Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Best movie ever!

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

This film starts off with Jim Larsen, (Fred MacMurray) being handcuffed on a train headed for a prison after he was involved with a bank holdup. As the train travels, Jim Larsen's young brother jumps on the train and tries to free his brother who did not want him to get involved and the brother is wounded and Jim puts him into the baggage car in order to give him a good place to hide. Jim Larsen decides to find a small town to settle in and he even sits next to a little girl on the train and when he gets to the town he becomes friends with the local sheriff, Mark Riley, (Lin McCarthy) and even becomes romantically involved with the sheriff's sister, Ellen Bailey,(Dorothy Green). You will never be able to figure out how this picture ends, but it was a perfect ending for a guy like Jim Larsen. Enjoy.

Fred MacMurray doesn't really have the face for an outlaw, nor the voice, which makes it difficult to picture him in a Western. However in "Face Of A Fugitive", he fares much better than he did in "The Oregon Trail" from the same year. The unshaven look and casting as a loner adds to the appeal of his character Jim Larsen, who takes on the masquerade of a mine inspector looking for a change. Trouble finds him after escaping arrest from a territorial marshal, but the brother who helped him winds up dead, and things get even more complicated when circumstances find him siding with a lawman against Reed Williams (Alan Baxter), a rancher who intends to fence his range land in violation of a government order. Wouldn't you know it, sheriff Mark Riley (Lin McCarthy) has a widowed sister (Dorothy Green) who falls for Larsen/Kincaid, and the feeling is mutual. It's the typical recipe for trouble.You know, I had to stop and think about the value of merchandise as presented in the story. Larsen paid eighteen dollars for a gun belt and firearm, but only five dollars for a pair of pants and a jacket. Perhaps it was meant to indicate that protection had it's price in the old West, but I wonder if the numbers were accurate; I'll have to dig up an 1880's Sears catalog.The action takes place in a Wyoming town called Tangle Blue, which is one of the coolest sounding place names I've come across in a Western, and there are plenty. I wonder if that might have been the inspiration for Bob Dylan's song "Tangled Up In Blue"? Nah, I doubt it.You'll probably have to look long and hard for another story where the outlaw on the run needs to get as creative in dispatching a dead body. With no alternative, Larsen bundles up brother Jim in a canvas mail sack and heaves him off a train as it heads over a river crossing. Somehow you just knew that it wasn't the last you'd see of the young outlaw, he washes up ashore some time later, and for Larsen/Kincaid, it arrived with postage due. By the time it's all over, the Williams gang is no match for reluctant outlaw Larsen in a creative shoot out, leaving sheriff Riley a tough time matching up the face with the wanted poster.

I was trying to sleep and came across this on the Western channel. It kept me up. The first time I saw Fred MacMurray was on reruns of "My Three Sons" when I was little. Then when I saw him in "Double Indemity," my whole opinion of him changed. He does very well as the anti-hero here. I didn't see the beginning of the movie so all I knew going on is that he is bank robber and while he is a "bad" guy," you start to want him to be happy. I won't give away too much of the movie, but it is definitely worth a look. The subtleness of the acting styles has a lot to be desired and the way the romance is handled is great. Like in all old (and new) movies, it happens quickly, but you believe it because the two people have a need that draws them together. I wasn't expecting the shoot out at the end to go the way it did. Yet, well, I can't say how it ends, but it was very well done.

Fred MacMurray really stands out in this largely unknown western. MacMurray's character is on the run, but gets tangled up in the deadly affairs of a small town. The love story, which could have been nothing more than a routine plot device, actually works on a very fundamental level. MacMurray is top notch as the film's anti-hero. The rest of the cast is not as good, particularly a wooden Lin McCarthy as the embattled sheriff. Director Paul Wendkos delivers a crisply directed film. A lot of little things which could have been done routinely or sloppily are filmed with gusto and precision. The end-of-the-movie shootout is particularly energetic. Face of a Fugitive is not a great western, but it's very entertaining and should be seen by genre fans.