An era of incredible violence
This is the way it happened”.
Budd Boetticher, who helmed some of the finest westerns of the 1950’s (7 Men From Now, The Tall T) brings his patented style to the gangster genre with 1960’s The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond.
And what a gangster movie it is!
Inspired by true events, The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond opens soon after its title character - a professional thief played by Ray Danton - and his sickly brother / partner-in-crime Eddie (Warren Oates) move to New York City. Their first robbery, a well-executed jewelry heist pulled off with the unwitting help of dance instructor Alice Scott (Karen Steele), lands Legs in prison.
A few years later, when he’s scheduled to appear before the parole board, Legs somehow convinces Alice, still reeling from being duped years earlier, to get him a job as a dancer (being employed will give him a better chance at parole). Legs is released, and for a while he and Alice perform regularly at a New York night club.
One evening, while he and Alice are dancing, Legs recognizes infamous gambler / underworld figure Arnold Rothstein (Robert Lowery) in the crowd. His mind spinning, Legs leaves Alice and, with Eddie in tow, tries to land a job as Rothstein’s new bodyguard.
Thus begins Legs’ rocky climb to the top of the New York underworld, and he never lets anything, not even being shot, damper his ambitions to be the mob’s Numero Uno.
Ray Danton is ruthless as hell as Jack “Legs” Diamond, a criminal who will do whatever is necessary, and step on anyone, to get what he wants. After breaking poor Alice’s heart (twice), he sets his sights on Arnold Rothstein’s main squeeze, Monica (Elaine Stewart), seducing her, then telling Rothstein all about the affair. The only person Legs truly cares about is Eddie, but even that relationship becomes a burden after a while.
By the end of the film, I was convinced Danton’s Legs Diamond was among the most heartless, vindictive gangsters I had even seen portrayed on film. I put him right up there with Cagney in The Public Enemy, Pacino in Scarface, and Joe Pesci in both Goodfellas and Casino. Also keep an eye out for a young Dyan Cannon, making her big-screen debut as Dixie, yet another moll who falls for Legs.
Along with Danton’s fiery performance, The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond is expertly directed by Boetticher, who keeps the story moving along at a brisk pace. The film seldom slows down, and for a movie made in 1960, it is surprisingly violent.
For me, Budd Boetticher was always one of the best at directing westerns. He still holds that distinction. But with The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond, he proved genre didn’t matter. Budd Boetticher was a great director… period!
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Directed By: Budd Boetticher
Starring: Randolph Scott, Richard Boone, Maureen O'Sullivan
Tag line: "Taut! Torrid! Tremendous! T Is for Terror!"
Trivia: During filming, this movie's title was The Captives
The Tall T was the 2nd of seven Budd Boetticher westerns to star Randolph Scott, and, with all due respect to Seven Men from Now (1956) and Ride Lonesome (1959), it’s also my favorite.
After losing his horse in a bet, frontiersman Pat Brennan (Scott) hitches a ride on a stagecoach that’s been hired out by newlyweds Willard (John Hubbard) and Doretta Mims (Maureen O’Sullivan), who are heading to Bisbee on their honeymoon. Things take a turn for the worse when the stage makes a stop at a local station, which has been commandeered by a trio of outlaws; Frank (Richard Boone), Chink (Henry Silva), and Billy Jack (Skip Homeier). The stagecoach driver (Arthur Hunnicutt) is shot dead, and Willard, in an attempt to save his own skin, tells Frank that his new wife’s father is a millionaire, and is sure to pay a handsome reward for her return. Agreeing it’s a good idea, Frank sends Willard and Billy Jack ahead with a ransom note. But even though they’re safe for the time being, Brennan knows his life and the lives of the Mims’ remain in great danger.
What makes The Tall T such a noteworthy motion picture is the relationship that develops between Brennan and Frank, a couple of guys who, despite their situation, have a lot in common, perhaps more than either of them care to admit. It’s clear from the outset that Frank isn’t as volatile as his companions, Chink and Billy Jack, both of whom usually handle the rough stuff (we don’t actually see them kill the station manager or his son, whose bodies they dumped into a nearby well, but because we’d gotten to know the two victims when Brennan visited them earlier, the very revelation that they’re dead is The Tall T’s most heartbreaking scene). As for Frank, he does have a mean streak (at one point, he laughs when Doretta burns her hands on a coffee pot), yet he’s definitely the most reasonable of the trio; after writing out the ransom note for $50,000, Brennan asks why Frank settled on such a small amount (Doretta’s father is, after all, a millionaire). Frank’s simple, coarse reply is “I ain’t greedy”. In fact, Frank’s ultimate goal is simply to obtain a parcel of land, one on which he can settle down and live out the rest of his days in peace, which is exactly what Brennan himself is after.
The westerns of the 1950s tended to drift into darker territory than their predecessors, often shying away from the "good vs. bad" mentality. The films of Budd Boetticher, Anthony Mann (Winchester ’73, The Naked Spur), and even John Ford (The Searchers) blurred the line between decency and dishonor, with heroes sometimes acting like criminals and villains saddled with a backstory to explain why they strayed from the straight and narrow. The Tall T is one of the better westerns to emerge from this period, taking full advantage of a new and more realistic approach to relating the history of the American West.
