The Capture (1950) User Reviews

The Capture – a psychological melodrama set among the Mexican badlands

[RJBurke1942 · 5/10 · 25 August 2006]

The director, John Sturges, is remembered for westerns – Gunfight at the OK Corral, The Magnificent Seven, Last Train from Gun Hill etc – and The Capture has a touch of that genre as the movie opens with Lew Ayres on the run from the Mexican Federales somewhere in those dark Mexican hills.

The story is interesting on three levels: first, it has a Freudian element with Lew Ayres (playing an ex-oilman, Lin Vanner) suffering from a guilt complex, one that he acquired after killing, in haste, a man he thought was responsible for a payroll robbery; second, it's also a "whodunit" as Lin eventually tries to find out who really did steal the payroll; and third, the story is written by Niven Busch who also wrote the screenplay for Pursued, another psychological western which also starred Teresa Wright (and Robert Mitchum) in 1947.

If you've seen Pursued, then you'll know that movie was photographed in very stark black and white – and a lot of it at night. This film follows that same format but, in my opinion, it was not done as well as the former movie. However, it's still good to look at.

Lin Vanner tells the story mostly in flashback, while he rests at the house of a priest – and as he waits for the police to catch up with him. As stories go, it's somewhat pedestrian and predictable, but it does attempt to present for the viewer a very troubled man's need to resolve the doubts he has about personal motivation, integrity and courage. I'd seen Lew Ayres in other films, notably All Quiet on the Western Front, but I felt that other actors would have been better cast; somehow, his rendition of the character just didn't seem to be tough enough to carry on. Robert Mitchum would have been appropriate in the role, I think. Teresa Wright (as Ellen Tevlin), on the other hand, gave another competent performance as the embittered widow of the man, Sam Tevlin, whom Lin Vanner had killed. (Perhaps the studio thought it was too much to have Teresa Wright and Robert Mitchum in another psychological western so soon after Pursued?)

It was great to see Duncan Renaldo (as Carlos) appear, however briefly; and, once again, Barry Kelley (as Earl Mahoney) turns up as one of the heavies that Lin Vanner must face in order to solve the puzzle and salve his conscience. And, in a surprise turnout, there's Victor Jory (one of Hollywood's long-time great character actors) as the sympathetic priest (Father Gomez) and sounding board for Lin Vanner's recounting of his miseries. I'd seen Victor Jory, in other movies, mostly as a bandit, an Indian, a hard-nosed Mexican cattleman, a cop and such like, so the role of priest was definitely different for him, but a role that he (under) played with consummate skill.

For movie buffs and Sturges fans, I'd recommend this movie. If you're bored and you want to while away ninety minutes or so, you could do much worse.

Worth seeing!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 7 April 2018]

Copyright 21 April 1950 by Showtime Properties, Inc. Filmed on locations in Mexico and at Republic Studios, Hollywood. Released through RKO Radio Pictures. New York opening at the Rivoli: 21 May 1950. U.S. release: 8 April 1950. U.K. release: 26 June 1950. Australian release: 21 July 1950. 8,173 feet. 91 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Oil company employee mistakes innocent man for a bandit.

COMMENT: Niven Busch (Duel in the Sun, Pursued) made this movie with his own money. Generally it's an interesting and creditable effort, though it does have a few odd shortcomings. That normally reliable player Victor Jory gives a mechanical and unconvincing performance, and there are moments in the script when the circumlocutions of the dialogue become too repetitious and predictable to sustain interest. Fortunately these moments are few and Mr Jory's part is small.

Perhaps it could also be argued that Mr Busch has attempted to crowd too many elements into his script. On the credit side, however, he has plotted some intriguing and original twists into this Mexican western. And he and director John Sturges, assisted by cinematographer Edward Cronjager, have filmed the story against appropriately atmospheric, striking backgrounds.

Lew Ayres does plausibly by the part of the tortured hero, whilst Miss Wright is likewise convincing in an equally difficult role.

Jacqueline White, the unforgettable heroine of the later The Narrow Margin, has a rather different role here. After an elaborate introduction, she drops out to make room for the Teresa Wright character.

Barry Kelley is perfectly cast as the heavy, whilst Milton Parsons makes the most of his two limited opportunities.

