MOVIE WESTERNS
Hollywood
Films the Wild, Wild West
by
John Howard Reid
Smashwords Edition
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Published on Smashwords
Movie Westerns: Hollywood Films the Wild, Wild West
Copyright 2011
by John Howard Reid
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Hollywood Classics 4
Other Books in the “Hollywood
Classics” series:
1. New Light on Movie Bests
2. “B” Movies, Bad Movies, Good Movies
3. Award-Winning Films of the 1930s
4. Movie Westerns: Hollywood Films the Wild, Wild West
5. Memorable Films of the Forties
6. Popular Pictures of the Hollywood 1940s
7. Your Colossal Main Feature Plus Full Supporting Program
8. Hollywood’s Miracles of Movie Entertainment
9. Hollywood Gold: Famous Films of the Forties and Fifties
10. Hollywood “B” Movies: A Treasury of Spills, Chills & Thrills
11. Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics
12. These Great Movies Won No Hollywood Awards
13. Movie Mystery & Suspense
14. Movies International: America’s Best, Britain’s Finest
15. Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome and Fantastic
16. Hollywood Movie Musicals
17. “Hollywood Classics” Index Books 1-16
18. More Movie Musicals
19. Success in the Cinema
20. Best Western Movies
21. Great Cinema Detectives
22. Great Hollywood Westerns
23. Science-Fiction & Fantasy Cinema
24. Hollywood’s Classic Comedies
25. Hollywood Classics Title Index to All Movies Reviewed in Books 1-24
Additional Movie Books by John Howard Reid
CinemaScope One: Stupendous in Scope
CinemaScope Two: 20th
Century-Fox
CinemaScope 3: Hollywood Takes the Plunge
Mystery, Suspense, Film Noir and Detective Movies on DVD: A Guide to the Best in Cinema Thrills
WESTERNS: A Guide to the Best (and Worst) Western Movies on DVD
Silent Films & Early Talkies on DVD
British Movie Entertainments on VHS and DVD
MUSICALS on DVD
* * * * *
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Across
the Badlands (1950)
Adventures
of Chico (1937)
Ambush
(1949)
Ambush
Trail (1946)
Ambush
Valley (1936)
Americana
(1939)
American
Empire (1942)
Angel
and the Badman (1946)
the
Appaloosa (1966)
Arizona
(1940)
Arizona
Bad Man (1935)
Arizona
Legion (1939)
Bad
Men of Arizona (1942)
Belle
Starr’s Daughter (1948)
Bells
of San Angelo (1947)
the
Big Country (1958)
Big
Jack (1949)
the
Big Stampede (1932)
Billy
the Kid Returns (1938)
Bitter
Creek (1954)
Black
Aces (1937)
Black
Bart (1948)
Blazing
Across the Pecos (1948)
Blue
Montana Skies (1939)
Borderland
(1937)
Border
Patrol (1942)
Border
Romance (1930)
the
Boy from Oklahoma (1954)
Brimstone
(1949)
Cabin
in the Cotton (1932)
Canyon
Passage (1946)
the
Capture (1950)
Carolina
(1934)
Challenge
of the Range (1949)
Code
of the West (1947)
Colorado
Sunset (1939)
Colorado
Trail (1938)
Dead
Man’s Trail (1952)
Deputy
Marshal (1949)
Desert
Pursuit (1953)
the
Desperado (1954)
Destry
Rides Again (1939)
the
Duel at Silver Creek (1952)
Dumb
Bell of the Yukon (1946)
Five
Came Back (1939)
Frontier
Marshal (1939)
the
Frontiersman (1938)
Fury
at Furnace Creek (1948)
Grand
Canyon (1949)
the
Great Barrier (1937)
Guns
of the Timberland (1960)
Haunted
Gold (1933)
Heaven
Only Knows (1947)
Indian
Paint (1965)
In
Old California (1942)
In
Old Monterey (1939)
Jack
McCall, Desperado (1953)
Jedda
(1955)
Jivaro
(1954)
Juarez
(1939)
the
Kettles in the Ozarks (1955)
King
of Dodge City (1941)
the
Last of the Mohicans (1920)
Lawless
Nineties (1936)
Lawless
Range (1935)
a
Lawless Street (1955)
Law
of the Badlands (1950)
the
Law of the 45’s (1935)
L’il
Abner (1940)
the
Lonely Trail (1936)
Lost
Trail (1945)
the
Lucky Texan (1934)
Ma
and Pa Kettle (1949)
the
Man from Laramie (1955)
the
Mark of Zorro (1940)
Men
in Exile (1937)
Mexicali
Rose (1939)
Montana
(1950)
Mountain
Justice (1936)
’Neath
Arizona Skies (1934)
New
Frontier (1939)
the
Night Riders (1939)
On
Our Selection (1932)
Owd
Bob (1938)
Painted
Stallion (1937)
Paradise
Canyon (1935)
Prairie
Moon (1938)
Public
Cowboy Number One (1937)
Pursued
(1947)
Rawhide
(1938)
Red
River (1948)
Ride
’Em Cowboy (1941)
Riders
of Black River (1939)
Riders
of Destiny (1933)
Riding
Shotgun (1954)
Rio
Rita (1942)
Robbery
Under Arms (1957)
Robin
Hood of Texas (1947)
Robin
Hood of the Range (1943)
Rolling
Home (1946)
Romance
of a Horse Thief (1971)
Rough
Riders’ Round-Up (1939)
Round-Up
Time in Texas (1937)
Rovin’
Tumbleweeds (1939)
Sagebrush
Trail (1933)
San
Antonio (1946)
the
Searchers (1956)
Seminole
Uprising (1955)
Seventh
Cavalry (1956)
Shootout
at Medicine Bend (1957)
Silly
Billies (1936)
Silver
Dollar (1933)
Singin’
in the Corn (1946)
Six-Gun
Law (1947)
the
Sons of the Pioneers (1942)
the
Spoilers (1942)
Spy
Smasher (1942)
Stagecoach
to Monterey (1944)
Stage
to Thunder Rock (1964)
the
Star Packer (1934)
Stick
To Your Guns (1941)
Sunset
Trail (1931)
Susanna
Pass (1949)
Taggart
(1964)
Tall
in the Saddle (1944)
Terrors
on Horseback (1946)
Three
Faces West (1940)
Thunder
over the Prairie (1941)
Tom
Sawyer (1930)
the
Trail Beyond (1934)
Trailing
the Killer (1932)
Two-Fisted
Rangers (1939)
Unconquered
(1947)
Undercover
(1935)
Valley
of the Giants (1938)
the
Vanishing Riders (1935)
the
Vigilantes Return (1947)
Wagon
Master (1950)
Wagon
Wheels (1934)
West
of Abilene (1940)
West
of Wyoming (1950)
Westward
Bound (1943)
Westward
Ho (1935)
Where
Trails End (1942)
Wild
Horse Canyon (1938)
Wild
Horse Range (1940)
Wild
Horse Stampede (1943)
Wyoming
Outlaw (1939)
Wyoming
Round-Up (1952)
Zorro’s Fighting Legion (1939)
Extended Index
Call of the Wilderness (see Trailing the Killer)
Down on the Farm (see On Our Selection)
Forestalled
(see Two-Fisted Rangers)
Frontier
Horizon (see New Frontier)
Frontiersmen
(see the Frontiersman)
Give and Take (see Singin’ in the Corn)
Lost Treasure of the Amazon (see Jivaro)
Men
of Destiny (see American Empire)
Montana
Mike (see Heaven Only Knows)
Moonlight
Raid (see Challenge of the Range)
My
Son Alone (see American Empire)
Mysterious
Mr Sheffield (see Law of the 45’s)
Paradise Ranch (see Paradise Canyon)
the Refugee (see Three Faces West)
Showdown
(see West of Abilene)
Silent
Barriers (see Great Barrier)
Southwest
to Sonora (see Appaloosa)
Stagecoach
to Hell (see Stage to Thunder Rock)
Starrett
Filmography (see Undercover)
Tombstone,
the Town Too Tough To Die (see Bad Men of Arizona)
To
the Victor (see Owd Bob)
Trouble
Chaser (see L’il Abner)
Under
Arrest (see Blazing Across the Pecos)
Undercover
Men (see Undercover)
Zorro Filmography (see the Mark of Zorro)
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* * * * *
Charles Starrett (Steve Ransom/Durango Kid) Smiley Burnette (Smiley Burnette), Helen Mowery (Eileen Carson), Stanley Andrews (Sheriff Crocker), Bob Wilke (Duke Jackson/Keeno Jackson), Dick Elliott (Rufus Downey), Hugh Prosser (Jeff Carson), Robert W. Cavendish (Bart), Charles Evans (Gregory Banion), Paul Campbell (Pete), Harmonica Bill (himself), Dick Alexander (tough), Bob Woodward (henchman and stunt double), Jock Mahoney (stunt double).
