The Fiend Who Walked the West Reviews

O'Brian plays a man sharing a jail cell with crazed psychopath Evans after being caught robbing a bank to bail himself out of financial trouble. Stupidly, he tells Evans that he stashed the money and only his partner knows the location. Soon after, Evans is released and goes on a brutal rampage to get the money. Shocking brutality is depicted as Evans does everything from feeding ground glass to an unfortunate victim to forcing the miscarriage of a pregnant woman. The authorities allow O'Brian to escape so that he can track down the savage Evans, which he does. The big showdown ends in a barroom from which Evans does not exit. Loosely based on the Ben Hecht-Charles Lederer scripted film noir classic KISS OF DEATH (1946) that helped to establish Richard Widmark's name, THE FIEND WHO WALKED THE WEST fails because it wallows in graphic, horrible brutality while failing to provide any insight into Evans' disturbing character.