Diagonaldi Very well executed

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Benas Mcloughlin Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

coymac53 Over the years there has been much mis-information about this very good Western. Some on the Trivia page. For instance, Night age was the 18th biggest hit of 1957 and made a nice profit. Second was that Anthony Mann quit over Audie Murphy being cast as Jimmy Stewart's brother (Murphy was also 5'7", not 5'5" which was his height when he enlisted in WW 2 when he was 17). Actually, Mann and Stewart had an argument that led to them never speaking again. Murphy is perfectly cast as the younger brother "Lee" and he also does some of his best acting. Dan Duryea is always good and the cast is excellent with Brandon de Wilde also doing a nice job as Joey. All in all, the plot, the cast(Jay C. Flippen is always good and it's a pleasure to see Hugh Beaumont in a Western) and especially the beautiful scenery make this a very good Western flick. Western movie fans look at this western and see the movie that Anthony Mann "didn't make". You have no possible way of knowing that Mann would have done a better movie. Forget Anthony Mann. On it's own merits--this is a fine Western. Close to Winchester 73' in script--but in Technicolor with better scenery and without the corny Indian sequence and without the corny Wyatt Earp parts.

weezeralfalfa My title summarizes the romantic aspect of this yarn in a nutshell. There are 2 lead women, both with tenuous connections with Stewart's character(Grant). One (Verna), with a past with Grant, is now married to the manager of a railroad(Ben Kimball), Stewart's former boss. Clearly, she still has feelings for Grant, who disowned her when she sided with the conclusion that Grant, who was supposed to be protecting trains from robbery, was actually working with 'The Utica Kid'(Audie Murphie) in a train robbery. Unbeknownst to others, The Kid is Grant's younger brother(also much shorter!), and he was simply helping him get away out of filial loyalty. It wasn't a good idea, as Grant hasn't been able to find a decent job in the 5 years since he was fired for this incident, relying on his accordion playing and singing for nickels and dimes to get by. Verna has pressured Kimball to rehire Stewart to personally carry the payroll for the railroad builders from junction City to the railhead, without getting robbed. The last 3 payrolls have been robbed by a gang headed by Whitey Harbin(Dan Duryea) and The Utica Kid, and the workers are ready to leave if they don't get paid soon.The plot is full of actual and potential divided loyalties, which makes for uncertain outcomes. The outlaw gang actually includes two 'loose cannons':The Utica Kid and Concho, who seem to have ed an established gang out of convenience. Whitey and The Kid are constantly putting each other down and disagreeing about strategy. Then , there is Joey a teen 'street urchin' with reason for loyalty to both The Kid and Grant in separate incidents, but is afraid of Whitey and Concho. Despite The Kid's clearly stated deep resentment of having been for ever unfavorably compared to his older brother, we recognize that filial loyalty just might induce him to aid grant in a showdown with the rest of the outlaws. Finally, there is 'Charlie'(Diane Foster), The Kid's girlfriend, who is also chummy with Grant. She is hoping The Kid will eventually change from his outlaw ways, but finally agrees with Grant that this is unlikely. She turns out to be the woman who refuses to leave Grant when he is in a desperate situation. The finale hints that probably she and Grant and Joey get together to make a family.The Utica Kid's actual given first name is Lee. Just as Gen. Lee eventually surrendered to Gen. Grant, Lee is slated by the plot formula to eventually lose out to Grant. Actually, his role in the plot formula is very similar to that of Rhonda Castle's, in Anthony Mann's previous "The Far Country", also starring Stewart, just as Charlie's role is very similar to that of Renee Vallon's in that film.The color photography, making use of the then new Technirama process, is great, with on locations mostly near Durango, CO and nearby NM. Why the film ended up with this title is unclear. The episode where most of the principles are together in the gang's hideout occurs at night. Strangely, soon after the various groups flee, we are in broad daylight as they continue to chase one another toward the mining mill, where the final showdown occurs.Until about the last 15 min., when the bullets begin to fly in earnest, the tone of the film is mostly relaxed, despite clear indications of multiple resentments. Audie spends much of his time smiling and confidently talking sassy to boss Whitey. Verna seems incredibly unconcerned about her abduction by the outlaws and is sometimes flirtatiously chummy with them, almost as if she were in on the kidnapping plan. Stewart periodically plays his accordion and sings to establish a relaxed mood. In addition to the "Follow the River" and "You Can't Get Far without a Railroad" numbers composed for the film, he initially plays the traditional "Sweet Betsy From Pike". At his initial meeting with the rail workers and their women folk, they dance to his music before animosity between the wives and camp followers breaks out and spreads to the men. This results in a half serious-half slapstick general brawl, of the sort we might expect in a John Ford western.Yes, somethings don't make much sense. How did Grant, after getting punched off the train, know how to get to the outlaw's hideout? What was the connection between the hideout and the mining mill some miles away, and how did the outlaws know Grant was heading there? Why did Joey never open his shoe box to eat the included omelet? Why did Grant finally tell The Kid where the money was? How did Grant know there was an escape tunnel under the hideout floor? The most dramatic moment is when Joey, who is riding with The Kid, has to decide whether to ride off with The Kid and the money, or try to help Grant in his gun battle with the rest of the outlaws, who think Grant has the money. Joey decides to try to Grant. Then, we see The Kid level his gun apparently at Joey and Grant.In the battle between Stewart and Mann over control of this film, clearly Stewart won. His character and, in fact, the whole tone of the film was, by and large, more laconic than Mann would likely have dictated, while the ending is just as dramatic.