All in all, The Capture emerges as a compelling thriller with strikingly film noirish location production assets.

A Little More Action, A Little Less Talk

[wes-connors · 5/10 · 2 December 2007]

Wounded fugitive Lew Ayres (as Lin Vanner) finds refuge in the company of convenient priest Victor Jory (as Father Gomez); in the latter's home, he relates, via flashback storytelling, his unfortunate story. Mainly, Mr. Ayres' tale concerns his stay as ranch hand for new widow Teresa Wright (as Ellen Tevlin) and her son, Jimmy Hunt (as Mike). Despite revealing he was responsible for her husband's death (after a payroll heist) Ayres wins Ms. Wright's hand in marriage.

Most enjoyable during Ayres' sleuthing, after he weds Wright; during this time, there is a neatly directed John Sturges hanging. Still, this is a more unsatisfying than not film; it doesn't ever find a balance between psychological swerving talk, and occasional action. "Cisco Kid" Duncan Renaldo (as Carlos) can be spotted among the supporting players.

Interesting Drama

[Snow Leopard · 28 February 2006]

This is an interesting drama that features a good leading performance by Lew Ayres and a story that combines action and a little psychology. The pace is uneven, particularly in the middle of the movie, and this keeps it from being better. But both the early sequences and the climactic chain of events work pretty well.

Ayres plays a former oil man who once captured a suspected criminal, and then felt responsible when the man died in custody. He starts to get involved with the dead man's widow, even as he is haunted by uncertainty over whether he had done the right thing. It sets up a number of possibilities, and it is given an added air of fateful inevitability by the technique of having Ayres's character tell most of the story, in flashback style, to a priest.

After a solid start, things bog down for a while in the middle, although Ayres and Teresa Wright do their best to keep it watchable. Eventually, though, it gets back on track, and the last few scenes tie things together and bring the story to a tense conclusion.

Who Stole Bolsa Grande Oil's Payroll?

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 30 April 2011]

The Capture is a neat little modern western where Lew Ayres in the space of the 90 minute running time learns what it's like to be the hunter and the hunted. The film was written and produced by Niven Busch, screenwriter and husband of co-star Teresa Wright.

A tired, bedraggled, Lew Ayres staggers into the mission of Padre Victor Jory and tells him he's hunting by the police in Mexico where this story takes place. He explains to Jory just how this happened.

A year earlier Ayres was the foreman in a Mexican oilfield with mixed Yankee and native crew and his payroll is robbed. Ayres deduces that the posse organized is doing it wrong and he decides to become an unofficial peacemaker and bring in the bandit himself. And he finds such a suspect where he thinks he should be in the person of Edwin Rand. Rand is wounded in The Capture, but later dies after police interrogation.

Ayres quits Bolsa Grande Oil and breaks off his engagement to Jacqueline White. Circumstances bring him to the small ranch of Rand's widow Teresa Wright and their boy Jimmy Hunt.

I won't say any more other than the plot takes a turn from the Graham Greene novel and film, This Gun For Hire. As for the personal relations between Ayres and Wright, the plot elements from the future John Wayne classic Hondo are used.

The film was shot on location and was an independent production released by RKO Pictures. Ayres, Wright, and the rest of the cast give good accounts of themselves. And the ending is rather unusual for 1950 in that you really don't know what everyone's fate will be in the end as the film ends somewhat abruptly. Abrupt, but still effective.

Interesting Adventure / Crime Drama with Noir Overtones

[mstomaso · 7/10 · 12 March 2010]

Eleven years into his lengthy career (1938/9-1976) the great western director (Magnificent Seven, Bad Day at Black Rock) John Sturges was releasing four films per year. The Capture was one of his better 1950 products. Sturges was still searching for his niche, but he would find it later in the decade as the popularity of noir and other genres of the World War II era faded.

Although far from a straightforward western, The Capture is set in early 20th century Mexico and is a nice example of solid western storytelling by Niven Busch (The Postman Always Rings Twice). The lead character, a middle-management everyman (Lin Vanner) played by Lew Ayres, is a man running from his own self-doubt and an inexplicable guilt complex. Early in the film, he pursues and captures a man with an injured left arm who everybody believes to have been involved in a payroll robbery which resulted in the death of several security men. When the law comes to take this man into custody, he can not raise his left arm in surrender and is shot.

