Quantez (1957)

★ 5.7 1h 21m IMDb

Western

A gang of bank robbers with a posse in hot pursuit. Riding into the desert, they take refuge in Quantez, a small town they find deserted. Their horses tired and near death, they’re forced to stay the night — with the plan to cross the border into Mexico the next day.

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Cast

Fred MacMurray as Gentry Died 1991 · Kankakee, Illinois, USA Fred MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor and musician. He was educated at Carroll College, Wisconsin, and played with a Chicago orchestra for more than a year. Then he...

Dorothy Malone as Chaney Died 2018 · Chicago, Illinois, USA Dorothy Malone (January 29, 1924 – January 19, 2018) was an American actress. Her film career began in 1943, and, in her early years, she played small roles, mainly in B-movies. After a decade, she be...

James Barton as Minstrel Died 1962 · Gloucester City, New Jersey, USA James Barton (November 1, 1890 - February 19, 1962) was an American vaudevillian and a character actor in films and television. Born into a theatrical family in Gloucester City, New Jersey, Barton be...

Sydney Chaplin as Gato Died 2009 · Beverly Hills, California, USA Sydney Earl Chaplin (March 30, 1926 – March 3, 2009) was an American actor. He was the second son of Charlie Chaplin and Lita Grey. One of his major roles was his father's film Limelight (1952).

John Gavin as Teach Died 2018 · Los Angeles, California, USA John Gavin (April 8, 1931 – February 9, 2018) was an American actor who was the United States Ambassador to Mexico (1981–86) and the president of the Screen Actors Guild (1971–73). He was best known f...

John Larch as Heller Died 2005 · Salem, Massachusetts, USA John Larch (October 4, 1914 - October 16, 2005) was an American film and television actor. After his lead role in the radio serial Captain Starr of Space (1953–54), John Larch entered films in 1954....

Director Harry Keller

Cast Fred MacMurray, Dorothy Malone, James Barton, Sydney Chaplin, John Gavin, John Larch, Michael Ansara, Charles Soldani, Tony Urchel, Foster Hood

John Chard 8/10 Jul 29, 2017

John Coventry the lonely one, began and ended with a gun.

Quantez is directed by Harry Keller and written by R. Wright Campbell and Anne Edwards. It stars Fred MacMurray, Dorothy Malone, James Barton, Sydney Chaplin, John Gavin and John Larch. A CinemaScope production in Eastman Color, with music scored by Herman Stein (supervision Joseph Gershenson) and cinematography by Carl E. Guthrie.

A gang of robbers hole up for the night in the ghost town of Quantez. But what is the greater threat to their well being? The Indians out in the hills? Or each other?

Maybe you get to be a killer? But you will be sick to the stomach because of it.

A smartly written and acted psychological Western, Quantez deserves to be better known and appraised. This is all about characterisations and the hot bed situation they dwell within, the emphasis on dialogue and interactions as suspicion, passions, racism and treachery show their hands. Standard characters do apply, the girl with a past she's not proud of, the loose cannon, the greenhorn kid, the duplicitous one and the guy with a secret tucked away. There's even a late addition of a wandering minstrel (Barton), splendidly calling himself Puritan. These characters are well blended for narrative strength by Keller, the director keeping things on the slow burn, an impending sense of implosion permeating proceedings. Technical aspects are smart, the exterior filming, when the film comes out of the claustrophobic confines of the ghost town, is most pleasing, while the Eastman Color is gorgeous and never garish. Cast score well, notably a stubble and grungy MacMurray, a pretty and emotionally fragile Malone and Larch, who is unstable and enjoying his chance for villainy.

Except for a fist fight, an opening pursuit and the odd moment of macho posturing, the action is saved for the excellent last quarter, so first time viewers after a high energy Oater are advised that this is not the film for them. But for those who like some psychological discord in their Westerns, where plot dynamics are simmering until the denouement, then seek this out if you can. 8/10