Robert Mitchum and his machine gun deliver The Wrath of God

I have to be honest and say that I’ve never been a real fan of Westerns, or even movies that aren’t Westerns but have that feel to them (with only a few exceptions). But I was intrigued to see the new Warner Archive Collection release The Wrath of God mainly because of the supporting cast. Robert Mitchum is the lead, playing “Father Van Horne,” who may or may not be a real Catholic priest. I can count the number of Mitchum films I’ve seen on one hand – with Night of the Hunter being the stand-out – but his co-stars were what brought the film to my attention.

Released in 1972, the film features Frank Langella in his fourth film role (it would still be a few years before he became an overnight sensation in Dracula on Broadway), Victor Buono (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, TV’s Batman, and The Wild, Wild West), John Colicos (the original Battlestar Galactica‘s Baltar), and, in her final film role, Rita Hayworth. For a movie and TV fan, those names should be more than enough to make you want to see this movie. But what’s it about?

That’s a good question. Irishman Ken Hutchison plays Emmet Keogh, a ne’er do well trying to get out of some unnamed Central American country before the law catches up to him. Jennings (Buono), the owner of the hotel or apartment building where he’s been staying tries to enlist Keogh into running liquor up to the United States, which is still under the law of Prohibition. To make sure he agrees, Jennings has Keogh’s passport and money stolen. Keogh leaves, although it’s not clear if he’s taken the liquor with him, and runs across a priest whose car has conveniently run up onto a rock. Keogh helps Father Van Horne, and somehow the two of them and Jennings are captured by Col. Santilla (Colicos), who wants them to take down his adversary, Thomas De La Plata (Langella), because his army is apparently useless.

The men travel to De La Plata’s village under the guise of mine inspectors, and Van Horne finds that priests are not very welcome in the town. De La Plata tells him there are to be no religious ceremonies of any kind, but his mother (Hayworth) welcomes the hand of God into the town. To say it doesn’t end well for many of them is an understatement.

While I enjoyed seeing the actors on screen, the movie itself is a mess. There are some very nice directorial flourishes by Ralph Nelson, but the script based on the James Graham novel really makes no sense. Colicos comes and goes, recruiting the men for his mission and sending them on their way, but we don’t know if they ever bring him the news of their mission. You’d think he and his army would be somewhere nearby to take the town once De La Plata has been neutralized. Hayworth is also under-utilized (probably because of her illness), only popping up to make sure Thomas allows Van Horne to bring God back to the town. Mitchum, with his sleepy, hang dog face, seems to be having fun from time to time (especially when Van Horne gets to pull out his signature machine gun to mow down some bad guys), and I thought he gave his best performance in the film whenever he had to interact with the young orphan boy who lived in the run down church.

The real star of the movie is Hutchison, who appears in almost every scene. Keogh runs a gamut of emotions, from reluctant hero to reluctant lover – there’s a crazy subplot with a mute native girl who has chosen him to be her husband after saving her from nearly being raped, and then is used as bait to get Keogh and crew to march into De La Plata’s trap – and he really is the glue that holds the movie together. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in anything else (he’s more well-known for his British TV roles), but I enjoyed his infectious enthusiasm that came through even in the dramatic moments. He never saves the movie from being a complete jumble, but at least he’s interesting to watch.

Overall, the Archive Collection DVD features a very nice looking print with vibrant colors – and the movie features some of the brightest, reddest blood you’ve ever seen – and good sound that highlights Lalo Schifrin’s jazzy, Mission: Impossible flavored score (you know this movie was made in the 70s just from the music). The only extra is a well-worn letterboxed trailer (the movie is presented in its native 2.4:1 aspect ratio) that features a lot of gun play and the surprising PG rating for a film with this high of a body count. The Wrath of God is certainly not the best movie ever made, but it is another of those lost to the ages curios that the Archive Collection does so well.