"If the world was made of gold men would die for a handful of dirt". So goes the theme of this somewhat unusual western directed by Henry Hathaway in 1954. With lovely locations in Mexico this was Fox's first western in the then new process of Cinemascope and Stereophonic sound and boasted a top notch cast in Gary Cooper, Susan Hayward and Richard Widmark.<br /><br />From a fine screenplay by Frank Fenton - Cooper and Widmark together with Cameron Mitchell and Victor Manuel Mendoza are four adventurers contracted by Leah Fuller (Hayward) to go back with her into the wilds of Mexico to rescue her husband (Hugh Marlowe) who is lying trapped and injured in a gold mine. They journey to the mine and perform the rescue but on their way back they are pursued by Apaches (a brilliant chase sequence) and must ward them off in a well staged attack on a hazardous cliff-face trail.<br /><br />A good adventure yarn if a tad slow in parts but the widescreen picture looks great and the small cast are excellent. Cooper as Hooker is at his laconic best, Hayward is as gorgeous as ever, Mitchell in a good part as a temperamental and impatient young gun, Mendoza as the likable and amiable Mexican companion and Widmark shines as Fiske the droll and garrulous gambler who cuts for highest card to see who goes and who stays behind.<br /><br />Beautifully photographed in Cinemascope and colour by Milton Krasner it is all excitingly handled by Hathaway. The picture also has an excellent score by the ubiquitous Bernard Herrmann. This was the only real western Herrmann ever tackled if you discount Burt Lancaster's early frontier epic "The Kentuckian" (1955) and some obscure episodes of TV's "The Virginian" in the sixties. Herrmann scored the film rather as a conventional adventure story and avoided the usual clichéd style of writing associated with westerns except perhaps the theme for Hooker (Cooper) where the composer hints at a "cowboy" tune with its wonderful long loping Americana tinged melody. But the score is mainly an intense and strident work full of suspense and foreboding. The main theme, first heard over the credits, is a brilliant defiant statement for full orchestra and is played in different guises throughout the movie. Particularly clever is the ominous figure on the octave flute which points up the unseen but ever watching Apaches. There is no love theme as such but tender music in the composer's gentlest manner underscores the Hayward character. All the stops are pulled out for the brilliant climactic music cue for the chase sequence (where the Apaches are in hot pursuit of the interlopers). It is a sensational swirling and thundering piece calling for some virtuoso playing from the magnificent Fox orchestra which they zealously deliver.<br /><br />"Garden Of Evil" is available in a small Fox western box set along with two other western classics - the wonderful "Rawhide" (1951) and Henry King's "The Gunfighter" (1950). Enjoy!