Passion (1954)
Starring Cornel Wilde as a young rancher seeking vengeance for the murders of his wife (Yvonne de Carlo - here playing two roles) and his parents. The killers are a ruthless band of land grabbers led by Salvador Sandro, who Wilde, now a fugitive from justice himself thanks to sheriff Raymond Burr, intends to kill one by one.
Passion is a western that's as surprising as it is ludicrously titled. Sounding like a romantic drama, it comes across as very misleading. What we actually have is a brutal revenge thriller set in Mexican ruled Spanish California that seems to pre-empt the Spaghetti western genre by several years, not only that. The final third leaves the sweltering desert towns and plunges us into a chilly snowbound chase across the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
Not as low budget as many RKO westerns, the film features some nice photography among the numerous shoot outs.
|