To begin: Other than their identical names, the two films reviewed here have absolutely nothing to do with each other, OK?  It just so happens I saw them both this past week and couldn’t help but review them together.

Beginning chronologically, the 1959 film Warlock features a trio of big name actors in the principle roles.  Here’s the movie’s trailer…

Though Henry Fonda at that time was likely the biggest “name” actor in the cast, the movie’s main character is Johnny Gannon (Richard Widmark, quite good), a member of a group of roughneck cowboys who, in the movie’s opening minutes, are shown to terrorize the town of Warlock (that, folks, is where the movie’s name comes from).  In those opening minutes it is clear his character is very conflicted.

While his brother and friends are part of this group of roughnecks who run the town’s sheriff out, it is clear he feels they’re going too far.  As the film’s story is revealed, there is very good reason for his conflicted feelings.

One day, the roughnecks go a little too far and one of them murders the town’s barber.  The town folk meet and decide they will hire a “Marshall” to come in and make law and order.  The man they hire is Clay Blaisedell (Henry Fonda) who brings along his companion Tom Morgan (Anthony Quinn).  The two are fearsome gunfighters and, upon meeting those who hired them, Blaisedell tells them at first they’ll love him for what he does but eventually they’ll come to fear -and hate- him for the exact same reasons.  Indeed, the implication is that Blaisedell and his companion move from town to town ending the rampant violence caused there but when the job is done, not only are they no longer needed, they’re no longer wanted.

Into this mix come two female characters, Lilly Dollar (Dorothy Malone, quite good as a woman with a grudge against Blaisedell) and seemingly meek townswoman Jessie Marlowe (Dolores Michaels, absolutely stunning, who develops feelings for the same man).

The movie, directed by the legendary Edward Dmytryk, creates a Greek tragedy-type drama with the notion of mercenary justice versus proper law and order.  While Blaisedell is presented as a decent man, the fact is his job involves being a great terror to the people who are are terrors to others.  Meanwhile his good friend Tom Morgan uses his own means of keeping their partnership going while Gannon wrestles with family issues (his brother is a member of the roughneck group) while wanting to bring genuine law and order to this town he lives in.

Add to the mix a delightful turn by DeForest Kelley as Curley Burne, one of the roughnecks who just may, in the end, renounce his ways and you have an entertaining film that lands, IMHO, just shy of some of the great westerns of that era even as it strives to join them.

The problem with this film is that we’re presented an awful lot of characters with various motivations and, while the film runs a healthy 2 hours, it feels like at times the film presents these motivations -and changes in the characters- a little too abruptly for my taste.  The movie was based on a novel by Oakley Hall and, while I never read the novel, it is my understanding the book presented far more characterization than the movie could, and certain characters were discarded which may have hurt the overall presentation.

Still, the film was entertaining and, while it may not have quite delivered a High Noon or Shane-type classic western experience, if you’ve got the time, you’d do far worse than giving Warlock a try.

And now for something completely different…the trailer for the 1989 horror film called…Warlock!

Taking its general plot -and inverts it- from (of all things) The Terminator, Warlock is nonetheless and entertaining, if somewhat dated, horror film involving two time travelers, one of which is a…witch.  Or rather, a Warlock, the male version of a witch.

The Warlock, played with a delightful evil edge by Julian Sands, is apprehended in the late 1600’s and set to be executed but manages to use a spell to escape to the movie’s present (ie, 1989).  Hot on his tail and entering the spell as it is cast is Giles Redferne (Richard E. Grant, also quite fun), that era’s Witch Hunter.

They land at separate points and the Warlock starts his search for the three parts of the “Devil’s Bible”, an artifact that when put together reveals the true name of God, and can undo all of creation.

His search takes him to a home in which Kassandra (Lori Singer), a down on her luck (money wise) new wave woman lives.  Within the home and hidden in a table the Warlock finds the first of the three parts of the Bible he seeks.  He also takes out the home’s owner and casts a spell on Kassandra which ages her very quickly and will kill her in a matter of days.

Redferne appears, hot on the tail of the Warlock, and together with Kassandra they set out to find -and stop- the Warlock before he finds the last two parts of the Bible and destroys all of creation.  So, like The Terminator, we have time traveling duelists coming to the present but, as mentioned above, the plot is inverted because the bad guy is the one being pursued by the present day female and the good time traveler.

Warlock’s screenplay was written by David Twohy who today is probably best known for writing and directing the “Riddick” films, from Pitch Black to The Chronicles of Riddick to Riddick to the upcoming Furia.

The movie is at times cheesy and I suspect many of its scares have been diluted with the passage of time.  While reading some of the original reviews/opinions regarding the film, it appeared when it was originally released it was considered very scary but in watching it today, nearly thirty years after its original release, I suspect the film could be shown intact on TV today and nobody would blink an eye.  Worse, some of the special effects presented have aged tremendously and therefore are pretty weak.

Still, the interactions between the characters was fun and, while cheesy, the film created an interesting reality in which the fight against the Warlock incorporates some (I’m assuming) historical methods for dealing with the beast.

Though I enjoyed seeing the film, I have to admit this is a hard one to recommend, especially to today’s audiences.  Warlock is most certainly a product of its era and, when viewed today, may try people’s patience, especially with regard to the not so-special effects.

Nonetheless, if what I’ve written above intrigues you, give the film a try.  It might just entertain you as much as it did me.