Kino Lorber continues to explore the Western genre with its recent Blu-ray release of the 1956 film Backlash. Directed by John Sturges, Backlash is a vengeance story, but with a few twists along the way.

Jim Slater (legendary actor Richard Widmark, Madigan, Kiss of Death) is out looking for the lone survivor of an Apache ambush that killed his father and four out of five other comrades. He is looking to find his father’s murderer who he believes is the sixth man that escaped with the gold they had discovered. Along the way he encounters Karyl Orton (Donna Reed, It’s a Wonderful Life), who is being hunted by gunslinger Johnny Cool (William Campbell, Man Without a Star). Why she appears suddenly is also a mystery. Could be she is also looking for the gold that was hidden in the area Jim is roaming around? On this journey to find his father’s killer, Slater, who avoids being killed a few times himself, starts to learn that all is not what appears to be, with some surprising revelations about who is father is and who killed him.

Backlash is another well-done Western with a great supporting cast John McIntire (Apache), Barton MacLane (The Maltese Falcon, Unknown Island) and Harry Morgan (The Glenn Miller Story, The Ox-Bow Incident) Edward Piatt (North by Northwest). Director Sturges keeps the film movie along piecing all the plot elements together. There is a lot going on in this film, so you need to pay close attention, so you will not be asking yourself what just happened.  

Kino Lorber presents Backlash on Blu-ray for its North American debut. The technicolor film just sparkles. The colors are often vibrant and lush, ranging from the blue skies to the actor’s outfits. The outdoor scenery such as the valley has a lot of detail. Skin tones look accurate with plenty of details in close-ups of the actors faces. The only downside are some speckles here and there, due to the print the occur from time to time. There also a red scratch or line on the lower right of the frame pops up often during the beginning of the film.

The English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track is also robust with crisp clear dialog and action noises such as gunshots, and the horse’s galloping. No audio issues were detected while listening. English subtitles are offered for this release.

Extras for this release are basically the same in the majority of Kino Lorber’s releases currently. A commentary and trailers. Backlash features an audio commentary by film historian Samm Deighan who as always provides a lot of great insight.

Trailers for Backlash, Yellow Sky, Time Limit, The Way West. Madigan, and The Satan Bug is the other extra for this package.

Backlash is an enjoyable film that would have been just average if it weren’t for the great performances of Richard Widmark and Donna Reed who lifts the picture it up a notch. The Blu-ray release is a fine package from Kino Lorber!

Backlash

Director- John Sturges

Cast- Richard Widmark, Donna Reed, William Campbell

Country of Origin- US

Distributor – Kino Lorber

Number of Discs – 1

Reviewed by – David Steigman

Date- 8/29/20