As the Second World War comes to an end, a farmer (Gary Conway) returns home to rebuild his farm. After saving the life of a gambler, the farmer finds himself in the crosshairs of the gambler's enemies, a ruthless group of gangsters.
When of the gangsters kills his friend, assaults his lover and burns down his property, the farmer turns the tables on the gunmen from the big city...
I had not even heard of this movie until The Action Boyz podcast covered it a few weeks ago. Some enterprising individual had uploaded a decent version online which put it right at the top of my to-watch list.
This movie is a lot of fun.While it falls within the subgenera of 70s revenge thrillers, the 40s milieu gives it a unique value.
While the story is familiar, the details make it interesting, and the low budget context gives it an added thrill. It is almost aspirational in what choices it makes to evoke this setting.
Now I was primed by the podcast, but the protagonist is given a surplus of motivation for vengeance. As stated in the plot summary, his family suffer death and serious injury, and the farm he is struggling to hold onto is significantly damaged.
On top of these significant events, any of which could have served as a catalyst for action, our hero is offered a massive financial reward by the gambler he saved to kill the gangsters (before they attacked the farmer, the gangsters blinded the gambler with acid).
The heavy-handedness of this approach almost pushes the extremity towards parody. But that clunkiness also adds to the movie's charm.
This is one of those movies where I am half-invested in the movie while marvelling at the details: the number of vintage cars in the underground parking lot during one of the farmer's assassinations, the carefully angled montage of the parade (clearly on-the-fly shots of a contemporary event, carefully framing out contemporary fashions).
I recently watched Rolling Thunder for the first time a few months ago, and this movie plays like its cheaper cousin - lead Conway is even styled in a similar way, with dark aviator glasses (no hook hand, sadly).
Conway is a little flat, but when framed behind those dark shades under a wide-brimmed hat, he is rather effective as a monosyllabic killer.
The final twist is a neat touch, and the final block of text which ends it is a gloriously ham-fisted attempt at pathos that should deflate it, but once again, just adds to the home-made qualities of the whole piece.
Budding genre directors could do far worse than checking out The Farmer - and taking a few notes.
If you are new to this blog, I also co-host a podcast on James Bond, The James Bond Cocktail Hour.
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