Robert Mitchum plays a ranch owner who bullies his family and constantly belittles his younger brother in front of his bride-to-be. His mother is an overtly religious zealot and his father drinks the days away. It's winter and a big cat is killing the family's livestock. Is it the feared black 'painter' (panther) that the family has built up to mythical proportions?
Shot on sets with a limited color palette to appear monochrome with a few splashes of isolated color, such as Mitchum's bright red coat, the visual experiment is mostly a success. A bigger success is the story and acting which plays out like a chamber drama of one family's power play. Mitchum is a terrific jerk, he just leaves you in awe of his pig-headedness. Beulah Bondi is just as intense with her constant bible guilt and judgments. Tab Hunter is cool but slightly unsure as the young son who's sort of ready to take the next steps into manhood. Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer is completely unrecognizable under old age make-up as Joe Sam, the 100+ year old Indian friend of the family.
Second unit location footage has Mitchum battling the black 'painter', and himself, among an awesomely snowy mountain forest. Mitchum is crazed as he hunts the killer cat and all too sure of himself as it's would be destroyer. A wonderful movie that perfectly captures the emotional family dynamic and the highs and lows therein.
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