The Halliday Brand

Control and bigotry make for a particularly toxic combination in Joseph H. Lewis’ The Halliday Brand, primarily in the character of Big Dan Halliday (Ward Bond), the family patriarch and town sheriff whose behavior elicits so much resentment that his own son Daniel (Joseph Cotten) sets out to destroy him. With Big Dan on his death bed at the start of the film, Daniel recalls in flashback how the two men became so estranged: years earlier, Big Dan’s vigilante obsessions and neglect of his duties resulted in the death by lynching of the innocent brother of Aleta Burris (Viveca Lindfors), the “half-breed” whose Indian blood should keep her in her place, according to Big Dan. Just as Daniel is developing romantic feelings for Aleta, Big Dan kills her father in a shootout of sorts. This conflagration of incidents sets Daniel ablaze with rage, so not only does he disown his father but sets out to have his sheriff’s badge removed and his power in town blown to smithereens. Bill Williams plays Big Dan’s other son Clay who agreed to serve as deputy when Daniel would not. Some may find Cotten too old for the part, but his ability to combine stillness and bitterness serves the role well, his determination to terrorize his father into a powerless heap subtle but unsettling. Despite the low budget, Lewis and crew create plenty of visual delights, such as the fire in the prairie where Aleta goes to reflect, the invasion of the local jail and seizure of Jivaro (Christopher Dark) mostly depicted in shadows, etc.