A TIME FOR KILLING (THE LONG RIDE HOME)

US, 1976, 88 minutes, Colour.
Inger Stevens, Glenn Ford, Kenneth Tobey, Harrison Ford, George Hamilton.
Directed by Phil Karlson.

A Glenn Ford western vehicle. It is directed by Phil Karlson, a noted action director of the fifties and sixties. The film is brief, has echoes of tragedy in its confrontation between representatives of North and South. It is the end of the Civil War, individuals prolong the war for personal victory and vengeance. Tragedy is the inevitable result. The action is presented quite vividly and in a staged and contrived manner to highlight the themes. Glenn Ford is at home in this kind of film. Inger Stevens has a good role ranging from innocence to vengeance. George Hamilton is adequate as the Confederate. The film is attractively presented in colour and Cinemascope - but with an incongruous musical score. One can note Harrison Ford, in a small role. A Civil War film with action and themes.

1. The focus of the title and the emphasis on killing and violence? (an alternate title was The Long Ride Home). How entertaining a western? A message western? The point of the film?

2. The use of Cinemascope, colour photography, the landscapes of the South, Mexico? The stars? The quality of the musical score?

3. American memory of the Civil War? The stances of North and South, the issues? Mutual cruelty? Prisons, battles? The pride of the South and of the North? The aftermath of the war? Its memory into the 20th century? The build-up of the prison atmosphere, the military, orders, executions? Individuals identifying with their sides and fighting the war? even after it was finished? The build-up to the end of the film and the futility of war?

4. The atmosphere of the fort, its isolation, its being a prison for the Southerners? The attitudes of the Northern military in commanding it? Isolation in the desert, surrounded by Indians? The establishing of the situation for the unfolding of the drama?

5. The opening with A Time For Killing in the execution? The young Southerner to be killed, the ordering of the black cooks to do the killing, their missing their target? The Commander and his orders? Woolcott and his attitudes, his executing the young man? Emily and her visit and watching? The involvement of those unwilling to kill in war and execution? An atmosphere of death?

6. The presentation of the Northerners? in command, winning the war, the Commander and his orders, his sending Woolcott out to pursue the escaped prisoners? Woolcott and his humanity, his love for Emily, his attitude towards the end of the war, his following orders, his pursuit of Emily and the growing feelings of vengeance, Emily and her lies and making him pursue revenge? The confrontation with tis southern Lieutenant? The death? His disillusionment in discovering the truth? The futility of war and the effect on his future?

7. Emily as an attractive young woman, the plans and memories of the past, her being in the prison, her being sent away, being captured by the Southerners, the deals? her attempting to kill the Lieutenant? Her being used for the pursuit? The sequence in the town? The violation? Her knowing the contents of the cable? Her living only for revenge, her lying to Woolcott? Her being present at the shootout and seeing his disillusionment? Her future? How credible this exploration of a woman's feelings in such a situation?

8. The Lieutenant and his control of the prisoners, the execution, the breakout and the violent attack on the Northerners, his loading the men? The deaths of his party and his relentless escape? The arrival in the town, the shooting of the courier, his concealing the news about the end of the war? The attack on Bally? The build-up to the confrontation with Woolcott? The North defeating the South? The two men an symbols of the Civil War?

9. The picture of men in both camps - their similarities, doing their jobs, their personalities, weaknesses, humour, survival? The hard riding, going down the hills, the shootouts, the deaths? Hatred? The longing to go home? The portrait of ordinary soldiers in war?

10. The quality of the action sequences: the execution, the escape and the fight, the riding and the chases, the sequences in the town, the final confrontation?

11. The pitting of the two men against each other at the end and the overtones of classic tragedy? How successful the build-up to the climax, confrontation, death and disillusionment?