Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Same old story: one powerful man wants to own the whole valley and will do anything to dispatch other landowners. So why watch this version? Well, this is not (as one of our reviewers said) a "B" picture. It's well done and has an outstanding cast. And, the one little twist that makes it work better is that the man fighting back has a military background.Let's start with the cast. To a large extent, Glen Ford has not been remembered to the extent he should be. He was very versatile, and was very adept at Westerns. He's excellent here as a military trained man who prefers a life of peace, until...Barbara Stanwyck is the evil wife of the main landowner of the valley. Good role, fairly good acting, although only one or two really good scenes. I guess with age Barbara had to get used to sometimes playing the heavy.Brian Keith is the real heavy here. I wasn't overly impressed, but I guess he was "okay".The real ringer here was the actress who played Edward G. Robinson's daughter -- Dianne Foster. Way overacted on her part, to the point of being distracting.And then there's Edward G. Robinson. A fine performance, though not his best. Still good to see him.The scenery is top notch, the photography good.The script does not overdo it into excess, but -- and this is just my opinion -- it is a great depiction of what a range war must have been like. Quite impressive in that regard.This is not a unique Western, but it is extremely well done. So, I give it a very strong "7".

Much better than your average western of the 1950s. Barbara Stanwyck landed one of her best roles in years as a selfish, conniving,brutal woman who will do nothing to stop her desire to control the land even meaning a range war and attempting to get rid of husband, Edward G. Robinson, so that she can wed his brother, Brian Keith.This excellent story has just about everything you would want in a film. There is treachery and there is Glenn Ford, a civil war veteran ready to head east only to be drawn into the conflict. When he sees the brutality of the Robinson Family, he turns to the same violence and begins to wreak havoc on the tormentors themselves. Stanwyck sees this escalating opportunity to further her own ruthless plans.Dianne Foster co-stars as the daughter who knows what has been going on between the Stanwyck character, her mother, and Keith, her uncle.Very well done film, action packed, engrossing and a pleasure seeing.

It's always interesting to catch a line in a film that winds up being somewhat prophetic for the future of an actor. In this case, I was intrigued by Edward G. Robinson's statement to Barbara Stanwyck - "I promised you the Valley", as he discusses the lone hold outs to his attempt to control all the land in Logasa. Ten years later, Stanwyck would star as the matriarch of the Barkley Family on "The Big Valley". Somehow I thought she might have looked older in the earlier picture; I guess all those bright gowns and fancy riding outfits have a way of bringing out one's youthful side.As for my summary line above, that's Lee Wilkison's appraisal of John Parrish (Glenn Ford), one of those hold outs mentioned earlier, shortly after Parrish uses his knowledge of military tactics to take out a number of Wilkison hands after they raid his ranch and torch his home. I liked the way the film explored his character, starting with the way he dealt with foreman Wade Matlock (Richard Jaeckel) in a calculated showdown. The set up for the ambush was also a clever maneuver, diametrically opposed to the strategy of rushing the bad guys head on with both sides fighting it out to the last man standing. For that, Parrish also had something to say - "Never meet the enemy on his terms"."The Violent Men" is a good title for this film, and was probably at the head of it's class in the mid 1950's, though by today's standards doesn't come close to the blood letting one will find in a "Tombstone" or "Open Range", where the bullets exact a nasty savagery. But it's shaped by fine performances from the principals, with a sub plot exploring infidelity that seemed almost ironic considering it was Stanwyck's character who was cheating.

Lee Wilkison runs Anchor Ranch and has coerced, bullied and killed his way through other farmers to become the biggest land owner in the area. When former Civil War Captain turned farmer John Parrish decides to sell up and head back east to marry fiancé Caroline, he decides to sell to Wilkison despite the objections of the only other remaining landowner Purdue. However Wilkison only offers $15k for the whole shooting match and advises Parrish accepts because either way he intends to own the land. Parrish still plans to sell anyway but when one of his men (Bud) is murdered by Cole Wilkison, he changes his mind and decides to stay and fight.On paper the plot summary for this western makes it sound like a very straightforward affair, which in a way it is, but it does also have other stuff going on as well. On the basic level it is a solid story of right versus wrong but it is enjoyable as it uses Parrish's military background to make the conflict interesting and different from the usual shoot out scenes. I don't agree with another reviewer that the barroom shooting was as wonderful as all that but it was nice to see the psyching instead of the usual bravado. On top of this it was good to have Parrish be too tired for fighting – not idealistic or naturally peaceful but just uncaring about the wider issues, a nice change for the lead in this genre. This character is well backed up by old Wilkison, who is driven by forces he doesn't totally control to own the whole valley; meanwhile he is dominated by his unfaithful and unscrupulous wife – they are strong characters and it is a shame that the script just sets them up rather than exploring them, but this is a genre western after all I suppose. This lack of depth is shown in the weakness of the ending. Although the change makes sense, the speed it happens at doesn't and a bit of character development would have helped make it much more convincing.Despite this the characters are helped by the strong cast. Stanwyck may not have the depth but she has the presence to make her character enjoyably evil. Robinson allows her to dominate to create a character that is both "bad" and weak at the same time; sure, he could have been better but he is good with what he has. Ford stands up well alongside this showy support and the script helps him stand out from the genre staple of wide chest and big chin – he isn't amazing by any means but he does embrace the chance to work with a character a bit different from the norm. The rest of the cast are solid enough with turns from Keith, Anderson and Foster as well as a few others.Overall then a solid genre western with enough about it to make it slightly better than average. Not all the characters and themes are as well developed as I would have liked but they still add value to the film and make it a better prospect than it seems. The cast helps and it is just a shame that the material is not as strong as it could have been (best seen in the slightly unconvincing ending due to a step change in a major character rather than a gradual change).