like Ladd would not have liked his current face blown up on the screen.

Working with David was a thrill for Ladd and he couldn't have been prouder.  David idolized his father and the father pretty much felt the same.  The youngster was easy to work with and had a Ladd family intuition on acting.  He didn't have a lot of words to memorize and could spend his energy on getting his acting physical mannerisms in place.

I've seen a number of David's childhood films and I always found his characters to be gentle.  I suspect the actor was the same.  Despite his father's action movies, I always thought Alan was a gentle soul, too.  

David, Alan, director Curtiz, the critics, the public and I all agreed that de Havilland was absolute perfection in the role.   As the aforementioned Linette Moore, the actress gives us a strong landowner and a decent, loving but a bit lonely woman.  There can be no doubt it's an unusual role for her but a multi-layered, well-written one and one that she handles as the pro she was.

Enjoying a good laugh while waiting

Goldwyn enticed deHavilland away from her comfortable life in Paris to work on a tearjerker of great charm.  She quite liked Ladd and thought they played well off one another.  Early on she picked up on his insecurities and she might have been responsible for shepherding him through the shoot.  She observed a great melancholy in him which touched her deeply.  

The actor was torn about her joining the film, mostly because he was intimidated by her acting pedigree.  Usually his costars were not from the lofty regions that de Havilland inhabited.  But they both took to one another from the first meeting and it stayed that way.  David kept in touch with her forever.

She was thrilled to watch him with David, particularly when the cameras weren't rolling.  She was astonished at the love they exhibited.  She thought David was very gifted.

The actress had worked with Curtiz many times when they were both housed at Warners.  He was a hellion... coarse, harsh, always looking for the weak one on a set to humiliate.  Was he a cousin or something of John Ford?   He seemed to hate actors (Errol Flynn helped him out on this one) and when dealing with them, his temper was short.

But de Havilland never had much of a problem with him.  She likely told him she didn't like being talked to in such a demeaning fashion and she couldn't work well if she were.  Curtiz treated her quite well on The Proud Rebel but she certainly knew Ladd was ripe for picking.  She probably prevailed with Curtiz because he treated Ladd well.

And that's good because Ladd was one nervous actor having heard, of course, all the hideous tales surrounding Curtiz.  Ladd probably also knew that WB thought well of Curtiz's many famous films and Ladd felt the film would stand a better chance under his direction.

Jagger, who has always been one of my very favorite character actors, perhaps mainly for his gentle manner, is a surprise here as a nasty villain and disturbing father.  Stanton, in his fourth film, is creepy as the most vengeful son, and Pittman handled his less-favored-son status properly.  Pittman, by the way, was killed in a car crash the following year.

Ladd with Dean Jagger

Scene-stealing character actors Cecil Kellaway, Henry Hull, John Carradine and Mary Wickes are all at their best in small roles.  Wickes has a single scene where she is a busybody in the town store.  Eagle-eyed fans may remember when she and Jagger played the general who's now an innkeeper and his nosy assistant in White Christmas four years earlier.

King played Lance and as a border collie he was a champion sheep-herder.  Dog lovers will especially enjoy his work here.

Utah, around Cedar City and Kanab, stood in for Illinois.

Ted McCord's color cameras brought it all marvelously to life while Jerome Moross powerful score seduced us and I especially love the sets created by Victor Gangelin.

Overall the film held my attention from start to finish.  Its human interest feature has a lot going for it in terms of showcasing the human spirit.  For me it certainly raised it a bar to know that father and son were indeed father and son.  Their love shines through.  The bad guys provide the appropriate action, de Havilland wows us and the dog is a joy. 

Next posting:

An RIP for tomorrow