In Silver City, naive farm boy Cass and newcomer saloon girl Nellie are married by Judge Roy Bean in a shotgun wedding but their honeymoon is marred by outlaws.
“A Time for Dying” is the final film of Audie Murphy. Murphy’s life story could rival most Hollywood biopics. He was born to a large family of sharecroppers in Texas, his dad abandoning them, and his mother died when he was a teen. After Pearl Harbor, at the age of 16, he faked his age to sign up for the Army. After some major heroic acts in France and Italy, including singlehandedly fending off an entire company of German troops, he ended up being one of the most decorated US soldiers in WWII. After a somewhat successful career of acting and songwriting, he was killed in a plane crash near Roanoke, Virginia in 1971.
Murphy plays the iconic outlaw Jesse James with a friendly, charming-like demeanor. It’s unlike the typical past portrayals of the legendary gunslinger that ranges from dastardly to sullen with turmoil. Unfortunately, Jesse is not the lead character, that title belongs to Cass Bunning (Richard Lapp). Bunning is heading to Silver City, a town which prefers no firearms on strangers. While there, he charms a local saloon owner and saves a young woman, who mistakenly or reluctantly signed up for a brothel, from the clutches of a drunken mob. Cass and the young woman stay in a hotel for safety but unknowingly violate the archaic “decency law.” This action puts him in the crosshairs of Judge Roy Bean (Victor Jory). The Judge is a loose cannon, salt and peppered facial hair, drunk on power (maybe also booze). He orders Cass and the young woman to be wed, their unorthodox honeymoon is when things get interesting. Cass admits he’s actually a bounty hunter looking for a good story and payday.
“A Time for Dying” is not as serious as its title suggests. It’s breezy with a Technicolor sheen and a running time at just a little over an hour. The filming took place in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. The movie didn’t blow me away but it was perfect for an afternoon flick. If you’ve read my past review of Hostiles, you’ll know it’s one of my favorite genres. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of the Western since there are endless possibilities for relevant narratives and anthropological commentaries.
Available for the first time ever on Remastered HD DVD February 5th, 2019
