Welcome to Hard Times

This is a gritty and well directed film. Unfortunately, the entire premises strains belief. We are supposed to believe that one man rides into a town and kills people and burns it to the ground while everybody just sits around and watches. In the real world this guy (Aldo Ray) would have been shot down about five minutes after he walked into the saloon. In 19th century America, everyone was armed and would have taken any action needed to protect their lives and property. I thought it was a silly movie when I saw it as a child and it remains silly today.

There are a lot of interesting aspects to this above average adult western -- Fonda plays a wimp, Keenan Wynn plays a pimp who operates out of a bible tent, and Ray plays a "badman" who seems to have no motive for his destruction of the town of "Hard Times" (they could've picked a better name, eh?) than pure sadism. In Fonda's quest to prove his manhood and make a stand in Hard Times, a lot of fairly complex human themes come to the fore. Rule plays a believably highstrung Western Woman, bent on teaching her adopted son how to kill because she doesn't think Fonda has the guts.

One of Kennedy's better later westerns before he switched completely to the comedic mode, notable for a solid script based on an interesting story with great character performances throughout.

One thing about Henry: he was versatile. From dottering old Norman Thayer in "On Golden Pond" to the child-murdering gunman in "Once Upon a Time in the West" and everything in between, Henry Fonda showed us his multi-faceted talent over and over again, as he does here as a waffling, semi-cowardly man initially unwilling to confront a bully that terrorizes a small community in the old west.

Aldo Ray's is ideally suited for his character as well, as the murderous brute intent upon destroying a small town and anyone who tries to stop him.

As usual, mild-mannered Good eventually triumphs over seemingly unstoppable Evil, but then, by 1967 Clint Eastwood already had a lock on the other outcome. Still, I enjoyed it quite a lot, and recommend it highly, for among other reasons, to see Aldo munch on a giant green onion as he drinks coffee, in celebration of a murderous rampage he just finished.

This is a great Henry Fonda film from 1967 where Fonda plays the role as Mayor Will Blue who is a peace abiding man and hates to use his fists or a weapon against anyone. One day a man visits his town and takes over the entire town, raping women and burning the entire town to the ground. Mayor Will Blue is not very well liked by his town folk, however, he still wants to remain in what is left of his town and refuses to runaway like he has done in his past life. Molly Riordan,(Janice Rule) becomes rather close to Will Blue and also Keenan Wynn, (Zar, Whiskey & Girls) visits the town and opens up a Saloon for prostitutes and booze. Lon Chaney Jr. and Elisha Cook Jr., "I Wake Up Screaming" make very brief appearances in this film but give great supporting roles. This is a great Henry Fonda film which he made when he reached the age of 60 years and was beginning to find very few roles on the Silver Screen and then decided to perform on the Broadway Stage in New York City. Enjoy.

Could "Welcome to Hard Times" be the most bizarre western ever made? It's certainly the most bizarre western Burt Kennedy has ever been associated with, (he wrote and directed it). Unusually violent and clearly influenced by the Spaghetti Westerns and not dissimilar at times to Clint Eastwood's "Pale Rider" it's about crazed psychopath Aldo Ray's terrorizing and destruction of the small town of Hard Times. (well, more a couple of buildings calling itself a town), in which Henry Fonda is the mayor who refuses to stand up to him, (there doesn't appear to be a sheriff).

After Ray rides out, leaving very little behind but ashes, Fonda persuades the survivors to rebuild the town, welcoming any newcomers who come riding by and then...you don't have to be too smart to figure what's coming. It's certainly got a sterling cast; as well as Fonda and Ray there's Janice Rule, Janis Paige, Keenan Wynn, Lon Chaney Jr., Warren Oates and Fay Spain and Kennedy's screenplay, from E. L. Doctorow's first novel, is so off-the-wall it's impossible to dismiss it. In fact, if any western from the sixties, or indeed from any period, deserves a cult following it's this one. Is it any good? Of course not but you certainly won't see another one quite like it.