Vanner escapes to a remote Mexican village to resurrect his life, and finds himself investigating the incident that set him at odds with himself after falling in love with the alleged culprit's widow. Going any further with the narrative of this plot-heavy, thoughtful, film would be a spoiler, so I will stop here. I will only say that the film's rather abrupt ending is worth the wait.

Although The Capture's morality is rather heavy-handed for a western, this relatively dark film successfully explores psychological reality, conscience and the unpredictability of life in a way that would do most of the noir directors of the 40s and early 50s proud.

Ayres and the female lead, Theresa Wright, do solid work in what must have been a tough, low-budget production schedule. And Sturges' direction and cinematography, though not particularly innovative, are entirely mature. Sturges shows what a good director can do with quality material and the right cast. And as his career developed, he eventually found his niche in films which are often seen today as landmarks of the western genre. The Capture foreshadows Sturges' classics nicely.

For a man of your intelligence that's a bad decision

[sol1218 · 6/10 · 20 November 2007]

**SPOILERS** On the run from the Mexican police hungry exhausted and wounded, after getting his right arm entangled in barbwire during his escape, Lin Vanner, Lew Ayres, finds his way to Father Gomez's, Victor Jory, house in the Mexican desert. After having his arm bandaged Lin tells the man of God his tale of woe a tale that goes back over a year ago when Vanner was involved with a posse tracking down Sam Tevlin, Edwin Rand, a wanted payroll robber and murderer.

Forced by his fiancée Luana, Jackie White, to join the chase after the fleeing Tevlin Lin having him cornered ends up shooting the wounded man who, like Lin has now, had a wounded right arm. It was the fact that Tevlin couldn't raise his right arm up in the air that Lin , thinking that he was about to take a shot at him, ended up blasting him. It was later when Tevlin died from his wounds that Lin started to get guilty feeling about what he did and after he refused to pick up the $2,000.00 reward that was awarded to him in getting Tevlin that Luana, disgusted with her future husbands feeling sorry for himself, walked out of on him.

The movie "The Capture" then takes a different turn with Lin traveling to Tevlin's, who an American, home in Los Santos Mexico meeting his widow Ellen, Teresa Wright, and ten year old son Mike, Jimmy Hunt. Keeping his true identity from Ellen Lin tells her that he's looking for a job at her ranch as a ranch-hand using the phony name of Lindley Brown. It doesn't take that long for Ellen to find out, checking out Brown's room, that Mr. Brown is actually Lin Vanner her husbands killer. Instead of the outraged Ellen letting Lin have it, about killing her husband Sam, she instead works the guy almost into the ground with him having no idea why she's doing that.

Finally realizing why Ellen is so down on him by finding that she broke into his room, and found a newspaper clipping about Lin gunning down her husband, that Lin finally let the cat out of the bag. It turns out that Sam was not only a wife beater and drunk, how did Lin know all this?, but that he spent most of his time away from Ellen and Mike hanging out and drinking the night away with the senoritas at the local bars in town.

Incredibly Ellen, within minuets after he told her the truth about himself, falls heads over heels in love with Lin and in what seems like the next day get married to him! You would have thought that the movie "The Capture" would end there and then instead it continued with Lin going back to the states to find the real reason for Sam Tevlin being framed in the payroll robbery and murder of those armed guards who were delivering the cash! Lin feels that he was, without his knowledge, set up as the hit-man to do in Tevlin by the person who was****SPOILER ALERT**** the real robber and killer the VP of the company that was held up Big Earl Mahoney, Barry Kelly.

You soon got lost in the film when Lin suddenly decides to become a private eye and then does his gumshoe act that was totally unconvincing as well as making the movie look ridiculous. Lin has the surviving guard of the robbery Juan Valdez, Felipe Turich, end up committing suicide by hanging himself on the church bell-tower. This happened after Lin badgered Valdez almost to death, threatening to have the disabled mans pension taken away from him, in trying to get him to open up about who really shot him and his fellow security guards! Lin who should have felt just as guilty, if not more, for his driving the innocent Veldez to kill himself like he felt guilty in shooting Sam Tevlin didn't as much as shed a tear for the poor man!