Director: FRED F. SEARS. Original screenplay: Barry Shipman. Photography: Fayte Browne. Film editor: Paul Borofsky. Art director: Charles Clague. Set decorator: Fay Babcock. Make-up: Leonard Engleman. Hair styles: Helen Hunt. Camera operator: Emil Buddy Harris. Music director: Mischa Bakaleinikoff. Music supervisor: Paul Mertz. Stills: Bill Crosby. Grip: Ray Rich. Gaffer: Bud Williams. Production manager: Jack Fier. Assistant director: Lee Lukather. Set continuity: Dorothy Wilson. Sound recording: Jack Haynes. Producer: Colbert Clark.
Copyright: 31 August 1950 by Columbia Pictures Corp. No New York opening. U.S. release: 14 September 1950. U.K. release: 21 March 1955 (sic). Not released theatrically in Australia. 55 minutes. U.K. release title: The CHALLENGE.
SYNOPSIS: Steve Ransom, alias the Durango Kid, exposes a gang making attacks on surveyors laying a new railway line. Plenty of action and thrills plus some tuneful songs.
COMMENT: Starrett’s 116th western turns out as one of the better Durango Kid entries, skilfully directed by Fred F. Sears. Although the chases are filmed from fixed camera positions instead of the more exciting (and more expensive) running inserts, the angles have been carefully chosen with horses' hooves panning right into the camera and a stuntman falling from his mount and rolling down an incline perfectly centred. Sears uses an occasional crane shot effectively in the studio back lot sequences (the pan along the enormous banner welcoming Duke Jackson and down to Dick Elliott and drawing back to take in the dozen extras that constituted the crowd) and we like the nice little dolly back from a close-up of Burnette's mouth after cutting from a poster advertising the dance. Barry Shipman's script has good dialogue and characterizations and keeps interest at a high level by astutely hiding the identity of the mastermind. The acting is good, though casting is (praiseworthily) a little off-beat with Bob Wilke a more subdued villain than usual, Hugh Prosser in an unmenacing role; Dick Elliott as an unscrupulous buffoon; and Stanley Andrews making the most of one of the meatiest parts that ever came to his way. Charles Starrett seems a little puzzled to find himself in such sterling company, but Mr. Burnette is in especially good form (and voice), his foolery forming an integral part of the plot instead of being tacked on in crudely-written additional scenes. Despite her standing in the cast list, Helen Mowery plays only a minor part in the story. There is plenty of action, though two sequences give evidence of hasty shooting. If you look hard you can see the rope tied at the back of the Durango Kid's double as he jumps into the saddle and even a ten-year-old could spot the double used for the villain in the climactic fist-fight atop the cliff! These quibbles aside, production values are extremely able.
* * * * *
Chico (himself).
Directors, photographers, writers, film editors, producers: STACY WOODARD, HORACE WOODARD. Music score: Dr Edward Kilenyi. RCA Sound System.
Copyright: 2 December 1937 by Woodard Productions. New York opening at the 55th Street Playhouse: 25 February 1938. U.S. release through Monogram: 10 April 1938. Never theatrically released or broadcast in Australia. 6 reels. 60 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: A young Mexican boy and his father on a dusty farm encounter various animals including quail, armadillos, wild board, deer, coatis, a rattlesnake, a coyote, a mountain lion, a raccoon, and most especially a roadrunner.
NOTES: When they had finished their work on The River, late in 1936, Stacy and Horace Woodard packed up their cameras and headed for Mexico. The entire expedition consisted of the two brothers and a couple of cameras with lenses, reflectors and reels of negative. They were in Mexico more than a year, during which time they shot more than 100,000 feet of film. To edit this footage down to 60 minutes, took yet another four months.
The Woodards created the “Struggle to Live” nature series and won awards from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1933 and 1935. Stacy was chief cameraman on The River.
COMMENT: If you want to know what a roadrunner really looks like, this is the made-to-order movie for you. Lots of close-ups too. In fact too many close-ups by far. A roadrunner has only two expressions — feathers up and feathers down — and he is not a particularly attractive bird either.
Of course there are other birds and animals in the movie as well. But once again the Woodards delight in serving up too much of a good thing. The inquisitive coatis, for instance, are entertaining enough when we first sight them. But enough is enough, we cry, when the brothers bring them back for an extremely lengthy encore.
Even Chico himself tends to out-stay his welcome. There are too many intercut shots of Chico looking puzzled, Chico smiling, Chico downcast, Chico pensive, Chico eager, Chico asleep.
Nonetheless, the fascinating footage does outweigh the tedious. What a pity the Woodards didn't take the scissors to another ten or even twenty minutes of Chico's adventures!
OTHER VIEWS: With loving artistry and the budgetary supervision of no man, the brothers have fashioned a gently humorous, pleasantly sentimental pastorale. Though it has an excellent music score by Dr Edward Kilenyi, the picture's best music and all of its poetry are merely the wonder of a child at the endlessly enchanting world of animals and the pure, almost abstract love of life. If this is not the best animal picture ever made, we hope someone will tell us where to go to look for its equal. — The New York Times.
* * * * *
Robert Taylor (Ward Kinsman), John Hodiak (Captain Ben Lorrison), Arlene Dahl (Ann Duverall), Don Taylor (Lieutenant Linus Delaney), Jean Hagen (Martha Conovan), Bruce Cowling (Tom Conovan), Leon Ames (Major Breverly), John McIntyre (Frank Holly), Pat Moriarity (Sergeant Mack), Charles Stevens (Diablito), Chief Thundercloud (Tana), Ray Teal (Captain J. R. Wolverson), Robin Short (Lieutenant Storrow), Richard Bailey (Lieutenant Tremaine).
Directed by SAM WOOD from a screenplay by Marguerite Roberts based on the short story of the same title by Luke Short, originally published in “The Saturday Evening Post”. Photographed by Harold Lipstein. 2nd unit director: John D. Waters. Camera operator: David Ragin. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons and Malcolm Brown. Set decorations: Edwin B. Willis and Ralph S. Hurst. Music score: Rudolph G. Kopp. Film editor: Ben Lewis. Production manager: Dave Friedman. Assistant director: John Waters. Script supervisor: Leslie Martinson. Hair stylist: Sydney Guilaroff. Make-up: Jack Dawn. Grip: Hap Constable. Costumes designed by Walter Plunkett. Still photographer: Bert Lynch. Technical advisor: Colonel Charles E. Morrison. Sound recording supervisor: Doulgas Shearer. Sound engineer: James K. Brock. Producer: Armand Deutsch.
Copyright: by Loew’s Inc., 12 December 1949. U.S. release date: 13 January 1950. New York opening at the Capitol: 18 January 1950. U.K. release: 26 June 1950. Australian release: 6 July 1950. 7,988 feet. 89 minutes. An M-G-M picture.
SYNOPSIS: A civilian scout, assigned to a mission to rescue a white girl captured by a renegade Apache, has a falling out with the cavalry captain in charge of the mission.
NOTES: Sam Wood’s last film. Armand Deutsch’s first film.
Luke Short is the pseudonym of Fred Dilley Glidden.
VIEWERS’ GUIDE: Adults.
