People are voting emotionally.

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

A charming but totally roguish and ruthless criminal called Paris Pitman Jr. (Kirk Douglas) is detained for robbing and condemned for a long time in a remote , impregnable territorial prison . There Pitman to start doing ten years in an isolated jail but being supported by a motley group of inmates (Burguess Meredith , Warren Oates , John Randolph , Hume Cronyn) . All of them are surveyed by an assorted team of stiff wardens (Victor French , Gene Evans , Alan Hale Jr.) . However , those years should pass quickly because of a $500,000 loot previously stashed away . But then , an innovative and incorruptible warden chief (Henry Fonda) takes over the Arizona town's prison and he has some new ideas about law and order . Scurrilous Pitman enlists the help of his cellmates in an escape attempt with the promise of sharing his hidden loot . At the end one of them lived happily ever after . Offbeat Western black comedy displays an excellent plethora of actors , as main as secondary cast and with fine acting all around . This is a richly amusing tale , including hilarious touches , tongue-in-cheek , twists and turns . Interesting and fun script written by two prestigious screenwriters : David Newman and Robert Benton . Overlong Western ; however, Warners objected Mankiewicz's preferred version of the film (it ran to 165 minutes) and re-cut the film , to his great irritation , to a more manageable 126 minutes . One notable casualty of this re-cutting was the prominently-billed Lee Grant , a very well-known actress at the time, whose appearance is now barely a couple of minutes in length . Enjoyable performance by Kirk Douglas as a charming , intelligent and successful criminal who eventually imprisoned is sent in the middle of the Arizona desert ; here Douglas steals the show playing one of the smiling rogues that he did so well . Henry Fonda is perfect as a new idealistic warden who starts to manipulate everyone to achieve his goal , to take the stash . Douglas and Fonda dominate this western comedy as two immensely likable roguish men making plans to collect the buried loot . And brief nudism by today's standards, what remains is fairly tame : a couple glimpses of the bare backside of Kirk Douglas, a glimpse of a bare breast here and there and some mildly risqué drawings . Impressive production design , in fact a realistic 1880s territorial prison replica was constructed on four acres in the high-desert country of the Joshua Tree National Monument , being designed by Edward Carrere , Oscar-winning designer of such movies as Wind Bunch (1969) , it was one of the most massive location sets ever built . As the prison set took seven weeks to build , when construction began , it was snowing , when it ended, the temperature was 100 degrees . Furthermore , it contains a colorful cinematography in Panavision by Harry Stradling Jr . Lively and vivid musical score by Charles Strouse , adding some catching songs sung by Trini López . The motion picture was compellingly made by Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909-1993) , it was promoted as a "cynical western" , the film was released on Christmas Day 1970 and it did poorly at the holiday box office . Mankiewicz is considered to be one of the best directors of film history . He directed excellent pictures in all kinds of genres , such as intriguing dramas : ¨All about Eva¨ (50) , ¨Five Fingers¨ (51) , ¨The barefoot Contessa¨ (54) , ¨Suddenly , Last summer¨ (59) , ¨The honey pot¨ (67) ; Noir Film : ¨House of strangers¨ (49) , ¨No way out¨(50) ; Musical : ¨Guys and dolls¨ (55) , Fantasy : ¨The ghost and Mrs. Muir¨ (47) , and Historical : ¨Julius Caesar¨ (53) and ¨Cleopatra¨(63) .

I've admired the producer/director for awhile and came to this movie late. The cast is nothing short of stellar and the acting is up to that standard. The cinematography was lush and attractive--even with many shots taking place in the desert. However, the weak and inept plot (with glaring holes), the off-beat music (perhaps standard for the time period), and the lack of character development among the stars left me squirming in my seat. Could a ruthless sociopath like Douglas really be that charming? Could a superior lawman like Fonda make rookie mistakes of judgment?I found I was asking myself if the movie will ever turn around or should I quit now? Unfortunately I kept watching, and it never improved and, as they say, I lost two good hours of my life.

Wow, caught this wildly unbalanced "crapterpiece" on basic cable and could not believe how times have changed, you could never make this today - and why would you want to? This movie is in a lower class by itself. The killing here is random and wimpy, nobody seems bothered at all as people get murdered left and right with no affect. I understand this is trying to be a comedy, but you'll find none blacker. Kirk Douglas role basically takes Newman's character from Cool Hand Luke and removes everything likable or charming from it. Henry Fonda is as wooden as a wagon wheel and the rest of the cast does their best to clean up the mess. Racism, sexism, homosexuality, rape, robbery, murder - it's all here and you don't care at all. And I can't help but bitch about the score, which was perhaps the worst and most inappropriate of any Western, maybe any movie! Imagine a contemporary 70s style urban soundtrack from a Gene Wilder film or a Mel Brooks feature and you get the idea. Ugh - even basic cable could do better.

"There Was A Crooked Man" is no masterpiece for sure. It is however, somewhat of a curiosity. Coming after the "gold standard" spaghetti westerns, this seems outdated right from the "git-go". The sophomoric script is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too repetitive and long. A fine cast wrestles at length with a story that is neither compelling or complex. Henry Fonda is subdued, even for him, and Kirk Douglas and his Cheshire cat grin becomes tiresome. The entire movie has a claustrophobic feel to it, because of the redundant prison locations. In short, "There Was A Crooked Man" is certainly a curious film, but ultimately forgettable. - MERK