Acting totally out of character Lin then crashes Big Earl's place and after showing Big Earl that he's got the goods on him, in him not Sam being the one who robbed the payroll truck, gets into a fight with Big Earl, who's twice as big as Lin, killing him by smashing a whiskey bottle over his head! It's then that the film gets back to the present with Lin holed up in Fathet Gomez's home with the Mexican police, together with Ellen trying to talk Lin into giving himself up, giving Lin just minutes to either surrender or they'll blast away.

The only thing about the ending of "The Capture" is that besides being totally predictable, just by reading the movies title, is that a miracle happened for the wounded and suicidal Linn who was responsible for the death of three persons in the movie! A miracle that for some strange reason didn't happen for Sam Tevlin who didn't kill anyone! Go figure that out!

"Come on sheriff, we don't wanna keep that bandit waiting."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 1 August 2007]

The interesting twist to this story is that Lin Vanner (Lew Ayres) becomes the man he pursued and killed at the opening of the film. Not literally of course, but figuratively, in that he became entangled in a set of circumstances that made it look like he was guilty of a crime. It's the kind of irony, as another reviewer pointed out, that would have worked well as an episode of 'The Twilight Zone'. The middle part of the story explains how Vanner discovered the identity of the villain who engineered a payroll holdup and framed Sam Tevlin, the man who Vanner tracked and killed because he 'couldn't' surrender. What's difficult to buy about the story is how Vanner persisted in his effort to win over the widow Tevlin (Teresa Wright) in his quest for the truth about the man he killed.

You know, as I think about the picture now, it might have been better served by reversing the roles of Ayres and Victor Jory, but my opinion might be shaped by having seen Jory in more movies. At that, I've probably seen him more times as a villain than a hero, and he would have given the character of Vanner a harder edge. Not that there's anything wrong with being introspective, but Ayres' interpretation made him too submissive to Mrs. Tevlin once she found out the truth about his identity.

Once the story is well under way, you have a pretty good sense of what's coming up in the finale, the only question being whether or not Vanner would be able to successfully surrender. The intervention of Father Gomez (Jory) helped decide that outcome. You know, I had to chuckle to myself during the scene when Vanner confronts the Mexican laborer who was the payroll escort that got robbed to set up the story background. His name was Juan Valdez, and after seeing that Colombian coffee commercial dozens of times over the years, it's a name that's become synonymous with coffee breaks, not payroll robberies.

The Capture (1950)

[MartinTeller · 4/10 · 3 January 2012]

Disappointing western-tinged noir (or noir-tinged western) from John Sturges about a man driven by guilt over killing a robbery suspect. The movie plods and plods, especially during the tedious second act, and doesn't pick up until the end. I would say Lew Ayres that seems wrong for the role, but it's hard to pin down what the role is. Noir is often about making the wrong choices, but this guy just seems to make one bone-headed or misguided decision after another. Teresa Wright's character is equally puzzling. The whole thing just doesn't work. Some potentially interesting psychological angles arise, but they're handled poorly. The score is also a dud and the cinematography isn't that special either. A few good moments aside, nothing much to see here.

Pursuing ,then pursued.

[ulicknormanowen · 6/10 · 12 November 2020]

As a big fan of Miss Wright ,the great character actress of Wyler's ,Walsh's or Hitchcock's classics , I was looking forward to watching this movie ;but as far as she's concerned ,I was disappointed :her part is underwritten , her screen presence is about half of Lew Ayres's ; her character is cardboard ,cast in the widowed-woman-with-child mold and predictable to a fault (although her evolution is preposterous: first she treats Ayres as a slave , then overnight she falls into his arms)

On the other hand ,the male part is much more interesting : a man consumed with remorse ,who tries to find the truth and makes another faux pas ; a man who does not know where he stands anymore who confesses to a priest : the movie is a long flashback ,and can be considered ,from that point of view ,as a moderately successful film.

Grrrr...I hate a movie that seems pretty good--only to see it totally fall apart at the end...

