Producer: Jules Schermer. Copyright 20 May 1948 by Columbia Pictures Corp. New York opening at the Capitol: 20 January 1949. U.S. release: December 1948. U.K. release: 10 January 1949. Australian release: 18 November 1948 (sic). Sydney opening at the G.U. circuit's flagship, the State. 9,011 feet. 100 minutes. NOTES: A top favorite in cinemas from Gilda (1946) to Advance to the Rear (1964), Glenn Ford could virtually do no wrong. COMMENT: Ellen Drew is certainly one innocuous player. We had Stars in My Crown with this one at our Hollywood Classics screening last night and I didn't even realize until writing up my reviews this morning that both films starred the same actress! True, the female roles in both movies are strictly support. Here it's Glenn Ford in the unaccustomed role of irredeemable heavy who commands all the attention. Although Ford was criticized at the time for over=acting, he does such an excellent job as the villain, we wish he'd displayed the same fervor in some of his other roles. As Ford's goody two-shoes subordinate, Holden has little to do but look reasonably ingratiating, if mildly imbecilic. At least he - or rather his stunt double - figures in some memorable bits of action, including his jumping astride one of the lead horses of a runaway coach. A number of our favorite character players help out, including Ray Collins as the local magnate, Edgar Buchanan the sympathetic doc, James Millican as the victimized renegade and Frank Ferguson as the wounded stage-driver. Produced on a grand scale, The Man from Colorado is one of the first so-called "psychological westerns". In this one, however, the villain's neuroses are not allowed to overshadow the plot, simply provide a reason for it. There's still action a-plenty. If anything, there's even more than usual.

Though in many ways a traditional western, Levin's (Journey to the Center of the Earth, 1959) The Man From Colorado is also a psychological drama dealing with something as ever current as post traumatic stress. In a western there is almost bound to be a bad guy to stand against the good guy and it definitely makes for a more dramatic story that the two are good friends torn apart by the psychological destruction of one of them. No matter how bad decisions Owen makes, it is difficult to hate him, because Del never lets us forget that his friend is different and clearly affected by the war they have recently fought together. Both men does a good job, Holden (The Bridge on the River Kwai, 1957) is so handsome he can only be the good guy, playing his part straight and as righteous while never loosing sympathy with his friend. No matter what happens, he fights till the end to try to do things right. Meanwhile Ford (3:10 to Yuma, 1957) is the one who truly impresses with his portray of a man looking quiet on the outside but who clearly has raving emotions stirring a chaos inside of him. Though he is aware he has become addicted to killing he finds himself unable to admit he has lost control or face the problem and part of the drama is to watch him slowly push himself further and further down. As the woman standing between the two men is a beautiful Drew (Isle of the Dead, 1945) convincingly going from carefree and happy to heartbreakingly realizing what's going on. The three of them make for an interesting watch that keeps you gripped until the dramatic ending.moviegeek.eu

