ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

MartinHafer When the film begins, a crazed gunman (Aldo Ray) comes into a crappy western town and terrorizes everyone. He brutalizes the women, burns down many of the buildings and kills a bunch of men--all the while, the town's mayor, Blue (Henry Fonda) does nothing. Eventually, the man leaves and Blue tries to put what's left of the town (and there ain't much) back in one piece.After a VERY long time and LOTS of meandering, the crazed gunman returns. What will Blue do? And, will you still be watching it by the time this EXTREMELY muddled ending occurs?!I have rarely seen a western that seemed to have no idea what it was talking about and left the viewers THIS confused and unsatisfied. The final scenes just seemed random and pointless--and most of it due to Fonda's confusing character. A seriously disappointing film that could easily have been better.

aerovian Awful dusters like this are the key reason so many people hate the genre. It's the cheapest pulp imaginable ... manna for the addicted, but utterly unpalatable for the rest of us who expect intelligent story-telling in whatever kind of movie we may choose to watch. In this tiny town -- and really that's being charitable; hamlet is more appropriate -- there are but a handful of inhabitants and only three apparent businesses (saloon, store, and undertaker), no court or jail, no regular transportation services, no communications, no government offices of any kind, no mayor, and no law enforcement, yet a busily occupied lawyer? The citizens - despite possessing a good cache of weapons - come out to the street and stand around helplessly as a drunken psychopath goes on a slow and relaxed killing rampage interspersed with ample rest periods and ample opportunities for him to be ambushed. If you have an IQ in three digits and expect a plausible story, don't waste even a moment of your time on this piece of rubbish.

pdolla2 I kept waiting for this bad movie to move beyond its stock characters and hackneyed plot, but it never made it. We have floozies with hearts of gold, grizzled old-timers, cowardly townspeople, and an over-the-top Aldo Ray playing evil incarnate. Elisha Cook is given the opportunity to reprise his Shane role, the spunky, fearless, impulsive, and doomed fool: Jack Palance, with one of cinema's great sneers, shot him dead in Shane and Aldo Ray does him the same courtesy in Welcome to Hard Times. One plot gimmick after another is thrown in, evidently just to fill up some screen time, when more time might have been spent developing the characters of the townspeople.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) This is the type of film that was made to make a statement, and it builds the tension in a very efficient way. Never mind that Aldo Ray has no reason to be so cruel, let's pretend that he is totally crazy. What about Henry Fonda? To be so pacifist and calm when all his world is being destroyed makes you also think that he is kind of a lunatic. Janice Rule as the woman who gets angry with Fonda's attitude creates the main conflict. The last moments of this film are a total letdown. It would be very important to have a dialogue between Fonda and Janice at that time, then the statement of the film would come through. Unfortunately that does not happen.