Captain Lightfoot (1955)

Director Douglas Sirk brings a lively approach to Captain Lightfoot, an adventure yarn adapted -- by the author himself -- from a more serious and complex novel by W. R. Burnett. Nothing here has to be taken too seriously -- the plot plays almost like a dramatization of some events described in the old Irish folksong "Whiskey In The Jar," about rebels and highwaymen battling the English. The actors, led by Rock Hudson, Jeff Morrow, and Barbara Rush, all tread a fine line, their performances broad and lighthearted enough to be enjoyed, without ever stepping entirely out of character. There are no larger points being made, which is just fine, as the plot and characters don't demand any more than what we see. Beyond Sirk's sustained breezy approach and some colorful characterizations, plus a slight tongue-in-cheek tone to some of the action and interplay, the movie's main appeal is the exceptionally beautiful color CinemaScope photography by Irving Glassberg, plus -- seemingly -- the presence of practically every Irish actor in Hollywood whose fee fit into this picture's budget. Sirk would move on to much more serious and ambitious projects, most of them starring Rock Hudson (the director's favorite actor), soon after Captain Lightfoot. And the fact is, this story couldn't have been filmed at any time after the mid-1950's, a time when innocuous action and a setting that lent itself to color and scope was enough to get a picture green-lighted. But curiously, elements of the relationship between the Jeff Morrow and Rock Hudson characters, as well as their names -- Thunderbolt and Lightfoot -- would reappear on screen nearly two decades later, in Michael Cimino's Thunderbolt And Lightfoot. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide