The Halliday Brand (1957)

Ward Bond is Big Dan Halliday, a man who helped tame the portion of the West where his cattle ranch is located, a man who wound up sheriff and a man who rules the area with an iron fist.

Joseph Cotton is the son who shares his name but who hates his tyrannical rule.

The two have a final falling out when Big Dan forbids daughter Martha (Betsy Bair) from loving a half-breed named Manuel, then allows Manuel to be lynched after he’s been arrested for rustling, though it’s unclear whether he’s guilty.

From that point on, the younger Daniel vows to bring down his father, whatever it takes.

And when he stampedes his father’s cattle, burns his father’s wheat barn, then robs the town bank, all in an effort to get public opinion to turn against his father, Big Dan brands his oldest son an outlaw and vows to bring him to justice.

Caught in the middle is a younger son Clay (Bill Williams), who rides alongside his dad as his deputyand sister Martha, who continues to live with the father she hopes will eventually change his ways.

Then there’s Aleta Burris, sister of Manuel and a half-breed both Halliday brothers love, though it’s a love they know their father will never approve of.

Review:

Well-done hysterical little family Western with Ward Bond turning in a fine performance as the domineering father figure so used to giving orders that he can excuse the death of innocent men as a contribution to the greater good.

If there’s a false note, it’s the willingness of daughter Martha and half-breed Aleta to live under the same roof with a man they disagree with so vehemently.

And in the end, Big Dan does pretend to change his ways. It’s all a ruse so he can have a final say in protecting the Halliday name.

This marked the only Western for Betsy Blair, who was caught up in the Hollywood blacklisting scandal in the early 1950s, but did manage to land a plum role opposite Ernest Borgnine in the acclaimed 1955 film “Marty.”

Ironically, Cotton would later play a character very similar to Ward Bond’s here in two Spaghetti Westerns — “The Tramplers” and “The Hellbenders.”

Directed by:
Joseph H. Lewis

Cast:
Ward Bond … Big Dan Halliday
Joseph Cotton … Daniel Halliday
Besty Blair … Martha Halliday
Bill Williams … Clay Halliday
Jay Flippen … Chad Burris
Viveca Lindfors … Aleta Burris
Christopher Dark … Jivaro Burris
Jeanette Nolan … Nante
Peter Ortiz … Manuel
John Dierkes … Reverend
I. Stanford Jolley … Gentry

Runtime: 77 min.

Memorable lines:

Big Dan Halliday: “I did not raise my daughter to keep house for a breed.”
Dan Halliday: “You’ve made your peace with the Indians. Had them work for you. Even helped them to get land to settle on.”
Big Dan: “They have as much right to live as anybody else. But when it comes to mixing blood with them, that’s going too far.”

Dan Halliday, to his father. “Like you said, the spread is yours. The town is yours. I’m going somewhere they never heard the name Halliday.”

Aleta, when Daniel Halliday talks of his plans to leave the Halliday Ranch: “There is a saying among my mother’s people. A man must walk out of his father’s shadow to find the light. That is good.”

Daniel Halliday: “If you weren’t my father, I’d killed you. But there are other ways to reach you, to make you crawl.”
Big Dan Halliday: “Don’t threaten me, Daniel.”
Daniel: “That badge of yours. Before I’m through, they’ll tear if off your shirt.”

Martha Halliday to her father: “I hope Dan does come back. I pray to God he makes you twist and crawl. It may not do any good, but I want to see it.”

Viveca Lindfors as Aleta Burris with Daniel Halliday (Joseph Cotton), the man who loves her in The Halliday Brand (1957)

Betsy Blair as Martha Halliday with Jivaro Burris (Christopher Dark), the man she loves, in The Halliday Brand (1957)

Jay Flippen as Chad Burris, looking to get even with the man he blames for his son’s death in The Halliday Brand (1957)

Jeanette Nolan as Nante, grandmother of Aleta and Jivaro Burris in The Halliday Brand (1957)