Blood, Payroll and Bullets

NIGHT PASSAGE (1957)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Sometimes an old-fashioned western shot in Technirama (one of the first films to use this process) with James Stewart as capable of playing the accordion as he is firing a weapon is all one needs on a relaxing Saturday afternoon. You could do worse but there is something rather wonderful about James Neilson's "Night Passage" even though the movie is hardly one of the hallmarks of the Western genre. It is not just the richness of the Colorado vistas and sharpness of the widescreen format that make it often visually stunning. It is the performances, the gestures, the body language - James Stewart and Audie Murphy round out the cast and give the film an added measure of depth that is otherwise missing in the script.

As westerns go, there is only a wisp of a plot. Stewart is Grant McLaine, a skilled accordion player who is hired by his ex-railroad boss to hand deliver the railroad payroll to the workers. The trick is to deliver it without it getting in the hands of a few choice villainous thieves, one of them being the black-clad Utica Kid (Audie Murphy) who appears to be the kindest of the lot (plot twists allow him to be kinder). Nobody will suspect Grant has the payroll, nobody except for the Utica Kid. Of course, easier said than done as there are a couple of gunfights, a few brawls inside saloons and trains before lassoing the bad guys who try to harm the kid from "Shane" (Brandon deWilde), a thrilling shootout at an abandoned mine, you get the idea.

"Night Passage" is all about the exquisitely pretty pictures and this one (original director Anthony Mann dropped out and had a tiff with Stewart) is about as picaresque as you can imagine. But it is also about attitude and behavior - Stewart has a quick-as-a-trigger moment where he exchanges smiles with his ex-boss (Jay C. Flippen) after an awkward meeting. Also look at Stewart's scene with Charlotte (Dianne Foster) where they drink coffee together - there is an intimacy that is verbally unspoken. And we know Audie Murphy's Utica Kid intends to let Stewart get out of this ordeal alive. Look out for a sprightly turn by Olive Carey as Miss Vittles who suggests to Stewart that during the cold months, he will either need a woman or a good coat! For older film fans, let us not forget the amazing Jack Elam (when was he not amazing?) in a role he apparently hated playing. I wonder what he thought of his role in "The Creature From Black Lake" but I digress.

"Night Passage" is not a sumptuous John Ford type western, nor it is as complex as anything Anthony Mann might have made. Still, it is spirited fun and has a few minor surprises that elevate the material a little.