COMMENT: An interesting film, if not one of Wood’s best, though it does round out his career quite honorably. Ambush represents a transition stage between the big budget studio westerns of the California, Union Pacific school and the smaller scale location westerns of the Anthony Mann-Daves-Sturges tradition. In fact, the scene of Taylor and McIntyre’s escape down the gap between the boulders that are only wide enough for one horse, could well have been cut from one of Mann’s films and the climax, the actual Ambush itself, is brilliantly staged in the scrubby desert foliage with the Indian chief singling out Taylor for his revenge as his lips form the word “Kinsman” while he lies pretending death and the cavalry sweeps in.
Against this, one notices that Arlene Dahl (then at her most gorgeous and also at the peak of her modest career) never leaves the studio and the film could well have used color. The story is intelligent, with the sub-plot of the officer in love with the drunken soldier’s wife well integrated. The dialogue scenes are handled in the flexible multi-face groupings characteristic of Wood’s major films. Notice also the way the scout’s death is not noticed until after the action, and the realistically grimy fort.
— B.P.
OTHER VIEWS: From its opening pre-credits tracking shot to its suspensefully edited, breathtakingly staged finale, this is a stylish western, a fitting tribute to the career of director Sam Wood who died over three months before the film’s release. The story itself is a collection of standard western plots, but interest is kept at a high level by the large number of plots used and by the fact that most of them are resolved in an unexpected way. They all build in fact to a stunning series of climaxes culminating in the Indian attack so sweepingly and vigorously staged by 2nd unit director John D. Waters.
The characters too have something more of real flesh and blood than the usual western stereotypes. The relationships between the people involved are more interesting and more complex than the usual stylised (or clichéd) characters and their dialogue has a refreshing ring of authenticity. The majority of the players, unfortunately, are not quite equal to the script’s demands, though Don Taylor and Jean Hagen seize their opportunities, giving portrayals of more scope and vigor than those generally allotted to them.
The direction has visual flair and style and the pace is very astutely judged. Production values are absolutely first-class, with superlative location photography and skilled film editing. This last is of special significance as Wood died before editing was completed. — J.H.R.
A robust western in the best tradition, with Robert Taylor in fine form as the hero. — M.F.B.
Plenty of action in this film with Robert Taylor and John Hodiak giving their characters more depth than one usually encounters in second echelon westerns. The direction is fine, likewise the photography. — E.V.D.
* * * * *
Bob Steele (Curley Thompson), Syd Saylor (Sam Hawkins), I. Stanford Jolley (Hatch Bolton), Lorraine Miller (Alice Rhodes), Charles King (Al Craig), Bob Carson (Ed Blane), Budd Buster (Jim Haley), Kermit Maynard (Walter Gordon), Frank Ellis (Frank Owen), Edward Cassidy (Marshal Dawes).
Directed by HARRY FRASER from an original screenplay by Elmer Clifton. Photographed by Jack Greenhalgh. Settings (= art director): E. H. Reif. Film editor: Ray Livingston. Music scored and directed by Lee Zahler. Assistant director: Seymour Roth. Sound recording: Glen Glenn. Producer: Arthur Alexander.
Copyright: by Pathé Industries, Inc., 21 June 1946. Distributed by P.R.C. U.S. release date: 17 February 1946. No New York opening. 6 reels. 60 minutes.
COMMENT: One of Bob Steele’s last starring roles, this is a very routine, minor western with far too much dialogue and too little action. The story is a familiar old chestnut that is unimaginatively developed and despite the presence of some attractive players (Steele himself, Charles King, Kermit Maynard), the film is at best only a fair offering for the lower half of an action double bill.
— E.S.
OTHER VIEWS: Sub-standard, undistinguished and wearisome western about the villain who tires to ruin local cattlemen and who is foiled by our hero. — E.V.D.
* * * * *
Bob Custer (Bob Manning), Victoria Vinton (Mary), Eddie Phillips (Clay), Wally Wales (Joel), Oscar Gahan (Diggs), Edward Cassidy (nester), Denver Dixon (2nd nester), Wally West (3rd nester), and Jack Anderson, Jack Gilman, Roger Williams, John Elliott, Vane Calvert.
Directed by RAYMOND SAMUELS (= Bernard B. Ray) from a screenplay by Forrest Sheldon, based on an original story by Bennett Cohen. Photographed by Paul Ivano. Assistant director: William Nolte. Film editor: Fred Bain. Associate producer: Harry S. Webb. Executive producer: William Steiner. Producer: Bernard B. Ray.
Produced and distributed by Reliable Pictures Corporation. Not copyrighted. No New York opening. U.S. release date: 1 November 1936. 56 minutes.
COMMENT: Mildly entertaining low-budget western. The picture has some curiosity value in that Bob Custer was quite a popular cowboy star in the late days of silents and the early days of sound. But his career had gone well down from its zenith at this stage (in fact Reliable Pictures closed its door soon after this film was made). Custer retired in 1938 and now seems to be completely forgotten even by the most devoted western fans. — E.S.
* * * * *
20th Century-Fox, 1939.
A western to have been directed by Fritz Lang and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck on which the director did a considerable amount of research. The idea was to tell one hundred years of the country’s history through the story of a lost mine — an idea that was partly realized by producer/director S. Sylvan Simon in Lust For Gold (1949) at Columbia. Unfortunately, Lang’s version never reached the shooting stage.
* * * * *
Richard Dix (Dan Taylor), Leo Carillo (Domique Beauchard), Preston Foster (Paxton Bryce), Frances Gifford (Abby Taylor), Robert H. Barrat (Crowder), Jack LaRue (Pierre), Guinn “Big Boy” Williams (“Sailaway”), Cliff Edwards (Runty), Meril Guy Rodin (Paxton Bryce, Junior), Chris-Pin Martin (Augustin), Richard Webb (Crane), William Farnum (Louisiana judge), Etta McDaniel (Willa May), Hal Taliaferro (=Wally Wales) (Malone), Tom London (onlooker).
Directed by WILLIAM McGANN from a screenplay by J. Robert Bren, Gladys Atwater and Ben Grauman Kohn, based on an original story by J. Robert Bren and Gladys Atwater. Photographed by Russell Harlan. Film editors: Carrol Lewis and Sherman A. Rose. Music composed by Gerard Carbonara and directed by Irvin Talbot. Art director: Ralph Berger. Assistant director: Glenn Cook. Sound engineer: William Wilmarth. Western Electric Sound System. Associate producer: Dick Dickson (= Richard Dix). Producer: Harry Sherman. A Harry Sherman Production, released through United Artists.
Copyright: by United Artists Productions, Inc., 30 December 1942. U.S. release date: 13 December 1942. U.K. release date: 15 February 1943. U.S. length: 7,359 feet (= 82 minutes). U.K. length: 7,200 feet (= 80 minutes). New York opening at the Rialto: 13 January 1943. Australian release: 29 April 1943. Australian length: 7,302 feet.
U.K. release title: MY SON ALONE. Re-issue title: MEN OF DESTINY.
COMMENT: A period western about a Texas cattle breeder, set in the aftermath of the Civil War. The storyline is routine, but the action sequences are vigorously staged and a fine cast led by Richard Dix (then near the close of his career but still presenting a ruggedly masculine image), help considerably to give the film an above average interest.
— E.V.D.
OTHER VIEWS: Superior action film with high production values, excellent photography and a good script where the dialogue rings true without cliché. — Motion Picture Guide.
For the bulk of his lengthy screen career, Richard Dix was overshadowed by his work in Cimarron (1931). As a further example of this fact, this World War II vintage release, produced by Harry “Pop” Sherman, was a later attempt to cash in on Dix’s self-sustaining image. It was an elaborate production, by United Artists standards, and the New York Times noted that Sherman “has climaxed an otherwise well-behaved drama with a reel that explodes in all directions.”
