It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Blistering performances.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

After the American Civil War, the brothers Dan (Robert Ryan) and Neil Hammond (Rock Hudson) returns to their father's ranch H Circle in Austin, Texas with their friend Tiny (James Arness). The greedy Dan does not adapt to ranching again and has the intention of raising a fortune of his own. He borrows one thousand dollars from a friend and play cards with the wealthy Cord Hardin (Raymond Bur). However he loses five thousand dollars and Hardin humiliates Dan. He recruits dangerous deserters and other scum to form a gang, and together they steal the cattle of Cord and other ranchers. Dan raises a large amount and returns to Austin, telling that he made a fortune in New Orleans. When Cord kidnaps Neil to interrogate about the business of his brother, Cord's wife Lorna (Julia Adams) goes to the hotel and tells to Dan what is happening in the ranch. Dan goes to Cord's ranch and kills him in self- defense. He is judged innocent and sooner he marries Lorna. But his ambition is not satisfied and Dan uses the force to raise an empire. However, his father and Neil decide to bring Dan to the court with tragic consequences."Horizons West" is a western about greedy in the Post-Civil War dividing a family of ranchers. Robert Ryan is excellent, as usual, in the role of a man that loses his values in the war and returns cruel and ambitious. Julia Adams is very beautiful, wearing wonderful costumes. There are excellent lines in the dialogs and in the end this is an entertaining film. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Império do Pavor" ("Empire of Fear")

Review of 'Horizon's West'by you Review of Horizon's West 1952 Directed by Budd Boetticher This is an entertaining movie, with a good cast. I gave it six stars out of 10 in the IMDb ranking. It scored 13 points in my ranking system, which is slightly above average. Here's what worked: Strong lead performance by Robert Ryan. He proves he can carry a film. Also, his character is both the protagonist and the heavy, which is always complex and interesting. A very alluring performance by Julie Adams. Another solid effort by John McIntire, who once again convincingly portrays a character 20 years older than himself. He plays Ryan's father in the film and I'm sure few suspect that in reality he was only two years older than Robert Ryan. Ryan's character lives in Austin and becomes a cattle rustler. He sells his cattle in Mexico to a corrupt Mexican general who rules over an area of Mexico called the Zona Libre. He also recruits a community of criminals and army deserters to assist him. These are two really hip themes, one of which was also used effectively in Fritz Lang's "Rancho Notorious". Unfortunately, both of these movies didn't capitalize fully on these ideas. There's a really good movie still waiting to be made using the "Zona Libre" and community of outlaw themes. Excellent Civil War theme. Robert Ryan plays a character who returns to Texas from the Civil War. His humiliation at the South's defeat ignites his destructive ambition to succeed financially after the war. Interesting early appearance by several actors who would go on to TV fame and fortune, including Raymond Burr and "Gunsmoke" stalwarts Dennis Weaver and James Arness. There are no plot holes. Most of the character's motivations make sense and are consistent. Now here's what kept the movie from being better: It's just too stiff and melodramatic. At times it teeters on the edge of "Duel in the Sun"-esquire steamy romance. It's kind of low budget. Some of the interior sets are OK, but it doesn't get outdoors enough. And when they do, they film just north of L.A. No comic relief Rock Hudson

"Horizons West" is the kind of unpretentious, fast-paced Technicolor western that Universal-International churned out in the 1950s. The pared-down narrative combined with tight cutting ensures that the movie proceeds briskly even though "Horizons West" was directed without any dramatic intensity. The basic narrative material could have been stretched out to 120 minutes or more, but director Budd Boetticher and editor Ted Kent brought the film in at less than 85 minutes.Dan Hammond (Robert Ryan), his brother Neil (Rock Hudson) and their ranch colleague Tiny (James Arness) return to Texas from the Civil War. Neil and Tiny are content to return to their previous way of life, but Dan has much bigger ideas. He recruits a gang of army deserters and rustles cattle in a big way. He is very successful and expands into land grabbing and claim jumping. Soon money and success go to his head, and hubris clouds his judgement. Eventually his loyal and loving family turn against him and take it upon themselves to bring him down.Robert Ryan was always a good, unshowy actor, and he brings out the many sides of Dan Hammond very well. John McIntire, another reliable actor, is also very good as the simple, unambitious father. Julia Adams for once is not given a peaches and cream part, and she too is successful at showing the different aspects of her character. Rock Hudson and Dennis Weaver are still at the beginnings of their careers, and their inexperience and lack of screen presence shows. As was so often the case in those days, Raymond Burr plays an unpleasant character and really makes the audience dislike him."Horizons West" is a very minor film and is unlikely to make it onto DVD, but if it appears on television, it is well worth watching.UPDATE: A Region 2 DVD of this movie will be issued in France in November, 2008. It will have the original English language soundtrack with French subtitles.

Having acted alongside James Stewart in 'Bend of the River' and appeared in two films with Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson was certainly on his way up the ladder in his late 20's. He's a bit like Charlton Heston in the sense that he has the maturity of someone almost twice his age whilst still in his 20's.