The Halliday Brand (1957)

He who is not with me is against me!

The Halliday Brand is directed by Joseph Lewis and written by George W. George and George F. Slavin. It stars Joseph Cotton, Ward Bond, Betsy Blair, Bill Williams, Viveca Lindfors, Jay C. Flippen, Christopher Dark and Jeannette Nolan. Music is by Stanley Wilson and cinematography by Ray Rennahan.

The Halliday family is presided over by patriarch Big Dan (Bond). Dan is a bigot and rules the roost with an iron fist - he's also the town sheriff! When he finds his daughter, Martha (Blair), is in a relationship with half-breed Jivaro Burris (Dark), he is enraged and it kicks off a series of events that forces the eldest son, Daniel (Cotton), to become rouge to his father's ways.

He can't protect his own property, how's he going to protect yours? Get a new sheriff or you're next.

It's a little strange to think that a film directed by auteur Joseph H. Lewis, one that gets runs on TCM, and is a Western at that, is still in this day and age crying out for some attention. The low volume of reviews written on line for it - both professional and amateur - further emphasises that it is little seen and sadly forgotten. Which for genre fans, and in particular those who like some psychological barbs in their narratives, is a damn shame.

We are firmly in the realm of the Oedipal and the Freudian, where the pic cross examines the effects that a tyrannical patriarch has on his children. Violence as a solution is one of his mantras, as is racism, Big Dan Halliday firmly believes that anyone who is not with him, and takes his beliefs as sacrosanct, is therefore against him. When his eldest son is jolted into rebellion, it spells trouble for not only the Halliday family across the board, but also the townsfolk who come under the domineering wing of Sheriff Big Dan.

It would be churlish of me to even try and gloss over the bizarre casting decisions, for they alone to my mind stop this film from being part of the top table sitters for similar genre pieces. Cotton playing Bond's son is ridiculous, even with Bond in old man make up and wiggery, Cotton still looks too old to play his son. Lindfors doesn't fare much better as a half-breed, neither does Nolan as a full blood American Indian, and yet (it should be noted that Dark convinces as Jivaro) the perfs are all actually ok, fronted by a "perfectly" cast Bond (never one to mince his words or be outspoken was Ward!).

At the helm is Lewis, a director who over the decades has come to be regarded as a major talent that was under appreciated in his own time. The likes of Scorsese have led the way with glowing praise, enticing film fans to seek out some of his work and be spellbound by the likes of Gun Crazy and The Big Combo, and enchanted by My Name is Julia Ross, and admire the off kilter daring of Terror in a Texas Town. Here he once again makes a silk purse out of a sow's ass, his ability to make a cheap film look expensive is quite something to observe, infusing scenes with either the ethereal or some metaphorical smarts. A top talent that just like The Halliday Brand itself, is well worth discovering. 8/10