There Was a Crooked Man...

"Of All the Crooked Men in All the Crooked West One of Them Was the Best!"

1970 2h 3m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

★6.8TMDB · 149

Western

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A charming but ruthless criminal is sent to a remote Arizona prison, where he enlists the help of his cellmates in an escape attempt with the promise of sharing his hidden loot.

“Of All the Crooked Men in All the Crooked West One of Them Was the Best!”

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Cast

Kirk Douglas
Paris Pitman, Jr.
Henry Fonda
Woodward W. Lopeman
Hume Cronyn
Dudley Whinner
Warren Oates
Floyd Moon
Burgess Meredith
The Missouri Kid
John Randolph
Cyrus McNutt
Lee Grant
Mrs. Bullard
Arthur O'Connell
Mr. Lomax

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Writers: Robert Benton, David Newman, Lee Adams
Languages: Spanish, English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

56 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, shot by Harry Stradling Jr.. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Charles Strouse. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Gene Milford shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda and Hume Cronyn carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Of All the Crooked Men in All the Crooked West One of Them Was the Best!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0066448 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Joseph L. Mankiewicz directs. Harry Stradling Jr. behind the camera. Charles Strouse scores. Gene Milford cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Spanish, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

156 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.
3Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, shot by Harry Stradling Jr.. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Charles Strouse. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Gene Milford shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda and Hume Cronyn carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Of All the Crooked Men in All the Crooked West One of Them Was the Best!".
8IMDB entry: tt0066448 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Harry Stradling Jr.
Original score: Charles Strouse
Editing: Gene Milford
Production design: Edward Carrere
Costume design: Anna Hill Johnstone
Makeup / hair: Annabell Levy
Runtime: 123 min · 2h 3m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: There Was a Crooked Man... (1970)

Also by

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-01-13
★ 7/10
Don't tell me you can't make speeches; you could talk a coyote out of a chicken. There Was a Crooked Man... is directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and written by David Newman and Robert Benton. It stars Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Hume Cronyn, Warren Oates, Burgess Meredith, John Randolph and Michael Blodgett. Music is by Charles Strouse and cinematography by Harry Stradling Jr. Plot has Douglas as Paris Pitman Jr., an unscrupulous thief who after stealing and hiding in a rattlesnake's nest half a million dollars, gets caught and sent to an Arizona prison for ten years. Once there his plan is simple, to befriend as many cons as he can so they can help him escape. Dangling the carrot of sharing his stash with those who help him, Pitman's plan may be usurped by the arrival of new Warden Woodward Lopeman (Fonda)? Joseph L. Mankiewicz's only venture into the Western sphere is an odd picture in many ways, but not in a bad way, sort of! Coming as it did at the start of the 1970s when the Western was for what was to be some time, on its last legs, the pic blends comedy with cynicism and violence with choice characterisations. Taking bold decisions in not making this a straight run of the mill genre piece, it's unsurprising to find that Warner Brothers got itchy feet and cut a whopping forty minutes from the original cut of the film, footage that to this day has never seen the light of day. This is a crying shame for although it doesn't make the film a mess in any shape or form, it does stop it from being the more edgy piece it was meant to be, With a super cast list fronted by a strong dynamic between Douglas and Fonda, story thrives by pretty much having nobody being straight as an arrow. In fact one of the strengths in the narrative is in setting us up for some surprises, we are never quite sure how this is going to pan out. As the violence, crafty scheming and general crookedness that exists within the prison simmers along, it's set up a treat for the pay off at story's culmination, something which has proven to be divisive (for me it's a doozy). At times it feels like we are in a knockabout comedy, yet this is merely a trick in the tale, the makers are in it for sucker punch merit, craftily flipping the finger whilst embracing moral decay. Hard to recommend with great confidence for it is an acquired taste, but it's fascinating as a snapshot of when the Western was gasping for breath, and rewards are there for those willing to buy into its devilish oddities. 7.5/10

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