Tommy Sand ain't no babe in toyland anymore, David Carradine is suppressed from using his kung fu, and Aldo Ray certainly isn't the marrying kind in this cheap variation of "In the Heat of the Night" that really is much better than I thought it would be. The three men are arrested when the rape of a Mexican American girl results in her claiming in her last words before sinking into a coma were to identify her assailant as a white man.
She later dies, turning the charge from one count of rape to murder as well. This leads the townsfolk (more talked about than seen) threatening to riot for justice and lynch the three men. Sheriff Fernando Lamas grills each of the men, first with an understanding compassion, then with anger as their racism is exposed. The ringing of a bell gathers all of the town's men together threatening insurrection.
The one issue with this outside the cliched dialog in spots is the use of lower quality film, definitely not 35 millimeter. But the way it is presented is engrossing as the tension erupts, and I found myself intrigued and interested to see how it all unfolds.
Lamas risks his own safety to protect the three suspects even though he obviously abhors them. Even though the three men are wretched human beings in different ways, their performances are solid and it's hard not to root for the two innocent men even if you are not sure who the guilty one is. Perhaps that's the point, not to judge until the guilty party is exposed.
Sometimes with movies of the physical quality here, I make it nowhere past an hour, but I stuck with this one. With the desert location footage, this never stops with the action for a minute. It's amazingly timely for a 50+ year old film, and I felt real sympathy for Lamas's character who is torn both as a law enforcement officer and a member of the Hispanic community tired of being violated.
She later dies, turning the charge from one count of rape to murder as well. This leads the townsfolk (more talked about than seen) threatening to riot for justice and lynch the three men. Sheriff Fernando Lamas grills each of the men, first with an understanding compassion, then with anger as their racism is exposed. The ringing of a bell gathers all of the town's men together threatening insurrection.
The one issue with this outside the cliched dialog in spots is the use of lower quality film, definitely not 35 millimeter. But the way it is presented is engrossing as the tension erupts, and I found myself intrigued and interested to see how it all unfolds.
Lamas risks his own safety to protect the three suspects even though he obviously abhors them. Even though the three men are wretched human beings in different ways, their performances are solid and it's hard not to root for the two innocent men even if you are not sure who the guilty one is. Perhaps that's the point, not to judge until the guilty party is exposed.
Sometimes with movies of the physical quality here, I make it nowhere past an hour, but I stuck with this one. With the desert location footage, this never stops with the action for a minute. It's amazingly timely for a 50+ year old film, and I felt real sympathy for Lamas's character who is torn both as a law enforcement officer and a member of the Hispanic community tired of being violated.