After appearing as the Indian hero of The Vanishing American (1925), Dix had quite a career in the film genre. He was Joaquin Murietta in The Gay Defender (1928) and an Indian again in Redskin (1929). After the epic Cimarron, resolute Richard performed similar chores in The Conquerors (1932), RKO’s attempt to follow-up the success of its Edna Ferber story. RKO would employ Dix as Pecos Smith in Zane Grey’s West of the Pecos (1934), as a marshal in The Arizonian, and as a miner in Yellow Dust (1936). Dix turned to a comedy as a faded cowboy star in Columbia’s It Happened in Hollywood (1936), but returned to his established form in Republic’s expansive Man of Conquest (1939), playing the great Texan, Sam Houston. Moving on into the forties, Dix was an Oklahoma Territory marshal in Cherokee Strip (Paramount, 1940), a rancher in The Roundup (Paramount, 1941), and received special billing as Wild Bill Hickok in Badlands of Dakota (Universal, 1941). Next he was Wyatt Earp in Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die (Paramount, 1942), a gunfighter in Buckskin Frontier (United Artists), and a marshal in The Kansan (United Artists, 1943) his final oater.
Parish and Pitts: The Great Western Pictures.
* * * * *
John Wayne (Quirt Evans), Gail Russell (Prudence Worth), Harry Carey (Wistful McClintock), Bruce Cabot (Laredo Stevens), Irene Rich (Mrs. Worth), Lee Dixon (Randy McCall), Stephen Grant (Johnny Worth), Tom Powers (Dr Mangrum), Paul Hurst (Carson), Olin Howlin (Bradley), John Halloran (Thomas Worth), Joan Barton (Lila), Craig Woods (Ward Withers), Marshall Reed (Nelson), Hank Worden (townsman), Pat Flaherty (Baker), Fred Graham (Wayne’s stuntman), Geraldine Farnum, Rosemary Bertrand (saloon girls), Wade Crosby (another Baker), Ken Terrell, Symona Boniface (brawl spectators), Jack O’Shea (barfly), Rex Lease (roulette croupier), Bob Burns (man at meeting), Jack Kirk (Carson ranch hand), Louis Faust (tree-tumbled outlaw).
An original screenplay written and directed by JAMES EDWARD GRANT. 2nd unit director: Yakima Canutt. Photography: Archie Stout. Production design: Ernst Fegte. Music composed by Richard Hageman, directed by Cy Feuer. Songs, including "A Little Bit Different" by Kim Gannon and Walter Kent. Film editor: Harry Keller. Set decorations: Charles Thompson and John McCarthy, Jr. Special effects: Howard Lydecker, Theodore Lydecker. Stunts: Chuck Roberson, Henry Wills, John Hudkins. Make-up: Bob Mark. Hair styles: Peggy Gray. Costumes: Adele Palmer. Set continuity: Catalina Lawrence. Production assistant: Al Silverman. Assistant director: Harvey Dwight. Sound recording: Vic Appel. Producer: John Wayne. Executive producer: Herbert J. Yates. RCA Sound System. A John Wayne Production.
Copyright: 10th December, 1946 by Republic Pictures (Corp. U.S. release date: 15th February, 1947. New York opening at the Gotham: 2 March 1947. U.K. release through British Lion: March 1947. Australian release through British Empire Films: 12 February 1948. 9,269 feet. 103 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: An agnostic cowboy is befriended by a Quaker family.
NOTES: Wayne's debut as a producer, Grant's as a director.
VIEWER’S GUIDE: Suitable for all but the most tender-hearted.
COMMENT: An off-beat western, written and directed by James Edward Grant with some splendid assistance on 2nd unit by Yakima Canutt and some rugged backgrounds beautifully captured in the gray, dust-swirled photography of Archie Stout. Although the bizarre and religious touches may puzzle the fans, they will be more than delighted by the many thrillingly-staged action spots, including a terrific fight in a saloon and a breathtaking chase sequence that not even inserted studio close-ups can eclipse. A judiciously-chosen support cast does full justice to Grant's nicely-observed characters, while Miss Russell herself appears in the full bloom of youth and beauty. The music is a contributing factor to the film's success, with its lyrical romantic leitmotif and its excellent underscoring of the action scenes (I particularly like Cabot's tinkling the piano before the climactic gun-duel). The film was produced by Wayne himself and as might be expected, production values are first-class.
OTHER VIEW: A prolific screenwriter, James Edward Grant directed only three or four films, of which this is the first and the best. The Quakers are observed most sympathetically and the characters for the most part hold the interest and are neatly etched, despite a certain superficiality of approach, Miss Russell is charming, Mr. Wayne more than adequate, and the predictable romance is not allowed to obtrude too much on the action, splendidly staged by 2nd unit director Canutt against some impressive natural backgrounds.
Although not nominated for recognition by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, I thought Stout's black-and-white cinematography was certainly the best Hollywood effort of the year and definitely had the edge over the two American films that were nominated in this section: Lang's The Ghost and Mrs Muir and Folsey's Green Dolphin Street. And it's good to see that Republic have taken good care of the master negative. 2004 prints are just as beautiful as those struck in the year of release.
For a debut director, Grant has handled the movie with gratifying assurance and flair. Admittedly he was helped out by action specialist and long-time Wayne ally, Yakima Canutt. But he has certainly drawn sympathetic and/or enthralling performances from all his players. Of course his writing and dialogue have considerable appeal too. But it's hard to imagine any other players but Wayne and Russell in the lead roles, Carey as the philosophical marshal, and Cabot as the irredeemably mean bad guy. And no-one but Olin Howlin could handle a cowardly blatherskite with as much conviction and personal charisma as Olin Howlin.
And for his behind-the-camera debut, producer Wayne has actually invaded John Ford territory and has brilliantly succeeded in equaling the master on his own turf.
* * * * *
Marlon Brando (Matt Fletcher), Anjanette Comer (Trini), John Saxon (Chuy Medina), Emilio Fernandez (Lazaro), Alex Montoya (Squint-Eye), Frank Silvera (Ramos), Rafael Campos (Paco), Miriam Colon (Ana), Larry D. Mann (priest), Argentina Brunetti (Yaqui woman).
Director: SIDNEY J. FURIE. Screenplay: James Bridges, Roland Kibbee. Based on the 1963 novel by Robert MacLeod. Photographed in Technicolor and Techniscope by Russell Metty. Film editor: Ted J. Kent. Art directors: Alexander Golitzen, Alfred Sweeney. Set decorations: John McCarthy, Oliver Emert. Make-up: Bud Westmore. Costumes: Rosemary Odell, Helen Colvig. Hair styles: Larry Germain. Music: Frank Skinner. Music supervision: Joseph Gershenson. Assistant director: Douglas Green. Production managers: Wallace Worsley, William S. Gilmore. Sound: Waldon O. Watson, Lyle Cain. Producer: Alan Miller.
Additional credits: Camera operator: Edwin Pyle. Assistant cameraman: Ledger Haddow. Set co-ordinator: Virgil Clark. Assistant film editor: Peter Colbert. Choreography: Poppy Del Vando. Additional sound men: William Griffith, James Alexander, Bruce Smith. 2nd assistant director: Carl Beringer. 3rd assistant director: James Welch. Script supervisor: Robert Forrest. Wardrobe: Olive Koenitz, Norman Mayreis, David Watson. Make-up artists: Mark Reedall, Hank Edds, Phil Rhodes, Sherrie Rose. Hairdresser: Clara Holgate. Special effects: Ben McMahon. Technical advisor: Salvador Baquez. Dialogue coach: Celia Webb. Still photographs: Chic Donchin. Gaffer: Max Nippell. Grips: Charles Cowie, Ken Smith. Props: Bill Nunley, John Faltis. Main titles by Pacific Title. Westrex Sound System. Executive producer: Edward Muhl.
Copyright: 15 October 1966 by Universal Pictures. New York opening at the Baronet and the DeMille: 14 September 1966. U.K. release: 2 December 1966. Sydney opening at the Victory. 8,820 feet. 98 minutes.
U.K. and Australian release title: SOUTHWEST TO SONORA.