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 28 April 2011]

"The Capture" is the most frustrating story to watch, as it is a pretty good film....through the first 3/4 of the movie. Then, when you are invested in the darn thing, it ends oh so stupidly....very stupidly. As a result, I am doing something I rarely do--telling you not to bother with this one! The film begins with Lew Ayers on the run somewhere in rural Mexico. When he meets up with a priest (Victor Jory), he begins telling him the story of how he got to be on the lam from the law. It seems that some time ago, Lew was reluctantly goaded into helping look for a man accused of stealing the company's payroll. On his own, he catches up to the guy and accidentally kills the suspect. While he's considered a hero, he can't live with himself and quits his job--even refusing the reward money. So far, so good--I liked the story and the idea that he felt so torn apart by this. While it strained disbelief A LOT, I even got into the film when Ayers tracked down the dead guy's widow (Teresa Wright) and young son and moved in as a hired hand.

Late in the film Ayers gets the idea that the man he killed was not really guilty and investigates. This is a great idea--and a great way to throw the plot up on its end. HOWEVER, when he has a big confrontation with his ex-boss, the plot goes straight down the toilet. The last 20 minutes of the film make no sense at all--especially when he kills the man in self-defense yet runs away and makes himself look 100% guilty! Why do this--he seemed to have a good case to prove that his ex-boss was a crook and the gun the ex-boss tried to use on him was ample evidence he was defending himself. And from there, it only gets worse...much, much worse. You simply cannot believe the story at all and it made me mad by the time the stupid final showdown occurred.

Okay acting and it was apparently written by lemurs! There just isn't enough in the first half to make it possible to ignore the last!

An example of thoughtful storytelling.

[ronvieth · 8/10 · 23 January 2005]

I purchased this as part of a 50 Movie pack of DVD's called Action Classics. While that is not the genre I'd call it, The Capture is well worth the time.

The first part of the movie deals with a US oilfield worker in 1935 Mexico. He hunts down and kills a payroll robber. The film then settles into the main part of the story. It is an introspective, psychological analysis of the consequences for himself, and those who remember the dead man. Its all about a search for meaning and truth.

The Capture left me with the feeling I used to get, watching the the short stories that were the staple of anthology drama series of the 1950's -- Twilight Zone, or Zane Grey Theatre -- but of course, this feature film has better production values than a TV series. I loved the innocent thoughtful stories that don't seem to be made any more, and The Capture is a fine example them.

Compelling story

[searchanddestroy-1 · 7/10 · 9 August 2022]

Lew Ayres shines in this role seemingly made for him, and him only. Very smooth character for whom the audiences could feel empathy, because he represents the normal human being, very human, maybe the result of his Dr Kildare performances.... Man in search for forgiveness, redemption is nearly a cliché, especially with a priest in the scheme, and I don't particularely like that at all, but this movie remains worth, because there is a suspense for the audiences, knowing that Ayres' character is hired by the widow of the man he killed. And the woman of course ignores it, so the audience wonders how, or when will she discover it , and what will be her reaction then? That's for me the main interest of this film. A rare and unknown John Sturges' early material, but there are more, made in the late forties and early fifties: JEOPARDY, MYSTERY STREET, and especially THE MAN WHO DARED, that announced Fritz Lang's BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT.

An anti-cinema experience.

[DigitalRevenantX7 · 4/10 · 24 January 2017]

Former oil manager turned rancher Lindley Vanner is holed up in a Mexican priest's home with the Mexican police surrounding it – a fugitive from the law for murder. He tells his story to the priest. Vanner was working on a Mexican oil field in 1937 when he sets out to track down the bandit accused of stealing his company's payroll. He corners the suspect but accidentally shoots him dead due to miscommunication. Overcome with grief, he quits his job & heads to the dead man's town for a change of scenery. Bluffing his way into the widow's home, he tries to make amends by taking on various repair jobs on the ranch. The widow discovers his true identity but falls in love with him anyway. The pair get married. But when Vanner discovers that his victim was in fact innocent & had actually survived the gunshot wound he inflicted, killed instead by a guard who was the real thief during interrogation, Vanner attempts to track the real thief down & get him to confess. He succeeds in finding the culprit but again kills him in self defence. Now he is wanted by the Mexican police.

The Capture is a modern-day (for the time) Western made at a time when the genre was getting stuck in the routine of the times & was getting more & more mediocre. It wasn't until the Italians got involved that the genre received a much-needed boost.

