A TIME FOR DYING

"A Time for Dying" was Budd Boetticher's last western and it's certainly the strangest he ever made. It brings in the characters of Judge Roy Bean, (Victor Jory, absolutely terrific), and Jesse James, (a plump Audie Murphy, who also produced the film), though neither is central to the plot which is about a young, fast-draw of a cowboy, (Richard Lapp), who 'rescues' new gal in town, (Anne Randall), from a life of prostitution in Mamie's Saloon and is then forced to marry her by the wily old hanging judge. Unfortunately life in the Wild West proves to be no bed of roses for the young couple.

A critical and commercial disaster it's now being reassessed as a 'revisionist' western and it's certainly like nothing else in the Boetticher canon; there are scenes here that could have been directed by Peckinpah or even Robert Altman. Where it fails is in the truly terrible performances of both Lapp and Randall, neither of whom went on to have what you might call a career but it looks great, (Lucien Ballard was the cinematographer), and it's so off-the-wall it simply can't be ignored, (Jory and Murphy alone are sufficient reasons to see it). There's also an unsettling mix of comedy and violence as well as a highly nihilistic ending that you might find intriguing.