Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Bereamic Awesome Movie

kijii If you loved Shane, you will probably like this movie too. It revolves around a Rebel solider (Allan Ladd) who comes to a small Illinois town with his 10-year-old mute son (David Ladd), and the boy's dog. The boy had been traumatized while watching his mother being killed, by Union soldiers, in their Atlanta mansion. The father is devoted to finding a doctor who can cure his boy, and the boy is devoted to his father and his dog (a great sheep dog). Here, de Havilland plays a tough woman trying to make a go of a farm that had been left to her by the men in her life who had been killed. Her enemies are a family of sheep ranchers who want to get her off of her rundown ranch so that their sheep can get to water. She had steadfastly refused to leave. Things change when she offers to pay Ladd's legal fine for fighting one of the sheep ranchers---after being provoked by him. Since she had no money to pay the fine either, she offers to let him work it off on her ranch. Of course the boy and the dog come to live in the bunkhouse too.

PamelaShort The Proud Rebel is a touching tale, performed simply and effectively with the fine acting talents of Olivia De Havilland, Dean Jagger, Cecil Kellaway and Alan Ladd. The surprising winner is eleven year old David Ladd in his biggest film debut, playing Ladd's mute son, he gives an astonishingly professional and realistic performance. With outstanding cinematography and filmed on spectacular scenic locations in Utah and professionally directed by Michael Curtiz, The Proud Rebel deserves the title of timeless classic. I will not give a synopsis of this film as so many have already adequately done, but I do insist this heartwarming drama must be seen to be fully appreciated. This film will appeal to all fans of Alan Ladd, Olivia De Havilland, Western Films and anyone who enjoys a sentimental story about the love between a boy and his father and the forever loyalty of a beloved dog.

MartinHafer I have long complained because there must have been a million western movies made over the years by Hollywood and practically all of them are variations on the exact Fsame half dozen (or less) themes. As a result, most westerns are repetitive and dull. Fortunately, this one is a bit different--with enough that is not familiar to make it worth viewing.The film begins with a father and son (Alan Ladd and his real life son, David) traveling across the country. They are Southerners but have left Atlanta following the Civil War in order to locate a doctor who might be able to cure the boy. It seems that following witnessing his mother's death the child has been mute.In one of the towns, the father meets up with a couple dirt-bags who pick a fight with him. However, it is Ladd himself who is convicted of assault and is sentenced to spend 30 days in jail or pay $30--which he just doesn't have. A local spinster (Olivia de Havilland) takes pity on them and offers to pay the fine if the father comes to her farm to work off the debt.Once on this farm, it's obvious Olivia's having problems with the same dirt-bags that attacked Ladd earlier in the film. In this case, the men are trying to force her to sell them her struggling farm. Along the way, Alan comes to her aid in this struggle and it's also obvious that some real affection is forming--and it's hardly a surprise when the two decide to stay.While the story is not monumental in scope, it's a nice story about people. It helped that an exceptional director (Michael Curtiz) and many excellent actors appeared in the film. In addition to the main characters, veteran character actors such as Cecil Kellaway, Dean Jagger, Henry Hull and Harry Dean Stanton appeared in the film as well--giving it nice color. Plus the writing was very good and made for an appealing film.By the way, the sign language that David Ladd uses throughout the film isn't perfect, but it IS essentially correct. So, when he is trying to tell Alan that there is a fire, that IS what he is signing. It's actually funny, but several times during the movie the dad didn't seem to know what the kid was saying--and I clearly understood and felt like yelling out what he was signing! I especially liked when the boy was trying to tell de Havilland how much he liked her but no one seemed to understand that he was saying how much he liked her. The film makers COULD have just as easily had the kid just make some nonsense signs and hardly anyone every would have known. It's nice to see that they tried. Now here is the rub, however, the DVD is NOT captioned at all!!! So, deaf people who COULD understand the boy cannot watch the film and enjoy it.Also, while not a huge mistake, in one scene late in the film the three leads are in town and it's pouring down rain--so much so that they need to stay there until it clears. Yet, when they arrive back at the farm, it's 100% dry--the same dessert-like place it's always been with dirt, dirt and more dirt.

chipe I'm surprised how bad this boring, slow movie is, what with the star cast, director, production values, etc. One poster here described it as "low-key." A very correct assessment. The title of the movie is "The Proud Rebel." The main problem with the movie is that the makers were TOO PROUD, SO PROUD that they apparently felt that anything of an interesting nature was too pandering to the audience. Thus, the movie was seriously lacking: (1) no romance between Olivia and Alan. They had good chemistry, and you knew they were going to eventually hook-up, but there was absolutely no sweet talk, hugs, kisses, etc. (2) there was hardly any action. In the beginning there was a nice fist fight, but it was just a tease. You could hardly call it a Western. No "Shane" for sure. (3) it exasperated me that the movie used a ploy typical of many movies. I find it nice when the characters explain things to each other -- it's realistic and it moves the story along. But in this movie --for the sake of dragging things out-- the characters stay mum. One example: late in the movie Alan Ladd has to sell something -- it would help the sale and clear some things up if he explained why he needed so much money, but he is too stupid or "proud" to explain himself. Another example: in the very beginning --for the sake of the story, no doubt-- in the court room scene where he is accused of brawling, he doesn't defend himself. The judge asks who threw the first punch. Ladd, in effect, pleads guilty. The truth is that the two thugs he fought shoved and grabbed Alan twice and his son once; only then did Alan slug the lout. Why stay mum? Not due to pride, due to stupidity and the need to drag out the plot.I'm sorry I didn't walk away from the film, but the score was nice (promised better than the movie delivered) and the cinema-photography too. Last five minutes are fine (action, resolution). Nice enough family movie -- families with young kids.