We don't often get a chance to see Glenn Ford as a bad guy, but he's pretty nasty here. He's a mean German who finds a fortune in gold in the Lost Dutchman mine in the Superstition Mountains near Phoenix, Arizona. Carries a Sharp's carbine. Shoots comarades in the back. Torments women while watching them die of thirst. Snarls a lot. Speaks with an accent, or tries to.
But then, come to think of it, nobody is any good in this movie. It has no hero. The narrator in the framing story, William Prince, is a contemporary, a grandson of Ford's. He's not exactly a bad guy, but he's certainly not a good guy either. He's given one of those hard-boiled narratives, ripped still quivering from the flank of a nearby film noir. "I figured I had it comin' to me. Nothing' else mattered." That sort of thing.
Ida Lupino sells her body for the gold. Gig Young pimps his wife. Will Geer smiles sardonically and wipes out people with his rifle.
Everybody is corrupted and some die because of their greed. The lust for gold is disgusting and uncivilized. Where do I get some?
But then, come to think of it, nobody is any good in this movie. It has no hero. The narrator in the framing story, William Prince, is a contemporary, a grandson of Ford's. He's not exactly a bad guy, but he's certainly not a good guy either. He's given one of those hard-boiled narratives, ripped still quivering from the flank of a nearby film noir. "I figured I had it comin' to me. Nothing' else mattered." That sort of thing.
Ida Lupino sells her body for the gold. Gig Young pimps his wife. Will Geer smiles sardonically and wipes out people with his rifle.
Everybody is corrupted and some die because of their greed. The lust for gold is disgusting and uncivilized. Where do I get some?