Three Violent People
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Rudolph Maté
Charlton Heston
Anne Baxter
Gilbert Roland
Tom Tryon
Forrest Tucker
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In post-Civil War Texas, the defeated Confederate soldiers returning home have a difficult time handling the justice system of the corrupt provisional government, which seems to favor the boisterous Yankee carpetbaggers at every turn. While initially hesitant to exchange blows with the Northerners, Capt. Colt Saunders, a hero in the Confederate cavalry, takes on all comers when a Southern belle named Lorna Hunter is insulted. After the outnumbered Colt is knocked unconscious by the uncouth Yankees, Lorna pretends to be his wife, in order to steal his wallet, which contains $900 in gold. Seeking to hide the money in the safe of her old friend, saloon owner Ruby LaSalle, Lorna is told that Colt is a wealthy rancher, so she instead asks that the money be deposited in his name. Her plan works, as the veteran quickly becomes enamored of the "honest" young woman. Lorna, however, tells him that she is an emancipated woman, looking for a proper husband and has determined that he is inappropriate, due to his rough demeanor. As hoped, Colt immediately proposes and the two are quickly married. Rudy warns her old friend that the marriage is doomed, as Lorna's shady past will forever cloud it. Upon arriving at his family's ranch, the Bar S, Colt and Lorna are warmly greeted by his oldest friend, Innocencio, the Mexican-American foreman who has cared for the place in Colt's absence. The next day, Innocencio tells Colt that few of the ranch's cattle or horses remain, as most have been taken by the carpetbaggers. Colt's bad news continues, when he learns that his prodigal brother Beauregard, better known as Cinch, has also returned home. Though disinherited by his grandfather, Cinch is offered a share in the ranch by Colt, who stills feels guilty about a childhood accident in which his younger brother lost his right arm. The bad news culminates when Harrison, the crooked district commissioner, informs Colt that the tax currently due on the Bar S ranch is an astronomical $16,000. While Colt and the surviving Texas ranchers vote to fight the corrupt provisional government, Cinch argues that the Saunders family should abandon the Bar S and instead, they should sell their secret herd of 300 horses to the U.S. Cavalry, then head west and start new lives. Offered the deciding vote, Lorna sides with her husband. Meanwhile, Cable, the murderous deputy commissioner, learns of Lorna's sordid past from Massey, the commission's cowardly secretary, who knew Lorna during her dance hall days in St. Louis. Cable tries to goad Colt into a gunfight over his wife's honor, but Lorna foils his plan by admitting her wicked past. The disheartened Colt then asks Lorna to leave on the next available stage. Later, upon returning from a roundup, Colt discovers that Cinch and Lorna have absconded with the horses and is informed that Lorna is pregnant with his child. After retaking his herd and his wife, Colt tells Lorna that he is willing to sell the horses, giving her all proceeds, if she agrees to leave him their child after it is born. That winter, Lorna delivers a healthy boy, and when Colt refuses to toast his son's birth, Innocencio, disgusted with his old friend's pride, announces that he too is leaving the Bar S. Lorna then surprises Colt by announcing that she is leaving him the horses, so that their son can inherit the Bar S. Meanwhile, in a last-ditch effort to steal the Saunders ranch, Harrison agrees to go into a partnership with Cinch, who then rides onto the family ranch and challenges his brother to a duel. Colt refuses to draw, however, and despite his threats, Cinch is unable to kill his brother in cold blood. The double-crossing Harrison and his men then arrive, and in the ensuing gunfight, Cinch, Cable and Massey are killed. As the cowardly Harrison and the rest of his men retreat, the ranch is saved, and Colt and Lorna are reunited.
Director
Rudolph Maté
Cast
Charlton Heston
Anne Baxter
Gilbert Roland
Tom Tryon
Forrest Tucker
Bruce Bennett
Elaine Stritch
Barton Maclane
Peter Hansen
John Harmon
Ross Bagdasarian
Bobby Blake
Jameel Farah
Leo Castillo
Don Devlin
Raymond Greenleaf
Roy Engel
Argentina Brunetti
Ernestine Wade
Don Dunning
Taggart Casey
William Baldwin
John Mckee
John Benson
Paul Levitt
Robert Arthur
Carl Andre
Frank Cady
Kenneth Mcdonald
Paula Hill
Helen Jay
Jody O'connor
James Gavin
Crew
Fay Babcock
Hugh Brown
Gene Busch
Richard Caffey
Sam Comer
Mack David
Farciot Edouart
John P. Fulton
James Edward Grant
Loyal Griggs
Edith Head
Earl Hedrick
Winston Leverett
Harry Lindgren
Alma Macrorie
Martita
Richard Mueller
Hal Pereira
Leonard Praskins
Walter Scharf
David Sharpe
Barney Slater
Wally Westmore
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Produced immediately after Charlton Heston completed Ten Commandments, The (1956) and reunited him with co-star Anne Baxter. This was Heston's last film under his origninal Paramount contract. Heston felt that Tom Tryon, who was cast as his brother, was not right for the part. However, because The Ten Commandments had not yet been released, Heston hadn't yet acheived the star clout necessary to demand cast changes.
Notes
The working titles of this film were The Maverick and Violent People. In some Hollywood Reporter news items, the working title The Maverick was cited as The Mavericks. Some Hollywood Reporter news items stated that Three Violent People was based on a novel by Leonard Praskins and Barney Slater. No such novel exists and the onscreen credits for these writers reads "Based on a story by." Screen Achievements Bulletin records list the material in question as an unpublished film story.
According to Hollywood Reporter news items, Irving Asher was originally set to produce the film for Paramount, with Michael Curtiz directing. Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts were announced as the film's screenwriters in August 1954, but their contribution to the final film, if any, has not been confirmed. John Forsythe, who had recently starred on Broadway in the hit play The Teahouse of the August Moon, then signed a seven-picture, seven-year deal with Paramount, and The Maverick was set as his first picture under this contract, with filming to begin in mid-February 1955. In February 1955, however, Hollywood Reporter reported that Asher's contract with Paramount had expired, and the producer, having decided to leave the studio, had taken an option on The Maverick. In May 1955, Hollywood Reporter news items reported that Asher had signed a new contract with the studio and had assigned James Edward Grant to begin work on the screenplay. Asher received no producer credit on Three Violent People, and it has not been determined what, if any, contributions he made to the released film.
Portions of the film were shot on location in Phoenix and Buckeye Canyon, AZ, according to Hollywood Reporter. A New York Herald Tribune news item states that Paramount chose to shoot in the Arizona desert in order to take advantage of a $75,000 permanent set built there six months earlier. New York Herald Tribune also reported that Three Violent People was the first film produced by Hugh Brown, a former Paramount studio accountant.
In Three Violent People, Paramount's advertising sought to sell the film as the reteaming of actors Charlton Heston and Anne Baxter, who had appeared earlier that same year in the studio's highly successful epic The Ten Commandments (see entry above). Modern sources also report that Heston was initially opposed to the casting of newcomer Tom Tryon in the role of "Cinch," but was pleased with the young actor's performance by the end of filming.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States on Video April 28, 1993
Released in United States Winter January 1957
VistaVision
Released in United States Winter January 1957
Released in United States on Video April 28, 1993
