Alvarez Kelly

A Confederate Colonel (Richard Widmark) forces a half-Mexican cattleman (William Holden) to lead the theft of a herd of Union livestock.

Alvarez Kelly is a well photographed, but ultimately disappointing western undone chiefly by a muddled script.

The night scenes, and especially the finale’s cattle stampede, look great. Some of the interiors however, such as the brothel, look staged. Perhaps these were a result of the reported six-month shooting interruption due to star William Holden contracting salmonella, which forced production out of Louisiana and back to Hollywood, but whatever the cause they’re glaring blemishes on director Edward Dmytryk’s otherwise very good looking film.

As for Holden, he looks tired. He was drinking heavily during the shoot and it shows on screen. Richard Widmark is fine opposite him, but watching the film you can’t help but get the feeling Holden was phoning it in, though, given the script, it’s hard the blame him.

Overlong and full of plot holes, Franklin Coen’s screenplay has the makings of something great, but needed at least two or three more rewrites before it was ready for production. An oft-told story even has Holden, hung over and frustrated with an unruly horse, attempting to cram the script up its ass saying, “That’s where it belongs!”

Now granted, Alvarez Kelly isn’t great, but it’s not horse’s ass bad either. The finale is well done, and liberal use of the fast-forward button to get you there can easily make this one passable.