The actual whole story is not crystal-clear to me,but the atmosphere,camera-work,and feeling of desperation in this film makes it one rough ride ! Robert Ryan plays a brave man willing to sacrifice his life in order to save a small town from a bunch of bandits that just came to town,and the bandits are lead by Burl Ives of all people! It becomes obvious that Mr. Ives' character,'the Captain' is the only thing holding these bandits back from destroying the whole town-but he is in poor health and may not last long.The bandits have a stash of gold somehow and soldiers are not far away behind the gang,it is implied that the gang is avoiding the soldiers.Ryan takes the bandits on a wild-goose-chase in the dead of winter in the mountains,claiming to know of a passage through the mountains,and away from the soldiers.The snow is deep and almost buries the horses,the mountain range looks endless,the men and horses may as well be ants.
This movie is a great example of man vs nature coupled with poor planning.The men start to turn on each other after the Captain dies in the snow.The horses die,it is a rough time on the mountain. It also clearly illustrates that a bunch of gold may as well be a bunch of lead for all the good it does these men.The end of the film is sudden and somehow does not really wrap things up,it almost seems like a sequel could be made or maybe was planned.All in all a pretty gritty little gem worth seeing.
Review of Day of the Outlaw