Throughout my 30+ years on earth, I have always appreciated the few certainties in life and held the firm belief that some things always remained constant. The sun will rise in the east and set in the west, night will always follow the day, I've always enjoyed the twice daily ebb and flow of coastal tides and I knew that Glenn Ford will always play the 'good guy' in a movie.I have just watched 'The Man From Colorado' and my view of life has been left completely skewed and severely dented, because in this movie, Ford plays nothing short of a complete nutjob.Victorious from the civil war, union Colonel Owen Devereaux, (Ford), and his lifelong best friend, Capt. Del Stewart, (William Holden), return to their home town to pick up their lives where they left off three years previously.Devereaux, however, has come back a different person. His war experiences have left him with an insatiable appetite for killing things and a sadistic streak as wide as Colorado itself.Unaware of his newly acquired 'personality issues', the Governor of the state appoints Devereaux as Federal Judge of the town, leaving him with the power of life and death over every man in it. (I think you know what's coming).His buddy Del Stewart is offered the job as Marshall of the town, but before he can accept, Stewart and Devereaux, are ambushed by a crazed confederate officer, who had witnessed Devereaux's new found rage first hand during the war, when he butchered over 100 rebel soldiers that were flying a white flag of surrender. Devereaux easily, (maybe too easily), overpowers the assailant, and foaming with rage, pumps a million bullets into him, instead of adopting the more orthodox 'arrest followed by trial' format favoured by most sober judges.From this moment on, Stewart's eyes have been firmly opened to the Jekyll & Hyde personality that has developed within his friend, and he reluctantly accepts the Marshalls job hoping that his influence as Marshall can bring Devereaux back from the 'dark side of the force'.Due to the pre-war Gold Rush, the town had experienced a population explosion, and many of the claimers had volunteered for army service with Devereaux & Stewart when the war began, safe in the belief that their claims would be protected should they return.In their absence, however, all the land had been taken over by a greedy Gold mining company, who uses a loophole in the law which stipulates that all claims that have remained dormant for three years or more, are null and void and fair game for any new claimants.Devereaux, openly expresses his personal support for the veteran claimers, but in his capacity as Judge, rules in favour of the Mining Corporation who rightly or wrongly has the law on their side.Because of this decision, the relationship between Stewart and Devereaux quickly begins to sour. It doesn't help matters either when Devereaux announces his engagement to Caroline (Ellen Drew), who until then had been the the object of Stewart's affections.The hard done to claimers, decide that if they can't reclaim what was their's through the courts, then they will take it back by less legal means and after some are captured, it's not long before Devereaux's blood lust comes to the fore. He shows no mercy to any of his former comrades in arms, and orders enough hangings to create a rope shortage. In consequence, Stewart's friendship with Devereaux, deteriorates by the day and so does Devereaux's grasp on reality.When Devereaux needlessly hangs one young man on weak circumstantial evidence, A furious Stewart finally decides it's one death too far, and angrily confronts Devereaux, declaring him self Devereaux's enemy until the power of life and death that he is constantly abusing is taken from him 'one way or the other'.After turning outlaw, it doesn't take long before Stewart's name is at the top of Devereaux's 'to hang' list. and his capture becomes Devereaux's psychotic obsession.No longer able to 'keep a lid on it' the townspeople have now become fully aware that their Judge is a complete 'wacko', and when he torches the entire town in order to get the town-folk to reveal Stewart's whereabouts, it becomes painfully evident that the last dregs of Devereaux's sanity has finally dwindled away.The film turns out to be a great mesh between a standard western and a 'Hitchcockesque' psychological thriller, with both Holden and Ford turning in great performances, but once again, it's Glenn Ford who steals this movie with his portrayal of the evil Devereaux, a role COMPLETELY in contrast to his 'good guy cowboy' image we're more used to seeing, which proves what a powerful and versatile an actor he actually was.During Glenn Ford's lifetime, I was one of the many ardent campaigners who would have loved to see Ford live to receive some long overdue honour or award. Sadly, this wasn't to be and after seeing the 'Man from Colorado' I am convinced now more than ever, that Hollywood has committed a monumental injustice, by failing to recognise Glenn Ford as one of the greatest actors of all time.This movie, has sadly debunked one of the great beliefs of my life, so I go now to reconstruct my injured viewpoint. I wonder if the Earth is STILL round?, are the Stylistics STILL crap?. God I hope so! Enjoy!!

"The Man From Colorado" opens in the closing days of the American Civil War. Two life long friends, Col. Owen Deveraux (Glenn Ford) and Capt. Del Stewart (William Holden) along with their troop corner a group of tired, poorly armed Confederate soldiers. They raise a white flag of surrender but Deveraux refuses to acknowledge it (unknown to the others) and orders his troops to open fire. The Confederates are all killed except for one officer. Stewart senses that his friend is becoming psychotic but attributes it to the pressures of war. Later they return to their home town and are given a heroes welcome. The surviving Confederate officer confronts Deveraux who shoots him down with a wild look in his eyes. Meanwhile, big time mine boss Ed Carter (Ray Collins) and the Governor's representative (Stanley Andrews) offer Deveraux the position of Federal Judge. He accepts and appoints Stewart as Federal Marshal. Most of Deveraux's troops had gold mining claims prior to going off to war. During their three year absence Carter has through a legal loophole, taken over their claims. Judge Deveraux is forced to side with Carter. This causes some of the men led by Jericho Howard (James Millican) to take to the hills and rob Carter's mining company, stealing the gold they believe to be rightfully theirs. Jericho's kid brother Johnny (Jerome Courtland) is found with a bag of gold following a robbery during which a man was killed. Deveraux under pressure to produce the guilty parties, orders him jailed. Stewart believes in the boy's innocence and sets out to find Jericho in order to prove it. During Stewart's absence Deveraux holds a speedy trial and hangs Johnny. When Del returns he is appalled and turns in his badge and joins Jericho and his gang. This leads to further robberies until the inevitable confrontation between the two men where............. Glenn Ford playing against type, gives one of the best performances of his career as the psychotic Deveraux. His facial expressions of increasing madness are terrifying. Holden does his best in effectively what is a supporting role, as the good friend. Ellen Drew appears as the woman both men love but who marries Deveraux only to experience first hand, his increasing madness. Also in the cast are Edgar Buchanan as Doc Merriam, Jim Bannon as Carter's henchman Nagel and western regulars Ian MacDonald, Myron Healey, Denver Pyle and Ray Teal in other roles. Worth a look just to catch Ford's performance.