SYNOPSIS: After avenging the murder of his Indian wife, buffalo hunter Matt Fletcher enters a church in the border town of Ojo Prieto. He plans to unburden his sins and begin life anew by using his magnificent Appaloosa stallion to start a horse breeding farm. But his hopes are dashed when a beautiful young woman named Trini uses his appearance to further her own ends. Trini has been sold by her parents to a Mexican bandit, Chuy Medina, and, as a ruse to escape, she tells him that Matt molested her in the church. Then, when Chuy also enters the church, she rides off on Matt’s Appaloosa. But she is quickly captured and returned by Chuy’s pistoleros. And Matt’s hopes are completely shattered when Chuy steals the Appaloosa.
NOTES: Location scenes filmed in St George, Utah; Lancaster, California; and in the San Bernardino Mountains near Wrightwood, California.
VIEWERS’ GUIDE: Strictly adults.
COMMENT: Stylishly and inventively directed, this off-beat western, beautifully photographed and played with surprising effectiveness by a stand-out support cast (Brando is much his usual self), emerges as one of the best films of the year. Some critics have objected to Furie’s mannered camera angles and compositions, complaining that they obtruded into and slowed down the action, but we feel they are a major factor in creating the film’s atmosphere — that together with the music score and the impressive natural locations they give the film a visual and a dramatic impact that lifts it right out of the class of the ordinary western.
OTHER VIEWS: A stylized western with some absorbing character studies — particularly impressive are Marlon Brando as the hero, Anjanette Comer as the double-dealing heroine and John Saxon as an oily Mexican bandit. Furie’s direction emphasises character rather than action with the result that the pace is at times too slow. Still it makes a change to see stock-types in real depth. —E.V.D.
Here’s good old Mumbles Marlon up to his usual vocal tricks on the other side of the border. However, his is by no means the worst performance. That honor belongs to John Saxon, incredibly hammy and doubly as unconvincing as a Mexican villain. Anjanette Comer seems similarly out of place. Some of the native Mexican actors like Emilio Fernandez and Alex Montoya are more at home, though their forcefulness is undermined both by the unimportance of their roles and by the slow-moving, lingering close-ups style employed by the director.
The film’s lack of sustained and sustainable suspense must be laid to the director’s account. True, he does always try to fill up his widescreen with something or other, be it sombrero (his favorite device) or bottle or pillar or post, but he fails to keep the film moving. Not only is there too much meaningless dialogue, but it is too slowly delivered. Whole scenes could be ruthlessly cut (especially those involving Comer and Colon with our hero) to tremendous advantage. Even the introductory scene between Brando and Montoya should go. It has atmosphere and tension, but it does nothing to advance the plot and takes far too long to make its one rather insignificant point.
* * * * *
Jean Arthur (Phoebe Titus), William Holden (Peter Muncie), Warren William (Jefferson Carteret), Porter Hall (Lazarus Ward), Paul Harvey (Solomon Waters), George Chandler (Haley), Byron Foulger (Pete Kitchin), Regis Toomey (Grant Oury), Edgar Buchanan (Judge Bogardus), Wade Crosby (Longstreet), Frank Hill (Mano), Nina Campana (Teresa), Addison Richards (Captain Hunter), Paul Lopez (Estevan Ochoa), Colin Tapley (Bert Massey), Uvaldo Varela (Hilario Gallego), Earl Crawford (Joe Briggs), Griff Barnett (Sam Hughes), Ludwig Hardt (Meyer), Patrick Moriarty (Terry), Frank Darien (Joe), Syd Saylor (Timmins), Silver Tip Baker (barfly), Kermit Maynard (Bill Oury), Ralph Peters (bartender), Al Rhein (dealer), Carleton Young (Lieutenant Chapin), Emmett Lynn (Leatherface), Jack Ingram (courier), Clarence Morrow (Indian interpreter), Iron Eyes Cody (Indian), Michael Cruz (barber), Earle S. Dewey (Bill Coombs), Jerry Fletcher (Harry Coombs), William Harrigan (Union commanding officer), Gayle DeCamp (Mowry), Bob Bell (U.S. cavalryman), Forrest Burns (Mike), Frank Brownlee (Weaver), Walter Baldwin (declares for the South), and Victor Adamson, I. Stanford Jolley.
Producer/director: WESLEY RUGGLES. Screenplay: Claude Binyon. Based upon the novel by Clarence Budington Kelland. Photography: Joseph Walker. 2nd unit photography : Harry Hallenberger, Fayte Browne. Film editors: Otto Meyer, William Lyon. Art director: Lionel Banks. Music composed by Victor Young, directed by M. W. Stoloff. Additional music: Paul Mertz. Orchestrations: Herman Hand, Sidney Cutner. 2nd unit director: Sam Nelson. Assistant director (main unit): Norman Deming. Assistant directors: Cliff Broughton, Earl Bellamy, Richard McWhorter, William McGarry, Bud Brill, Joe Dill. Associate art director: Robert Peterson. Set decorator: Frank Tuttle. Costumes: Kalloch. Stunts: Danny Sands. Stills: Irving Lippman. Sound recording: George Cooper.
Copyright: 29 November 1940 by Columbia Pictures Corp. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall, 6 February 1941. U.S. release 25 December 1940. Australian release: 6 March 1941. 14 reels. 127 minutes. (Cut to 120 minutes in Australia).
SYNOPSIS: Girl freight-line operator wants to own the biggest cattle ranch in Arizona.
NOTES: No fewer than ten films tied for first place at the U.S. boxoffice in 1940, all with an initial domestic rentals gross of $1½ million. The others: Buck Benny Rides Again, The Fighting 69th, Kitty Foyle, Northwest Mounted Police, North West Passage, Rebecca, Santa Fe Trail, Strange Cargo, Strike Up the Band. Coming in a close second: The Road to Singapore.
Nominated for awards from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Black-and-White Art Direction (won by Pride and Prejudice) and Best Original Music Scoring (won by Pinocchio).
William Holden's first western. (The role was originally intended for Gary Cooper).
Negative cost: $2 million.
The character played by Paul Harvey, Solomon Waters, was originally called Solomon Warner in the script. The name was changed for obvious reasons. Jean often calls him Sol or Wat in the actual movie. Also changed was a bit of dialogue in which Jean refers to him when overcharging her 25 cents for a needle as "an old Jew". This became "an old Scotsman". (Mind you, in my opinion the film would be improved a whole lot if most of the Harvey-Arthur material, which is dull both in the writing and in the acting, were cut out completely).
Norman Deming, who is billed here as assistant director, co-directed with this movie's 2nd unit director Sam Nelson, two Columbia 1939 serials, Mandrake the Magician and Overland With Kit Carson. (I'm glad to say that the action material in Arizona is a vast improvement over Mandrake. I particularly like Nelson's pleasing habit of riding horses and wagons over the camera).
COMMENT: An attractively rolling title introduces this long, lavishly-budgeted epic western in which the players do wonders to overcome their somewhat cliched dialogue and formularised roles (though in 1940 they were probably less familiar as stock types of western characters). It's good to see George Chandler in a fair-sized part as Hall's henchman. William plays the villain with his usual smooth assurance and Porter gives us his delightful characterization as a small-time crook. Holden is effective too and even gets to sing "I Dream of Jeanie" (which is then used as a romantic theme throughout) right through and a few bars of "Kiss Me Quick and Go" in a pleasing light tenor all his own. Miss Arthur repeats herself from The Plainsman. There's plenty of action superbly directed by Sam Nelson with lots of running inserts as Indians bite the dust. Ruggles makes a commendable attempt to spice up the over-talky Jean Arthur scenes with tracking shots and often lots of extras milling around in the background. In fact, the opening series of tracking shots as Holden and his wagon train come into Tucson is a classic sequence which belongs on anyone's list of memorable scenes. No expense has been spared to recapture the epic sweep of Cimarron, though non-Arizonians might well be bored by the constant plugs for the ideals and aspirations of the Arizona Territorians. It all comes to an effectively directed shoot-out climax though many western fans may feel cheated that it is shown through Miss Arthur's eyes and not through that of the protagonists. I thought it effective anyway. Paul Harvey has a major role which he plays somewhat indifferently. Addison Richards does not seem to be in the 127-minute release print. Most attractively photographed, with realistic sets that convey the primitive squalor of the early west.
