The Broken Land

This early 60s western would be totally forgotten if not for a performance by a young Jack Nicholson. The film barely clocks in at 60 minutes, IMDb timing notwithstanding, and its bare bones screenplay tries to to far too much in that brief span. Characters are thinly drawn and poorly (and bizarrely) motivated. Not much to recommend here except for Jack completists.

This short 1-hour Western movie centers on a drifter who comes to a small town and has run-in with its sadistic sheriff. A string of circumstances leads to running from a posse, robbery, and murder. Considering the limited length of this movie, it's a good story, the characters are likable, the dialog is literate, the performances are good (particularly Jack Nicholson), and it's well directed. If you collect Western movies, this one is worth having.

To Put it in Perspective, Anthony Mann and Budd Boetticher put a "New Face" on the Western in the 1950's and Sam Peckinpah put an Amen to it with Ride the High Country (1962) and then Reincarnated the "New" Western with The Wild Bunch (1969). Peckinpah, it Could be Said, Ended the New Wave of Westerns and Started the New New Wave of Westerns. No Mean Feat.

While Hardly in the Mann/Boetticher/Peckinpah Camp, This Little Movie is Indeed a Bit Different from Standard Stuff in its Introspection of Some Off Beat Characters that Include a Brutal Dictatorial Sheriff, a Dim-Witted Likable Stiff, a Good Hearted Drifter, and Jack Nicholson as a Slightly Miscast Bad/Good Guy. Diana Darin is the Damaged Goods still Managing to Look Good and Emote Kindness.

Overall, Worth a Watch for Early Nicholson, a Good but Short Story, and Some Colorful Cinemascope Landscapes.

The story opens up with a drifter stumbling into a town ruled by a sheriff who trusted no one and would make certain that everyone in town lived or died by his rules.

Many people in the town would love to just up and move away but the crazy sheriff would some way convince them to stay.

There was also a woman who recently moved into town and had an affair with the sheriff and held some deep dark secrets about him, which made him want her to leave on the next stagecoach out of town.

Jack Nicholson was very young in this picture but just his appearance in the film makes it worth your while to watch and enjoy.

Very early Jack Nicholson vehicle that is nothing more than a quick B-western with some exotic Arizona Apache Zone locales. Evil small town sheriff Kent Taylor rules the community with an iron fist and several within the small landscape join forces to change things. Nicholson is way down the list on the credits as a young hothead who has an itchy trigger-finger and likes to solve things with a rifle rather than by talking things out. An extremely wishy-washy film that is shorter than most documentaries these days (the film is only about an hour in length) and sports no real recommendations anywhere across the board. Only memorable to see how Nicholson was before his "Easy Rider" days. Turkey (0 stars out of 5).