The film is essentially about the emotional impact that killing someone – particularly by somebody who wasn't a soldier or police officer – inflicts on the person who does the killing. The death is accidental but the person is stuck with an emotional scar of that very act that compels them (well, most of the time) to make amends, well, if the person is honest & has morals, that is (most murderers these days tend to regard themselves in the right or have some severe mental defects that make them immune to grief). It is because of this plot angle that I rank the film as "mediocre" instead of "disappointing" since the rest of the film is almost sunk by poor writing. The idea of making the hero an everyday working stiff is a mediocre idea because the reason people go to the movies to watch is because they want to see larger-than-life characters or interestingly complex & unusual characters, not ordinary people who don't have anything to offer for them. Cinema is at its heart a medium of pure escapism (which is why I prefer science fiction & horror films over mediocre Westerns such as this) & films like The Capture don't do much to add to that medium – instead they detract & waste resources. The actors do a decent job of inhabiting their roles but are wholly unremarkable. Plus, the film tends to get boring in the middle section with Lew Ayres & Teresa Wright interacting – their characters loathe each other but very quickly fall in love in another of those old-fashioned Instant Romances, only to find their marriage threatened by the exposure of the fact that the dead husband was innocent of the crime that ultimately killed him. Ayres' transition from everyday Joe to tough guy is a bit unrealistic, although he acquits himself admirably.

Effective Elements, Unevenly Combined

[dougdoepke · 19 November 2016]

Note the lengthy action hook at the beginning. But once Vanner (Ayers) links up with Ellen (Wright)-- wife of the man Vanner killed under cloudy circumstances-- the movie bogs down into character study, before an action-laden climax. It's an interesting if uneven film using rocky LA area locations to unsettling effect.

So is the man Vanner's killed in a shoot-out, really a payroll robber or not. Racked by uncertainty, Vanner travels incognito to the widow's farm to work there and, in the process, find out more about her dead husband. But will she find out who he really is and what he's done. The premise here is a compelling one. Too bad it soon bogs down.

I suspect the family oriented middle part was aimed at giving Ayers and Wright a chance to again show their acting chops. Which they do, but detrimentally to the pacing. The script also contains several creative ironies, particularly the wounded arm that helps Vanner expiate his guilt feelings. Looks like Victor Jory's unexpectedly brief appearance was a marquee helping payday. Anyway, no film with the rotund Barry Kelley can afford to be passed up. All in all, it's an interesting, if flawed, black-and-whiter, with an unusual final frame. Too bad the effective elements are not more tightly combined.

The Capture

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 11 November 2023]

Injured "Vanner" (Lew Ayres) arrives in a barn where he meets a priest. The holy man (Victory Jory) suggests he might be more comfortable in the house and upon arrival, listens to his rather complicated story. He used to work in the oilfields of Mexico when he apprehended a man he believed was implicated in a payroll robbery. The man was duly taken into custody but perished shortly thereafter. Though not responsible, "Vanner" is troubled. His engagement goes the way of the dodo and he quits his job, setting off for the small-holding home of the man's widow. Ostensibly just a homeless factotum, he meets "Ellen" (Teresa Wright) and her young son "Mike" (Jimmy Hunt) just as they have advertised for someone to help get their 300-odd head of cattle to market. Briefly, what now ensues is a sort of reversal of the "Shane" story, with she the distant and aloof character - a scenario that is only worsened when she declares that she knows who he is and forgiveness is far from her mind. Perhaps the solution is for them to work together as maybe just maybe, he got it wrong in the first place? This is actually quite a decent little thriller until the last fifteen minutes, which really don't make a great deal of sense at all and appear designed to maximise the dramatic conclusion rather than have the story add up. The acting and writing are all adequate and John Sturges keeps it moving along well enough - it's just that underwhelming denouement that really does let it down.

Plot Drives Character

[boblipton · 4/10 · 14 September 2019]

Lew Ayres is an executive at a production facility in Mexico. When a payroll is robbed, he figures out where any thief would make a break for, and heads off to find Edwin Rand. Rand doesn't raise his hands, so Ayres fires. Rand says one arm is busted, and he didn't steal the money. Although the wound appears minor, Rand bleeds out and dies.