OTHER VIEWS: Long, sprawling western with plenty of action and splendid photography. Ruggles gets the best out of his cast, particularly Arthur, Holden, William and Buchanan. — E.V.D.
* * * * *
Reb Russell (the Association man), Lois January (the girl), Charles "Slim" Whitaker (the stepfather), Edmund Cobb (the border rustler), Dick Botiller (Pedro), Tommy Bupp (the crippled boy), Anne Howard (Min, a saloon floozy), Walter James (bartender), Loyal Underwood (dance caller), Lionel Backus, Silver Tip Baker, Barney Beasley, Eva McKenzie, Fay McKenzie, Ray Henderson (people at dance), Jack Jones, Johnny Luther (musicians), Ben Corbett, Tracy Layne (wranglers), and the voice of Smiley Burnette.
Director and film editor: S. ROY LUBY. Original story, "Black Bart’s Fall" by Eric Howard. Photography: James S. Brown. Title song, "Reb and His Old Pal, Rebel", composed and sung by Smiley Burnette. Stunts: Jack Jones. Assistant director: William O’Connor. Sound recording: Dave Stoner. Recording facilities: California Studios. Producer: Willis Kent.
Not copyrighted by Willis Kent Productions. U.S. release through various independent state’s rights exchanges: 1935. 58 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Girl unwillingly aids her stepfather in his cattle rustling activities in order to prevent him ill-treating her crippled young brother.
COMMENT: Lois January hardly comes across as an ideal Hollywood heroine, but that is one of the charms of this grittily realistic little western, starkly photographed against unattractive scenery and set in particularly drab interiors. Hero and villain do all their own fighting and though a few punches are obviously pulled, enough hit home to hurt. Considering the film’s sparse budget, Luby’s direction is uncommonly effective. True, he wastes a lot of time on the introductory square dance, but once Edmund Cobb enters the picture, interest perks up considerably. In fact, Cobb’s ingratiating portrait of the good badman undoubtedly ranks as one of his best performances in talkies. Whitaker too makes the most of his opportunities. As for our hero, he definitely rates as personable, though we see very little (thank goodness) of "his pal, Rebel."
* * * * *
George O’Brien (Boone Yeager), Lorraine Johnson (Letty Meade), Carlyle Moore Jr (Lieutenant Ives), Chill Wills (Whopper Hatch), Edward Le Saint (Judge Jeade), Harry Cording (Whiskey Joe), Tom Chatterton (Commissioner Teagle), William Royle (Dutton), Glenn Strange (Kirby), Monte Montague (Dawson), Joe Rickson (Dakota), Robert Burns (Tucson Jones), John Dilson, Lafe McKee, Guy Usher, Bob Kortman, Wilfred Lucas, Jim Mason, Art Mix.
Director: DAVID HOWARD. Screenplay: Oliver Drake. Story: Bernard McConville. Photography: Harry J. Wild. Film editor: Frederic Knudtson. Music director: Roy Webb. RCA Sound System. Producer: Bert Gilroy.
Copyright: 20 January 1939 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. U.S. release: 20 January 1939. No recorded New York opening. Australian release: 15 June 1939. 6 reels, 58 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Bandits take over a town.
NOTES: McConville’s original story was called “The Stagecoach Stops at Pinyon Gulch”. Lorraine Johnson is better known as Laraine Day.
VIEWERS’ GUIDE: Okay for all.
COMMENT: Director David Howard gets plenty of pace and action into this one, even though the story is pretty routine. O’Brien himself daringly stunts on the speeding stagecoach during the routing-the-heavies finale. The young Miss Day makes a most agreeable heroine. All told, a very entertaining minor league western, on a par with The Renegade Ranger.
* * * * *
Richard Dix (Wyatt Earp), Kent Taylor (Doc Holliday), Edgar Buchanan (Curly Bill Brocius), Frances Gifford (Ruth Grant), Don Castle (Johnny Duane), Clem Bevans (Tadpole), Victor Jory (Ike Clanton), Rex Bell (Virgil Earp), Charles Halton (Dan Crane), Harvey Stephens (Morgan Earp), Chris-Pin Martin (Chris), Dick Curtis (Frank McLowery), Paul Sutton (Tom McLowery), Donald Curtis (Phineas Clanton), Wallis Clark (Ed Schieffelin), James Ferrara (Billy Clanton), Charles Stevens (Indian Charley), Jack Rockwell (Bob Paul), Hal Taliaferro (Mason), Emmett Vogan (John), Spencer Charters (judge), Mickey Eissa, Beryl Wallace, Charles Middleton.
Director: WILLIAM McGANN. Screenplay: Albert Shelby LeVino, Edward Paramore. Based on the 1939 book Tombstone, the Toughest Town in Arizona by Walter Noble Burns. Photography: Russell Harlan. Film editors: Carroll Lewis, Sherman A. Rose. Supervising art director and associate producer: Lewis Rachmil. Producer: Harry Sherman. A Harry Sherman Production.
Copyright: 12 June 1942 by Paramount Pictures Inc. New York opening at the Rialto: 26 July 1942. U.S. release: 13 June 1942. Australian release: 1 October 1942. 8 reels. 7,150 feet. 79 minutes.
U.S. and U.K. release title: TOMBSTONE, THE TOWN TOO TOUGH TO DIE.
SYNOPSIS: Two prospectors, Tadpole (Clem Bevans) and Ed Schieffelin (Wallis Clark), discover silver in the Arizona hills and they name the spot “Tombstone”.
Years later, they establish the Schieffelin and Foster Mining Properties and with this as a centre, the two rich partners create a town which soon grows big enough to sport “The Epitaph”, a newspaper. The editor of the paper writes editorials to chide “the Mayor and his phoney peace officers”, because Curly Bill (Edgar Buchanan) and his circle of outlaws really run the town. The gang consists principally of Ike Clanton (Victor Jory), Billy Clanton (James Ferrara), Tom McLowery (Paul Sutton) and Frank McLowery (Dick Curtis).
Things become so tough in the town that Wyatt Earp (Richard Dix), one of three brothers from the Southwest, is pressed into service as Sheriff. Curly and his gang are worried and manufacture a plot with Mayor Crane (Charles Halton), who has been forced by the newspaper to make Wyatt Sheriff, to eliminate Wyatt and his two brothers, Virgil (Rex Bell) and Morgan (Harvey Stephens).
Crane orders Wyatt to go out collecting taxes from the toughest cowboys of the territory. He introduces Johnny (Don Castle), a stranger looking for a job, as a tax appraiser who will accompany Wyatt on his journey. The plan is for some angry outlaw to kill Earp while he is forcing him to pay up. Johnny will make sure that, if Wyatt does collect money, Curly will get the sum. Meanwhile, Doc Holliday (Kent Taylor), a cold killer-friend of Wyatt, comes to town and joins up with Morgan, Virgil and Wyatt as a deputy.
NOTES: See Frontier Marshal in this book for other Earp movies.
Locations at Long Valley in the High Sierras, and Lone Pine in the Alabama Hills.
VIEWERS’ GUIDE: Okay for all.
COMMENT: Here’s Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and all our other friends of the O.K. Corral, this time directed by Bill McGann. Although it doesn’t quite achieve the epic stature it’s obviously aiming for, and suffers by comparison with the other versions, particularly My Darling Clementine and Frontier Marshal, it’s still a fascinating, suspenseful, action-packed piece of entertainment.
OTHER VIEWS: Exciting, historically inaccurate, fast-paced western. Dix comes across superbly as Earp, but Taylor’s Doc leaves much to be desired.
Motion Picture Guide.
