Sadly Over-hyped

How sad is this?

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

If you know about the Hollywood Production Code - which was still in effect when "Face of a Fugitive" was made - you will know early on in the movie, after it's been established that Fred MacMurray's character is a bad guy who hasn't paid for his crimes, that there will be only one of two possible fates for this character. Despite the ending being somewhat predictable, the movie isn't all that bad. MacMurray does pretty well as an outlaw who goes through a (believable) change in character. The rest of the cast also does well, and it's fun seeing James Coburn in an early (but fairly meaty) role before he became famous. The movie is kind of leisurely paced, and there isn't much action (though the climax is kind of exciting.) But the movie has a kind of old fashioned charm in this day and age, kind of refreshing in an "R" rated world. While the movie won't change the minds of people who dislike westerns into liking them, western fans should find this one pleasant enough.

Although Fred MacMurray said he never was comfortable in westerns he gives a pretty good account of himself in the title role in Face Of A Fugitive.As this opens MacMurray is being transported to jail, but his brother Ron Hayes busts him out and in the process the Marshal doing the escorting and Hayes both wind up dead. MacMurray manages to hop a freight train that takes him miles from the escape and a chance to create a new identity.Probably it would have been better to just keep going, but MacMurray intervenes in a dispute with the local Ponderosa owner Alan Baxter and inexperienced sheriff Lin McCarthy. Part of it is McCarthy's pretty sister Dorothy Green.Part of it is Baxter is a really vicious bully who has fenced off a large piece of government land for his own use. McCarthy keeps cutting the wire and Baxter retaliates.Baxter's foreman is played by James Coburn in one of his earliest roles. In those days I recall seeing Coburn on a whole slew of TV westerns playing all kinds of villains. His role is very typical of what I would see on television.MacMurray does well by the part as a troubled man who looks back on his life with many regrets. The climax is a High Noon type shootout with Baxter, Coburn, and a few others. But in this case it's rather obvious that this was an afterthought ending and the original had MacMurray dying. It would have made for a better film.Still Face Of A Fugitive is pretty good as is.

*Plot analyzed* Face of a Fugitive (1959) is a nice little Western with the more than reliable Fred MacMurray. I like him in Film-Noirs (Double Indemnity (1944), Pushover (1954) and Westerns (Quantez (1957), Good Day for a Hanging (1959).Here he plays an outlaw, who isn't as bad as he seems. He makes an escape from a train with the unwanted aid of his brother, who gets shot and later dies. Also, the lawman was killed. So Fred MacMurray is on the run.Jim Larsen, alias Ray Kincaid (Fred MacMurray) hops on a train to the next town, where he befriends the sheriff and his sister. He's drawn into their world and even stands up for the sheriff (Lin McCarthy), who's engaged with a dispute with a cattle man, Reed Williams (Alan Baxter). Look for a young James Coburn as one of his henchmen. He's in a ridiculous scene where Jim Larsen, alias Ray Kincaid (Fred MacMurray) shoots a barbwire fence and it wraps around him tightly.Most of the action takes place in the small town, but still, it's a solid script and tight role for the likable Fred MacMurray.

Just when I thought that my tastes had changed with age regarding westerns, I caught this one and was I ever surprised.It's just not the shoot them up type of western; there is a good story here with sentimental value. A younger brother catches a fatal bullet while trying to get his brother to escape from the law which is trying to get him to jail. The older brother, played wisely by Fred MacMurray, describes to his dying brother what led him down the wrong path.Upon coming to town MacMurray gets involved with a lawman who is trying to prevent a guy and his gang from erecting a fence up that will keep the people out. The guy has a widowed sister with a young child so you know that romance will bloom.The story takes place basically in one day as the town waits for the picture of MacMurray to be sent to them. The lawman-brother, goes strictly by the book as he reads his law books in preparation to become an attorney.This is a story of redemption and human kindness. The true hallmark of the film is that it ends too soon. You always want good pictures to continue, but the film ended at an appropriate point.