There’s hardly aWilliam Shakespeareplay that hasn’t beenadapted for the screenat least a dozen times, be it a traditional retelling or a transposition to another setting.King Lear,his tragedy about an aging ruler and his three rivaling sons, has been retold as a samurai epic (Ran), a mafia saga (The Godfather), and even a Western: 1954’sBroken Lance.While technically a remake of the 1949 domestic dramaHouse of Strangers(itself adapted fromJerome Weidman’s novelI’ll Never Go There Anymore), the story of a cattle baron and his four warring sons is undeniably Shakespearean. In shifting the action from Ancient Britain to 1880s Arizona,Broken Lanceshows the many ways in which the Bard’s plays can be reinterpreted and reassessed for the modern era.
‘Broken Lance’ Is a Classic Tale of Fathers and Sons
Spencer Tracyplays Matt Devereaux, who came to America from his native Ireland and built an empire in the Arizona desert. His three sons from his late wife – Ben (Richard Widmark), Mike (Hugh O’Brian), and Denny (Earl Holliman) – have grown resentful of his unbending nature. His youngest son, Joe (Robert Wagner), was born by his second wife, Señora Devereaux (Katy Jurado), a Native American who passes herself off as Mexican due to racist laws against her people. Cracks begin to show in his kingdom when a copper mine poisons his water and kills some of his stock. Matt leads a raid against the copper mine, and Joe takes the blame to keep his father out of jail. Ben refuses to help keep his youngest brother from serving time, causing Matt’s health to fail. By the end, Joe and Ben are fighting for control of their father’s land.
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The plot ofBroken Lanceis so dense you might be surprised to learn it only runs a brisk 96 minutes. The script byRichard Murphy(based on a story byPhillip Yoranthatwon an Academy Award) also manages to pack in a love story between Joe and the governor’s daughter, Barbara (Jean Peters), whose father, Horace (E.G. Marshall), objects to their relationship. At its core, however, it’s a classic tale aboutthe rise and fall of a great manwho discovers his life has been built upon a house of sand. In the Devereaux household, resentment has grown among his eldest children, as they see their father will never loosen his grip on the business they hope to run one day. Their anger festers when they see how much love Matthew showers on Joe, who spends most of his time at his mother’s reservation and shows no desire to take over (as he explains to Barbara, he can’t hope for acceptance by the prominent townspeople as a “half-breed”). When Ben allows Joe to take the fall for their father, Matt realizes that his singular focus on his cattle ranchhas led to the destruction of his family.
‘Broken Lance’ Is a Rare Western That Attempts to Portray Native Americans in a Sympathetic Light
Broken Lancewas directed byEdward Dmytryk, who was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee as one ofthe original Hollywood Ten. Although he was initially sent to jail after refusing to testify, he later agreed to cooperate to avoid further blacklisting. While he was primarily known as a genre director, he often snuck strong social messages into his films, like hisOscar-nominatednoirCrossfire,which centers on a man who’s murdered for being Jewish (changed from homosexualin the book).Broken Lanceis about a man who made a fortune on land that has been stolen from the native people, and must face that reality whenever he looks at his wife and son.
The film isn’t entirely modern in its approach: Wagner’s skin is darkened in order to play a biracial character, which — for good reason — wouldn’t fly today. Yet that doesn’t completely negate Dmytryk’s desire to presenta sympathetic portrait of Native Americansat a time when most Hollywood filmsportrayed them as savages.Broken Lancegrapples with America’s fraught history, as its indigenous people are subjugated by those who claim the country for their own. That it manages to do this in a retelling ofKing Learshows how strong the roots of Shakespeare’s original text are.
Broken Lanceis available to watch on Prime Video in the U.S.
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Broken Lance