Ayres gets on the train at random and winds up in a small Mexican tank town, where he spots Teresa Wright. He goes to work for her on her run-down ranch. She discovers he was the man who killed Rand, her husband, and she torments him, so soon they are married. Then comes the time when Ayres decides that Rand didn't commit the robbery and goes in search of the actual robber.

The movie is buoyed up by the two leads and some fine direction by John Sturges, but the way Ayres' character is written, alternately brilliant and stupid, is infuriatingly inconsistent, shifting one way or t'other to suit the dictates of the plot. Checking over the reviews in the IMDb, I saw it praised as a "psychological western" and a "film noir western" and "thoughtful storytelling." What I saw was the worst sort of storytelling, in which usually reliable screenwwriter and producer Niven Bush decided he needed Ayres to do one thing in one scene, so he did, and something else in another scene, so he did. It's a story in which plot drives character instead of the other way around, and the actors are mostly good enough, and likable enough to make you accept it. Characters need to be consistent to be believable, and Ayres' character is not.

And how did Miss Wright shift from hating Ayres as the man who killed her husband to loving him enough to marry him? I still don't get that.

It's Mildly Entertaining - Mostly Boring

[Rainey-Dawn · 3/10 · 11 May 2016]

I got this film from the Dark Crimes 50-pack collection: It is not what I would call a "Dark Crime" film... this is a western. If this film is a "dark crime" then so are all other westerns.

The film is just okay. Nothing special to see here. It's told in flashback from our oil man cowboy to the priest. It's about a guy that runs an oil field, someone took some money that they were suppose to pay the workers with and one man is blamed for doing it. So our oil man who dubs as a cowboy goes after the guy, shoots the guy to quickly and the guy slowly bleeds to death internally. Next our oil cowboy sees a woman, falls for her the moment he sees her, finds out it's the dead man's wife and he goes after her. She is running a ranch and runs an ad in the paper for help since her husband is dead - and she hires the oil man cowboy to help her. Long story short, they marry - then he is on the run again for the murder of her dead husband, blah blah blah, more stuff happens and he ends up with a priest and the law after him and ends up a in a shoot out at the priest's place.

Really not a all that bad of a film but it's not all that great either.

3/10

lovable

[Cristi_Ciopron · 9/10 · 10 May 2015]

I have been quite impressed with this one; genre-wise, it's a romance. It's a noir western, but essentially a romance, and a very wholesome and lovable movie. John Sturges made this charming and very stylish noir western with an interest in rocky landscapes and generally a very good sense of the places, and a very intriguing lead character: the oilman, successful as an one man posse, then turned cowboy to help a needy family, but firstly to redeem himself, and to expiate, and also strongly drawn by the sick passion for a widow, this with a cheap script, and happily it's not Ford's sometimes extrinsic religion (even Jory doesn't play as one of the conventional priests of that age: Fonda or Malden), and, this strangely, not the religious behavior as a distorting and possibly misguiding of the white man's conscience. The style of the movie is very grounded (from the Spanish spoken by the Mexicans in the opening scenes, to the landscape and the unflattering style of the cast's acting); everything, very cinematographic, and very appropriate. It's a director's movie, of one who turns everything into straight cinematography.

The plot is quite tenebrous. The leading character resembles physically his victim, and their relation is interesting, unto tenderness, as the chased man reposes peacefully. There's the character's narration, yet some things are understated, and he might be unreliable, to the effect of ignoring himself. What does he wish? He let go his fiancée, then all of a sudden falls in love with a widow.

His wedding party was so endearingly modest; and once married, he starts his chase.

Though given only a supporting role, Jory is the best of the cast.

The special effects were done by the Lydecker brothers. And it's a very good looking movie.

It's okay.

[bombersflyup · 4/10 · 28 January 2019]

The Capture has a decent plot, but isn't executed that well.

It's simply not that riveting. Vanner's intentions and morals are exemplary, but Lew Ayres is unmemorable. Teresa Wright once again, underutilized for her talents. The turn around between the two to become married, is so unwarranted.

Goofy adventure story

[GManfred · 2 June 2009]

The Capture tries mightily but in the end it suffers from a meandering script which is too full of plot devices and contrivances. The result is shocking as it was directed by the great John Sturges, who directed some of the best action pictures ever made, including "The Magnificent Seven". It is a picaresque type of a story which might be called " the Adventures of a Guilt-Ridden Oilman". Lew Ayres in the lead role bounces from place to place, falling in love with the wife of a man he has killed while searching for the real payroll thief. As he is on the lam in the midst of his guilt trip, he is eventually discovered and must hit the road again. Eventually he ends up in the same straits as the man he has killed, even incurring an identical injury as the dead man.....

Sorry. I dozed off trying to recount the drab, preposterous proceedings. At best, it is a curiosity which is about 20 minutes too long and stretches the credulity of the viewer to the breaking point. Lew Ayres was good and Teresa Wright was excellent, but even so a question arises; Did they do drugs while writing scripts in the 40's?

The search for justice

[russjones-80887 · 4/10 · 24 September 2020]

Told in flashback, an American oil worker in Mexico confronts and kills a man who he thought had stolen company money. Wracked with guilt, he tracks down the widow and eventually marries her. But in seeking out the real culprit, he puts himself at risk.

Interesting storyline, well directed by John Sturges, but this is an idea that has been used far more effectively in other films. Lew Ayres and Teresa Wright star as the couple and are supported by Victor Jory.

Good Try No Cigar - The Capture

[arthur_tafero · 4/10 · 2 October 2019]

This film could have been much better. It's fatal flaw was in the way the story was revealed through extended flashback. This device defeats the purpose of creating suspense in real time. We KNOW the antagonist will survive to meet the priest (a great job of casting eternal bad guy, Victor Jory, as a priest). This kills all the possibility of other outcomes. The fim is a bit talky and is short on action as well. It tries to be a great saga instead of a simple story, and that is the final nail in the coffin for this film. Lew Ayres and Teresa Wright try to save it, but it DOA.

Teresa Wright is glorious as a dark widow turning around

[clanciai · 10/10 · 30 June 2020]

John Sturges was one of the most reliable directors of Hollywood, consistently making greater and better films and in later years trusted with very advanced and complicated film projects, which he managed quite well like everything else. This is a minor noir but still reaching some monumental stature in its very interesting story of destiny and the chase of it while it ends up chasing you. Lew Ayres is always worth watching closely on the screen, he always accepted very interesting roles, and here he is pursuing a robber from his oil company and manages to hunt him down - to get him killed by mistake. He leaves a widow with a son, and Lew Ayres wants desperately to atone for his mistake and takes a job at her ranch as a an odd worker. She gradually understands his hand in her husband's death, while at the same time that marriage is proved not to have been too happy - so Teresa Wright marries Lew Ayres, and they are both happy for it, but that's where the real problem starts. Because Lew Ayres can't get it out of his mind that her previous husband was shot to death and blamed for the theft although he was innocent, and so the new husband sets his mind on finding the real villain in the mess. The composition of the film is perfect, relying mainly on long flashbacks, greadually revealing a fascinating intricacy of a sordid matter, the photo and cinematography is also great, but above all you will enjoy the wonderful environments of wildest Mexico and Daniele Amfitheatrof's gorgeous music all through, with even some Mexican songs on the way. To me, it was a thoroughly enjoyable and most interesting film, and although there have been objections against the ending, I felt the opposite about it, just like an old classical deus ex machina turn of unexpected and quite natural character. In brief, I loved it, as I so far always greatly enjoyed all of John Sturges' films.

low budget, could have been better

[blanche-2 · 5/10 · 18 April 2020]

John Sturges was a good and well-known director of westerns. The Capture is one of his lesser films, but is enhanced by the presence of Lew Ayres and Teresa Wright.

The movie starts with an injured Lin Vanner (Ayres) getting some help from a priest (Victor Jory) and telling his story. While looking for a man involved in a payroll robbery, he kills someone he believed was the criminal. The man was injured and unable to hold his arm up to surrender, and then doubt is cast on whether or not he stole the money.

Lin locates the man's wife (Wright) and, as she doesn't know who he is, he takes a job helping her on her farm. He becomes very fond of her and her young son. However, she goes through his things and learns his identity. After a confrontation, she admits it was a bad marriage and he was away most of the time. The two fall in love and marry. Lin then leaves to find out who really stole the payroll and clear her late husband's name.

This was a cut above most of the movies on this large collection I have of public domain noirs and mysteries.