Garden of Evil

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Garden of Evil

Directed by	Henry Hathaway
Produced by	Charles Brackett
Written by	Fred Freiberger (story) William Tunberg Frank Fenton
Starring	Gary Cooper Susan Hayward Richard Widmark Hugh Marlowe Cameron Mitchell Víctor Mendoza
Music by	Bernard Herrmann
Cinematography	Milton R. Krasner Jorge Stahl, Jr.
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	July 9, 1954 (U.S. release)
Running time	100 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Garden of Evil is a 1954 Western film about three somewhat disreputable 19th-century soldiers of fortune, played by Gary Cooper, Richard Widmark and Cameron Mitchell, who are hired by a woman, portrayed by Susan Hayward, to rescue her husband.

[edit] Plot

En route to California to prospect for gold, Hooker (Gary Cooper), Fiske (Richard Widmark), and Luke Daly (Cameron Mitchell) stop over in a tiny Mexican village. The three men and Vicente Madariaga (Victor Manuel Mendoza) are hired by a desperate Leah Fuller (Susan Hayward) to rescue her husband John (Hugh Marlowe), who is trapped in a gold mine in hostile Indian territory.

During the harrowing journey, the party's already frayed nerves are aggravated when the men become attracted to the woman. The group then arrives at the mine site — called the "Garden of Evil" because the Indians regard it as the domain of evil spirits. They find an injured, but living John Fuller.

As they leave, they are pursued by Apaches. Eventually, only Hooker, Fiske and Leah are left alive. At a narrow point in the road, the two men draw cards to see who will stay behind to hold off the Indians while the other two ride to safety. Fiske "wins" and succeeds in killing or driving off the enemy. After seeing that Leah is safe, Hooker returns to talk with a dying Fiske, who urges him to settle down with Leah.

[edit] Production

The working title for the film was Volcano, but had to be changed because "there is an Italian pic of same title now playing U.S. art houses," a 1953 film directed by William Dieterle and starring Rosanno Brazzi and Anna Magnani.

Robert L. Jacks was originally set to produce, but left Twentieth Century-Fox to join Panoramic Productions and was replaced by Charles Brackett.

Outdoor sequences for the film were shot on location in Mexico, at "the colonial town" of Tepatzlan; the jungle areas alongside the Los Concheros River near Acapulco, Parícutin Mountain, which was surrounded by black volcanic sands; and the village of Guanajuato. Interior scenes were also shot at the Churubusco Studios in Mexico City.