A Covenant with Death

A Covenant with Death
A Covenant with Death
	Film poster
Directed by	Lamont Johnson
Written by	Lawrence B. Marcus; Saul Levitt;
Based on	A Covenant with Death; by Stephen Becker
Starring	George Maharis; Laura Devon; Katy Jurado; Earl Holliman;
Cinematography	Robert Burks
Edited by	William Ziegler
Music by	Leonard Rosenman
Production; company	William Conrad Productions
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	February 15, 1967;
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	English; Spanish;

A Covenant with Death is a 1967 American legal drama film directed by Lamont Johnson (in his feature directorial debut), from a screenplay by Lawrence B. Marcus and Saul Levitt, based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Stephen Becker.^[1]^[2] The film stars George Maharis, Laura Devon, Katy Jurado, and Earl Holliman.

Synopsis

Set in New Mexico in 1924, ‘A Covenant With Death’ is a courtroom drama concerning a Mexican-American judge who must preside over the case of a drunken man accused of killing his wife.

Location

The film was primarily shot at Warner Brothers studios, with most outdoor scenes filmed on the company’s back lot.

Plot

Within a small Southwestern town on the Mexican border in 1923 America, a promiscuous married woman is found dead in her bedroom. Her grieving, jealous and widely disliked husband, Bryan Talbot (Earl Holliman), is convicted of her murder and sentenced to hang on purely circumstantial evidence. The presiding Judge Hochstadter (Arthur O'Connell) departs for a fishing trip, leaving it up to the inexperienced, 29 year old Mexican-American judge (and lothario) Ben Morealis Lewis (George Maharis), to oversee the execution. Problem is, Lewis has his own misgivings about mandatory sentencing and capital punishment in general, and about Talbot's guilt in particular.

In a stunning turn of events, Talbot unintentionally kills his executioner while trying to avoid being hanged for a murder he fiercely denies having committed. While awaiting the arrival of a replacement hangman, another man confesses to killing Talbot's Wife. Judge Lewis must negotiate various relationships (with his mother, and two very different women for whom he harbors strong and conflicting feelings), in addition to provincial attitudes about love and marriage, sexuality, modernity, maturity, cultural integrity, group loyalty and his faith in the triumph of justice.

Cast

George Maharis as Benjamin "Ben" Lewis
Laura Devon as Rosemary
Katy Jurado as Eulalia Lewis
Earl Holliman as Bryan Talbot
Sidney Blackmer as Sebastian Oates
Gene Hackman as Alfred Harmsworth
John Anderson as Dietrich
Wende Wagner as Rafaela Montemayor
Emilio Fernández as Ignacio Montemayor
Kent Smith as Oliver Parmelee
Lonny Chapman as Edgar Musgrave
Arthur O'Connell as Judge Hockstadter
Jose De Vega as John Digby
Larry D. Mann as George Chillingworth
Whit Bissell as Bruce Donnelly
Russell Thorson as Doctor Shilling
Erwin Neal as Willie Wayte
Jadeen Vaughn as Louise Talbot
Paul Birch as Governor
Robert Dunlap as Tolliver
Kelton Garwood as Mr. Moody

References

^ "A Covenant With Death by Stephen Becker". Goodreads. Retrieved January 17, 2021.
^ Becker, Stephen (January 12, 2016). A Covenant with Death: A Novel. Open Road Media. ISBN 978-1504026895. Retrieved January 17, 2021 – via Google Books.

External links

A Covenant with Death at IMDb

This article related to an American film of the 1960s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] "A Covenant With Death by Stephen Becker". Goodreads. Retrieved January 17, 2021.

[2] Becker, Stephen (January 12, 2016). A Covenant with Death: A Novel. Open Road Media. ISBN 978-1504026895. Retrieved January 17, 2021 – via Google Books.

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