James Hitchcock Night age should have been the sixth Western collaboration between James Stewart and director Anthony Mann. Mann, however, withdrew from the project because he found the script weak and because he disagreed with the casting of Audie Murphy as Stewart's co-star.Stewart plays Grant McLaine, a former troubleshooter for railroad company. Grant lost his job when he was suspected of dishonest collusion with a bandit known as the Utica Kid, and, unable to find alternative employment, has earned a living playing the accordion. (Stewart himself was a talented performer on this instrument). Grant's former boss, Ben Kimball, however, is in trouble. His payroll has been robbed several times by the Utica Kid and his gang, and his workers are threatening to leave the job if they don't get paid soon. Grant therefore accepts the job of taking $10,000 to them by train.I think that Mann's reservations about this film were justified, even though it led to the rupture of his relationship with Stewart. Following their disagreement they never worked together again (and according to some versions of the story never spoke to one another again). There was certainly a suspicion in some quarters that Audie Murphy's career as a film star owed more to his distinguished war record than it did to any acting talent. This viewpoint was not always to be proved correct; Murphy was, for example, excellent in "The Red Badge of Courage", a film in which he was able to draw upon his own wartime experiences. "Night age", however, is not one of his better performances.As regards the script, Mann was quite correct to describe it as weak. The earlier Stewart-Mann Westerns ("The Naked Spur" is a good example) were noted for their dark tone, similar to the pessimistic, cynical tone of contemporary film noir, with Stewart normally playing a flawed, ambiguous character rather than the sort of clean-cut heroes he had played in his earlier career. They can, in fact, be seen as prefiguring the "revisionist" Westerns of the sixties and early seventies. "Night age" lacks the depth and sense of moral ambiguity which characterised Mann's Westerns. Like Howard Kemp, Stewart's character in "The Naked Spur", Grant McLaine is hiding a secret, namely that the Utica Kid is really his younger brother Lee, which is why he allowed the Kid to escape on a previous occasion. (Presumably the family couldn't decide which side they were on during the Civil War, so named one son after a Northern general and the other after a Confederate one). The film does not, however, make the most of the dramatic possibilities of this plot line, and there is little ambiguity about Grant, essentially a misunderstood clean-cut hero who hopes to redeem his brother by turning him away from a life of crime.After Mann left the production, the film was directed by James Neilson. Although Neilson was to direct a few more films in the sixties, such as "The Moon-Spinners", he worked mainly in television, and "Night age" was in fact his first feature film. The pacing of the film is often slack and the storyline can be confusing; it struck me that it might well have been improved with a more experienced cinema director such as Mann at the helm. Like "The Naked Spur" it was filmed against some striking Colorado landscapes, but the photography never seems as effective as it did in the earlier film.There are some better things about the film; James Stewart's own performance is perfectly adequate, and he receives good from some of the other actors, such as Dan Duryea as the Kid's fellow-gangster Whitey. "Night age" must, however, rank as one of the less memorable of Stewart's Westerns, not in the same class as his best work with Mann or some of his later films in the genre such as "Cheyenne Autumn" or "Firecreek". 5/10

jcohen1 If you caught Western fever as I did in good measure due to Jimmy Stewart's Winchester 73 (1950), Bend of the River, Naked Spur (1953) , The Far Country (1954) and Man from Laramie (1955) then the last of the wild bunch , Night age (1957) is a weak swan song. Dan Duryea lampoons his Winchester 73 role and Audie Murphy doesn't really fit here as the bad brother. Would have been more interesting to make Duryea the older brother. None of the ing players really add much punch (no Walter Brennan) and there is no truly compelling villain. Couldn't John McIntire try Jimmy for not havin his train ticket? Stewart manages to get hurt bad (a trademark ) but he recovers quickly. Bottom line I'll probably watch it again as I bought the DVD, but unless you like accordion players, take the next train. That's the train that has a wreck with Stewart wearing clown makeup.