Western

Warlock

- Wherever you've been ... Whatever you've seen ... You've never run into anything like Warlock.

A band of murderous cowboys has imposed a reign of terror on the town of Warlock. With the sheriff humiliatingly run out of town, the residents hire the services of Clay Blaisedell as de facto town marshal. He arrives along with his friend, Tom Morgan, and sets about restoring law and order on his own terms whilst also overseeing the establishment of a gambling house and saloon.

Release Date : 1959-05-15

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : 20th Century Fox

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Johnny Gannon

Original Name : Richard Widmark

Gender : Male

Character Name : Clay Blaisedell

Original Name : Henry Fonda

Gender : Male

Character Name : Tom Morgan

Original Name : Anthony Quinn

Gender : Male

Character Name : Lily Dollar

Original Name : Dorothy Malone

Gender : Female

Character Name : Jessie Marlow

Original Name : Dolores Michaels

Gender : Female

Character Name : Judge Holloway

Original Name : Wallace Ford

Gender : Male

Character Name : Abe McQuown

Original Name : Tom Drake

Gender : Male

Character Name : Bacon

Original Name : Richard Arlen

Gender : Male

Character Name : Curley Burne

Original Name : DeForest Kelley

Gender : Male

Character Name : Skinner

Original Name : Regis Toomey

Gender : Male

Character Name : Henry Richardson

Original Name : Vaughn Taylor

Gender : Male

Character Name : Doctor Wagner

Original Name : Don Beddoe

Gender : Male

Character Name : Petrix

Original Name : Whit Bissell

Gender : Male

Character Name : Buck Slavin

Original Name : Bartlett Robinson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Chet Haggin (uncredited)

Original Name : Joe Turkel

Gender : Male

Character Name : Foss (uncredited)

Original Name : Robert Adler

Gender : Male

Character Name : Murch (uncredited)

Original Name : Joel Ashley

Gender : Male

Character Name : Edward Calhoun (uncredited)

Original Name : Don 'Red' Barry

Gender : Male

Character Name : Dance Hall Girl (uncredited)

Original Name : June Blair

Gender : Female

Character Name : Townsman (uncredited)

Original Name : Rudy Bowman

Gender : Male

Character Name : Barber (uncredited)

Original Name : Wally Campo

Gender : Male

Character Name : Bartender (uncredited)

Original Name : Harry Carter

Gender : Male

Character Name : Townsman (uncredited)

Original Name : Noble 'Kid' Chissell

Gender : Male

Character Name : Luke Friendly (uncredited)

Original Name : Paul Comi

Gender : Male

Character Name : Deputy Sheriff Ray Thomson (uncredited)

Original Name : Walter Coy

Gender : Male

Character Name : Dance Hall Girl (uncredited)

Original Name : Sheryl Deauville

Gender : Female

Character Name : Fen Jiggs (uncredited)

Original Name : L.Q. Jones

Gender : Male

Character Name : Billy Gannon

Original Name : Frank Gorshin

Gender : Male

Character Name : Gang Member (uncredited)

Original Name : Gary Lockwood

Gender : Male

Character Name : Professor (uncredited)

Original Name : Robert Osterloh

Gender : Male

Character Name : Bob Nicholson (uncredited)

Original Name : Sol Gorss

Gender : Male

Character Name : Townsman (uncredited)

Original Name : Dick Cherney

Gender : Male

Reviews

John Chard

@John Chard

2024-05-16

Rock of ages comes to Warlock in Dmytryk's excellent adult Western. Warlock is a small town suffering from visits by a gang of thugs led by Abe McQuown. The honest townsfolk meet and decide to hire infamous gunslinger Clay Blaisedell to act as a Marshal. Blaisdell, aided by his trusty companion Tom Morgan, proceeds to clean up the town and promptly takes control of the gambling and dance parlour. But things are rarely straight forward in a town of this type, one of the thugs (Johnny Gannon) decides to reform himself and takes on the role of legal sheriff. Things are further complicated when a woman arrives in town proclaiming that Blaisedell and Morgan killed the love of her life! This coupled with the fact that McQuown and his thugs are plotting destructive revenge, means that Warlock and it's array of complex characters are heading for judgement day - one way or another. The basic plot sounds like nothing out of the ordinary, the tough gunslinger with a reputation hired to clean up a town has been done a fair few times, with varying degrees of success. What lifts this Edward Dmytryk directed (and produced) Western above other films of its ilk is that it goes deeper than most of those other genre pieces. Blaisedell may be a fearsome gunslinger but we are at a time when a new breed of faster and more thuggish cowboys exist, and so his very being is crucial to the number of events that transpire in Warlock. Here all central characters are multi-layered, there is a plenty going on that begs the utmost attention, where tragedy hangs heavy with its looming presence, and Dmytryk threads all the story strands together with thoughtfully potent results. Adapted by Robert Alan Aurthur from Oakley Hall's novel, Warlock boasts three excellent male lead performances and a firing on all cylinders supporting cast. Henry Fonda (Blaisedell), Richard Widmark (Gannon) and Anthony Quinn (Tom Morgan) are superb, while Dorothy Malone, Dolores Michaels, Tom Drake, DeForest Kelly, Frank Gorshin (sadly uncredited) and Wallace Ford come up trumps with excellent shows for totally important characters. The only gripe I can come up with is that I would have liked a bit more use of the Utah location courtesy of Joseph MacDonald's Cinemascope Technicolor, but since this story is primarily set within the confines of Warlock the town, one can be and is a touch forgiving. During the last few years I have spent a lot of time revisiting the Western genre, and I have been rewarded with a ream of excellent adult pieces by the likes of Anthony Mann, Henry King and Budd Boetticher. Few of them are as undervalued, and maybe as forgotten, as this first class effort from all involved, it's a must see for any serious Western fan. 9/10

Wuchak

@Wuchak

2021-06-23

***Archetypal Western tragedy based on the Earp/Holliday/Tombstone legends*** A professional town-tamer named Blaisdell (Henry Fonda) is hired as an independent marshal by the citizens of Warlock to rid them of an unruly gang; meanwhile a repentant member of the bunch becomes deputy sheriff (Richard Widmark), which creates friction. Anthony Quinn plays the former’s faithful sidekick. “Warlock” (1959) is an adult Western cut from the same dramatic cloth as similar late 50s/early 60’s Westerns like “Man of the West” (1958). The mature and psychological script was based on Oakley Hall’s novel, which was a fictionalization of the OK Corral legends, which is why it’s not too difficult to read Earp/Holliday into the Fonda/Quinn characters and Abe McQuown’s gang as the Clanton/McLaury gang. The fact that Quinn’s Morgan character is loosely based on Doc Holliday is a good reason to reject the supposed ‘homosexual subtext’ of Morgan. There’s not enough evidence to draw such a radical conclusion. Morgan was simply Blaisedell’s loyal and ruthless partner; he loved Blaisedell like close members of a military squad or like a brother. On the female front we have two very striking women: Dolores Michaels plays Blaisedell’s potential babe, Jessie Marlow, while Dorothy Malone is on hand as Lily Dollar, a mysterious woman from Blaisedell’s past who takes interest in the new deputy sheriff (Widmark). The town scenes were filmed at 20th Century Fox Studios in Century City, CA, whereas the scenic sequences were all shot in Moab, Utah, near Arches National Park. Needless to say, the latter locations are magnificent. The movie runs 2 hours, 2 minutes. GRADE: B+