Rough Night in Jericho

A professional figures out a way to cut down the odds before making a move

An ex-lawman from Santa Fe and his ex-deputy (John McIntire and George Peppard) come to an Arizona town to assist the female owner of a stagecoach line (Jean Simmons), who happens to be persecuted by the town’s venal mogul, also an ex-lawman (Dean Martin). Since the odds are against winning a tangle with this boss, Dolan (Peppard) is determined to move on. Is he yella or will he make a stand?

“Rough Night in Jericho” (1967) comes in the spirit of “Rio Bravo” and “El Dorado,” just minus John Wayne. It’s mostly town-bound, but there are more than enough scenic sequences shot in the Southwest wilderness (cited below). The emphasis is human interest, which effectively draws you into the lives of the characters at play.

A minor example is when a certain man is humiliated and written off as a coward, but he’s later given a chance to prove his mettle. A better example is how Flood (Martin) and Dolan are fleshed out with several interesting dialogues. You just know they’re gonna have a showdown.

There’s also a great knock-down-drag-out fight between Dolan and Yarbrough (Slim Pickens). Impressive Steve Sandor plays a side character in this particular sequence as Flood’s henchman Simms; the role happened to be his cinematic debut.

Regrettably, the ending needed tightened up and the flick is strapped with a professional-but-unfitting score that’s unmemorable. It needed a composition along the lines of, say, “Bandolero!” or “Duel at Diablo.” Yet this isn’t a deal-breaker and arguably adds a unique charm to the film. In any case, it’s superior to Martin’s “5 Card Stud,” but not quite on the level of his “Bandolero!”

It runs 1 hour, 44 minutes, and was shot in Old Tucson, Arizona, with out-of-town stuff done in southern Utah at Glen Canyon, Kanab Canyon, Paria and the Gap, as well as Vermilion Cliffs and Colorado City in nearby Arizona.

GRADE: B