From the film's title you would think the story in the film has something to do with revenge, yet it's really more to do with opportunism. The idea that the son of a self made wealthy rancher would grow up spoiled has been explored in other westerns, while the adopted son would truly appreciate the values of hard work and sacrifice and thus earn more of the respect of the father than his own true son ever could. This of course drives the true son to want to get rid of the adopted one, even if they grew up the together and the adopted one always tried to cover for the numerous deficiencies of the true son. In this case wayward Sally Forrest has a child which is fathered by true son Robert Walker, while adopted son Burt Lancaster voluntarily takes the so-called blame. Walker is married to attractive Joanne Dru, who seems to instinctively know who the real father is, and after witnessing Walker take a whip to a horse, decides to dump him. Forrest's two brothers (Hugh O'Brien and John Ireland) are mistakenly after Lancaster's character instead of Walker's. Maybe it's their revenge that is at the heart of the film's title, though why they should want to kill the father of their sister's illegitimate child is not clear, other than being a typical Hollywood plot utilized in order to move things along. In any event, Walker does decide to take advantage of the two brothers' misplaced hatred for Lancaster and the plot actually isn't half bad once it gets going, when everyone is out on the range rounding up the cattle. Dru looks especially good, Lancaster is solid in his part, but Walker's character is the most interesting, with whatever vengeance he may feel towards Lancaster well concealed beneath a cool exterior.
Review of Vengeance Valley