* * * * *
George Montgomery (Marshal Tom Jackson), Rod Cameron (Bob “Bitter Creek” Yauntis), Ruth Roman (Rose of Cimarron, Belle Starr’s daughter), Wallace Ford (Lafe Bailey), Charles Kemper (Gaffer), William Phipps (Yuma), Edith King (Mrs Allen), Jack Lambert (Bronc), Fred Libby (Slim), Isabel Jewell (Belle Starr), J. Farrell MacDonald (Doc Benson), Chris-Pin Martin (Spanish George), Kenneth MacDonald (Jim Davis), William Perrott (Loftus), William Ruhl (Chris), Frank Darien (old man), Larry Johns (Jed Purdy), Harry Harvey (drunk citizen), Charles Stevens (Cherokee Joe), Paul E. Burns (Clearwater doctor), Lane Chandler (Marshal Evans), Mary Foran (Bonnie), Henry Hull (old marshal), Bill Kennedy (Kiowa marshal), John Cason (Kiowa posseman), Christine Larsen (saloon girl), Hank Patterson (townsman), and Alvin Hammer.
Director: LESLEY SELANDER. Original screenplay: W.R. Burnett. Photography: William A. Sickner. Camera operator: John Martin. Art director: Lucius Croxton. Set decorator: Dave Milton. Music composed and directed by Dr Edward Kilenyi. Film editor: Jason Bernie. Production manager: Wesley Barry. Assistant director: Harry Mancke. Script supervisor: Bill Shank. Hair stylist: Fay Smith. Make-up: Webb Overlander. Grip: Bill Johnson. Still photographer: Ed Jones. Special effects: Ray Mercer. Sound recording: Tom Lambert. Associate producer: Jack Jungmeyer Jr. Producer: Edward L. Alperson. Alson Productions, Inc. Released through 20th Century-Fox Film Corp.
Copyright: 3 November 1948 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Globe: 8 January 1949. U.S. release: November 1948. U.K. release: 28 March 1949. Australian release: 2 June 1949. 7,760 feet. 86 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Colorful Western in which Belle Starr, a notorious Wild West bandit, is killed by Bob Yauntis, one of her own men, who lays the blame on a marshal. Belle’s daughter, Rose, turns bandit in order to take vengeance on the marshal, until he proves his innocence. Rod Cameron gives an excellent performance as the bad man, with good work coming from George Montgomery and Ruth Roman. — Picture Show.
NOTES: A Fox release and follow-up to the highly successful BELLE STARR.
COMMENT: A-grade western with an exciting script by W.R. Burnett (author of Little Caesar and The Asphalt Jungle) and direction by Lesley Selander that is far more slick and stylish than his usual standard. There’s plenty of action and the pace is fast.
Rod Cameron and Fred Libby contribute interesting character portrayals. Ruth Roman fills the title role quite agreeably, while George Montgomery lends some skilful horsemanship to the climactic chase. (A pity that his fist fight with Jack Lambert is so obviously staged with doubles).
The supporting cast is strong and production values, including the atmospheric photography by William Sickner, excellent.
* * * * *
Roy Rogers, Bob Nolan (themselves), Dale Evans (Lee Madison), Andy Devine (Cookie), John McGuire (Rex Gridley), Olaf Hytten (Lionel Bates), David Sharpe (Gus Ulrich), Fritz Leiber (padre), Hank Patterson (old timer), Fred S. Toones (cook), Eddie Acuff (bus driver), Bob Nolan, Pat Brady, Tim Spencer, Karl Farr, Hugh Farr [The Sons of the Pioneers] (themselves), Keefe Brasselle (Ignacio), Dale Van Sickel (Mike, a henchman, and stunt double for John McGuire), Charles Sullivan (Roberts, a henchman), Fred Graham, Roy Bucko, Whitey Christy, Post Park, Eddie Parker, James Linn, Kansas Moehring, Doc Adams, Art Dillard (mine henchmen), Victor Cox (bus passenger), Jay Kirby (rider), Rex Rossi (Ramon), Ray Turner (Buck), Luana Walters (lodge clerk), Joe Yrigoyen (stunt double for Roy Rogers), and "Trigger".
Director: WILLIAM WITNEY. Screenplay: Sloan Nibley. Original screen story: Paul Gangelin. Photographed in Trucolor by Jack Marta. Film editor: Les Orlebeck. Art director: Gano Chittenden. Set decorators: John McCarthy Jr, Helen Hansard. Make-up: Bob Mark. Special effects: Howard Lydecker, Theodore Lydecker. Music director: Morton Scott. Orchestrations: Mort Glickman. Songs: "Bells of San Angelo" (chorus), "Hot Lead" (Pioneers), "A Cowboy's Dream of Heaven" (Rogers), "I Love the West" (Evans), "Gee, But I Love To Get Up Early in the Mornin' " (Toones, Evans, Rogers, Hytten, Devine), "Lazy Days" (Pioneers). All songs by Tim Spencer and Jack Elliott. Stunts: Fred Graham, Eddie Parker. Assistant director: Jack Lacey. Sound recording: Fred Stahl. RCA Sound System. Associate producer: Edward J. White. Executive producer: Herbert J. Yates.
Copyright: 7 May 1947 by Republic Pictures Corp. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 15 April 1947. U.K. release through British Lion: 20 August 1949. Never released in Australia, either theatrically or to television. 78 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: "Border investigator" (are there such things?) exposes a silver smuggling operation. (Why the villains go to such an enormous amount of trouble and take such elaborate precautions is not explained. Rogers and his chums and the padre move quite freely across the border without once being challenged or passing through any kind of customs check).
COMMENT: It's odd that this one was never released in some countries as it's just about as good as the Republic "B" western ever got and that's a mighty high standard indeed. Attractively color-photographed locales, plenty of action, the fights vigorously staged, the chases thrillingly augmented by stuntwork and running inserts, some catchy songs, ingratiating players, and above all a script that doesn't take itself too seriously, often cleverly lampooning the mystery novel and providing opportunities for some nice touches of comedy and romance between the two well-delineated principals.
Whether fist-fighting or singing or hard-riding or light romancing, Rogers is in especially fine form. His opposite number Dale Evans looks marvelously attractive in color and plays with an absolutely entrancing sparkle and animation. The rest of the comedy is in the capable hands of Andy Devine and Olaf Hytten, whilst the villains are enacted by John McGuire and our favorite stuntman David Sharpe. The only sour note in this ensemble is struck by Fritz Leiber. Evidently nobody told old Fritz that this was a light romantic adventure. His performance is so hammily heavy-handed, he throws all his scenes off-balance. Fortunately there are not many of them as his part is mercifully small.
Also brief, in fact virtually fleeting, is the part played by Bob Nolan. He doesn't even figure much with his Sons of the Pioneers, where most of the singing is handled by Pat Brady, the Farr brothers (Hugh and Carl), Lloyd Perryman and Tim Spencer.
William Witney has directed with an admirably sure hand, balancing the light comedy-romance episodes with vigorously staged action to perfection. The songs are nicely presented too. Other credits and production values are far above the studio's usual "B" average.
* * * * *
Gregory Peck (James McKay), Jean Simmons (Julie Maragon), Carroll Baker (Patricia Terrill), Charlton Heston (Steve Leech), Burl Ives (Rufus Hannassey), Charles Bickford (Major Henry Terrill), Alfonso Bedoya (Ramon), Chuck Connors (Buck Hannassey), Chuck Hayward (Rafe Hannassey), Buff Brady (Dude Hannassey), Jim Burk (Cracker Hannassey), Dorothy Adams (Hannassey woman), Chuck Roberson, Bob Morgan, John McKee and Jay Slim Talbot (Terrill cowboys), Ralph Sanford, Harry V. Chesire, Dick Alexander (guests), Jonathan Peck, Stephen Peck, Carey Paul Peck (boys), Donald Kerr (liveryman).
Director: WILLIAM WYLER. Screenplay: James R. Webb, Sy Bartlett and Robert Wilder. Adaptation: Jessamyn West and Robert Wyler. Based on the 1957 novel and Saturday Evening Post serial “Ambush at Blanco Canyon” by Donald Hamilton. Photography: Franz F. Planer. Sound: John Kean and Roger Heman. Music: Jerome Moross. Art direction: Frank Hotaling. Set decoration: Edward G. Boyle. Costumes: Emile Santiago and Yvonne Wood. Hairstyles: Joan St Oegger. Make-up: Dan Greenway and Harry Maret Jr. Assistant director: Ivan Volkman. Second unit director: John Waters and Robert Swink. Second unit photography: Wallace Chewning. Technirama. Technicolor. Supervising film editor: Robert Swink. Film editors: Robert Belcher, John Faure. 2nd assistant director: Ray Gosnell. 3rd assistant director: Henry Hartman. Sound editor: Del Harris. Filmed on the Drais Ranch, near Stockton, California. A William Wyler Production for Anthony-Worldwide Productions. Released by United Artists. Producers: William Wyler and Gregory Peck.
Copyright: 1958 by Anthony-Worldwide Productions. New York opening at the Astor: 1 October 1958. U.S. release: 15 August 1958. U.K. release: 1 March 1959. Australian release: 2 July 1959. 165 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Back in the carefree movie days of the 1920s, fledgling Director William Wyler made one western a week for a whole year. “Every Friday I would be given a new script”, he recalls. “The actors were real cowboys, and the films followed a set formula: action at the beginning, a plot, and big action at the end.” The formula has changed little, but everything else has changed considerably. For The Big Country, Director Wyler had a $3,000,000 budget, a year of preparation before he began shooting, five more months to film it, and a gaudy troupe of players led by Gregory Peck (also co-producer). He has not squandered his resources. Big Country is a starkly beautiful, carefully written, classic western that demands comparison with Shane. — Time.
NOTES: Burl Ives won the prestigious Hollywood award for Best Supporting Actor, defeating Theodore Bikel in The Defiant Ones, Leo Jacoby in The Brothers Karamazov, Arthur Kennedy in Some Came Running, and Gig Young in Teacher’s Pet.
Jerome Moross was nominated for an award for his Music Score, losing to Dimitri Tiomkin’s The Old Man and the Sea.
The New York Film Critics nominated the film for Best Picture and Wyler for Best Director, both losing to The Defiant Ones.
Burl Ives, Best Supporting Actor — Hollywood Foreign Press.
Best Western of the year — Film Daily annual poll of American film critics.
Best Western of 1958 — New York Daily News.
Best Western of 1958 — Time.
Best Western of 1958 — New York Journal American.
Best Western of 1958 — New York World-Telegram.
Best Western of 1958 — New York Post.
“Simply the best film ever made. My number one favorite film.” — President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
VIEWERS’ GUIDE: Adults.
COMMENT: An epic western directed by William Wyler in an obvious attempt to recapture the success of The Westerner. That the attempt is not wholly successful is due more to the stock characters in the script than to Wyler’s somewhat old-hat technique. What makes The Big Country really outstanding is Jerome Moross’s invigorating music score — one of the most exciting ever composed for a motion picture.
OTHER VIEWS: For a simple story, The Big Country had the lengthiest writing credits of a Wyler movie — screenplay by James R. Webb, Sy Bartlett, and Robert Wilder; adapted by Jessamyn West and Robert Wyler from the Donald Hamilton story Ambush at Blanco Canyon. Webb was a prolific western writer, the scripter of such Robert Aldrich yarns as Vera Cruz and Apache, who had just written Pork Chop Hill for Lewis Milestone (he was also to write the Ford-Hathaway-George Marshall Cinerama western How the West Was Won and Ford’s Cheyenne Autumn). Bartlett was the former newsman who had helped Wyler get into the Air Force, now a screenwriter-producer forming a partnership with Peck (in 1967, he was to hire Wilson to write Che). Wilder was a novelist friend of Robert’s, the author of Flamingo Road, which Curtiz had adapted in 1949, and of And Ride Tiger. Increasingly, credits were “arbitrated” by the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA), the successor of the old Screen Writers’ Guild. Wyler was to remember little of who wrote what on The Big Country and even to express astonishment at finding Jessamyn West among the names. His fights with the WGA over who should have his or her name on the screen were far from over.
It was a big picture. By the time it opened at the Astor on Broadway, 1 October 1958, it was a $3.1 million production and a two-and-three-quarter-hours-long movie that United Artists was nervous about. Would it click? The reviews ranged from disastrous to sublime. Bosley Crowther said that despite its mighty pretentions, The Big Country did not get “beneath the skin of its conventional western situation and its stock western characters. It skims across standard complications and ends on a platitude. Peace is a pious precept but fightin’ is more excitin’. That’s what it proves.” — Axel Madsen: William Wyler.
The story is a mass of inconsistencies. So is Wyler’s direction... We never understood anybody. Why do the Terrills hate the Hannasseys and vice versa? Why does Patricia Terrill love her father more than her fiancee? Why does Peck love her? Why does he later love her school teacher friend?... Why, why, why?… Some of [the exteriors] are the most beautiful color photography I’ve ever seen in a Western. — Courtland Phipps in Films In Review.
A large-scale, meticulously produced, obviously expensive Western... For all its familiar Western trappings, it is a fairly complex and sophisticated affair. — Arthur Knight in Saturday Review.
The Big Country was the first film on which Gregory Peck’s name would appear as “producer” and, Peck told an interviewer during the picture’s production, it was in Rome that he had caught the producing bug — from William Wyler.
Out of their mutually pleasant experience making Roman Holiday grew the Peck-Wyler co-production partnership responsible for The Big Country. After this, their second picture together, was completed, however, Wyler told a newspaper reporter in New York, “I’ll never make another picture with Greg Peck... and you can quote me.” Dissolve partnership.
The disagreement between Peck and Wyler arose, in fact, over costs, specifically, what Peck considered Wyler's extravagance: “He overshot by an hour’s length, which had to be cut.” They wound up with a picture just under three hours long and “went way over our budget.” The original budget, projected for $3 million, was revised to $3.5 million. “We spent,” says Peck, “4.1 million.” —John Griggs: The Films of Gregory Peck.
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Wallace Beery (Big Jack Horner), Richard Conte (Dr Alexander Meade), Marjorie Main (Flapjack Kate), Edward Arnold (Mayor Mahoney), Vanessa Brown (Patricia Mahoney), Clinton Sundberg (C. Petronius Smith), Charles Dingle (Mathias Taylor), Clem Bevans (Saltick Joe), Jack Lambert (Bud Valentine), Will Wright (Will Farnsworth), William “Bill” Phillips (Toddy), Syd Saylor (Pokey), Vince Barnett (Tom Speed), Trevor Bardette (John Oakea), Andy Clyde (Putt Cleghorn), Edith Evanson (Widow Simpson), Tom Fadden (Sheriff Summers), Robert B. Williams (Jed), Eddie Dunn (coachman), Francis McDonald (prisoner), Minerva Urecal (Mrs Summers), Ann Doran (Sarah), Hank Bell (driver), Dick Alexander, Lynn Farr, Jimmy Martin, Lane Bradford, Casey McGregor, Cactus Mack, Carl Sepulveda, Bill Dix, Bob Filmer, Fred Gilman (bandits), Jim Pierce (man in buggy), Helen Dickson (woman in buggy), Carol Henry, Frank McCarroll, Hollis Bane, Frank McGrath (posse members).
Director: RICHARD THORPE. Screenplay: Gene Fowler, Marvin Borowsky, Otto Van Eyss. Story: Robert Thoeren. Suggested by the 1937 book Doctors on Horseback: Pioneers of American Medicine by James Thomas Flexner. Photography: Robert Surtees. Film editor: George Boemler. Music: Herbert Stothart. Supervising art director: Cedric Gibbons. Camera operator: A. Lindsley Lane. Associate art director: Randall Duell. Set decorations: Edwin B. Willis, Hugh Hunt. Music directed by Andre Previn. Production manager: Al Shenberg. Assistant director: Al Jennings. Script supervisor: John Banse. Hair styles: Sydney Guilaroff. Make-up: Jack Dawn. Grip: Albert Hunter. Costumes: Valles. Still photographs: S.C. Manatt. Sound: Douglas Shearer, John A. Williams. Western Electric Sound System. Producer: Gottfried Reinhardt.