Sadly Over-hyped

Good concept, poorly executed.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Randolph Scott plays James Barlow, a Pinkerton agent who goes undercover as an outlaw to infiltrate the Reno brothers gang. A tried and true plot very familiar to anybody who's seen many of the cheap westerns of the '30s. What helps this some is the fine cast. Scott's solid as ever but doesn't show up until twenty minutes in. The brothers are played by J. Carrol Naish, Forrest Tucker, Myron Healey, and Denver Pyle as the law-abiding one. Edgar Buchanan, Ray Teal, and Kenneth Tobey also have supporting roles. Beautiful Mala Powers plays Scott's love interest. The Reno brothers were real-life outlaws. Their story is loosely told here mixed with the formula plot about the undercover agent who falls in love with the outlaws' sister. It's all pretty standard stuff. The Reno brothers story would be told again the following year in Elvis Presley's film debut, Love Me Tender. That movie was even more historically inaccurate than this one.

I quote from the message on the screen at the beginning of the film "This is the true story of the Reno Brothers.....who were the first train robbers in American history". Well, the film then begins with the Reno gang being shot up attempting to rob a bank, with brother Bill killed. I could find no evidence that this gang ever attempted to rob a bank, and no Reno brother was ever shot dead! Sister Laura is presented as a refined young woman who disapproves of her brother's criminal activities, but continues to harbor them out of filial loyalty. Well, the real Laura Reno was a mid-teen wild child at this time, who supported her brother's activities, whatever they might be. But, we couldn't have 57 year old Randolph Scott wooing an under-aged wild girl! Next thing we know, the Pinkerton(renamed Peterson) Detective Agency selects Scott's character(James Barlow), an ex-Confederate spy and notorious ladies man, to head a bogus train robbery near the Reno's headquarters, to attract their attention. That's right, according to the film, the Peterson(Pinkerton) Agency staged the first train robbery in US history, and the Renos became train robbers only at the urging of Scott's character, after he was accepted as one of their gang! According to the film, the Reno's one attempt to rob a train was a disaster, resulting in the capture of all by Peterson(Pinkerton) agents waiting in the express car and in the surrounding bush.Failed bank robbers and failed train robbers. That is their claim to fame? Actually, they staged two successful train robberies before being thwarted by Pinkerton agents in their 3rd attempt, more or less as dramatized in the film, except that they were not wounded nor captured, as shown in the film! Two members of the gang, not the whole gang as depicted,did rob the courthouse in Gallatin, MO. John Reno was recognized, arrested and jailed long term as a result of this raid. Other gang members robbed a number of other courthouses in various upper Midwest states.The undramatic truth is that the other Reno brothers were captured by Pinkerton agents while hiding out in Indianapolis or in Canada.Presumably,the title of this film referes to the rage of the citizens in the regions frequented by the gang, provoking them to carry out 3 lynching incidents, not just the one shown in the film.As shown in the film, 3 Reno brothers met their fate in the last of these 3 lynching incidents, although the film got one of the brothers involved wrong. Unlike in the film, no one in these large vigilante groups was ever tried or jailed for these lynchings.The Reno brothers and their extended gang were much more versatile and successful in their criminal activities than depicted in this film, which portrays them as a poor man's prelude to the James-Younger gang. Why was this gang so reviled, whereas the James-Youngers were often hailed as heroes by locals and much better remembered today? The James Gang only robbed banks and trains, which were mostly owned by Yankee investors, and didn't much directly impact the ordinary people, mostly southern sympathizers, in the regions where the robberies took place. In contrast, the Reno brothers had a much more diverse criminal resume. They robbed various private businesses and a number of post offices and courthouses. In addition, when they used a certain hotel for their headquarters, they fleeced and sometimes murdered the guests, which increased the reputation of this region as a dangerous destination for future would be travelers. Also, they were assumed responsible for a rash of unexplained fires over a period of years, that destroyed homes and businesses. Many of these deeds hurt the locals or local government activities, rather than some far off set of investors.During the Civil War , they sometimes received bonuses for volunteering, or payment for taking the place of draft dodgers, then promptly deserted to repeat the process elsewhere, under an assumed name.The film could have illustrated some of these activities instead of a bogus failed bank robbery! It could have also spent some time exploring their childhoods for reasons for their mass criminal personalities. The Renos were hardly poverty stricken. They had substantial agricultural land holdings, which actually aided them in their criminal careers. The film does emphasize the intimidation and bribery of local law officials, which much extended their criminal careers.In summary, this oater should not be regarded, as claimed, a decent historical portrait of the Reno gang. Rather, it should be regarded as just another Scott-starring yarn, with an unusually talented set of supporting actors, exploiting the Reno gang notoriety as a reference point.Scott plays his southern gentleman persona to the hilt in dealing with the Renos and others, especially Laura. I down grade the film for claiming to be much more than what it actually delivered. It does nicely dramatize the point that vigilante justice is sometimes the only practical way to rid a community of a chronic criminal element, when the official justice system fails to do so, for various reasons.It also dramatizes the importance of the Pinkerton Agency at a time long before the FBI existed. This film is currently available very cheaply as part of a Scott Western Collection DVD package.

I am a great fan of westerns. Knowing the state of California quite well, I particularly like to identify locations used in films. As the primary California locations are the Alabama Hills in Inyo Co., Vasquez Rocks in LA Co., Red Rock Canyon in Kern Co. and various areas near Bishop, I was interested in the locale used here....just south of the present New Melones Reservoir in Calaveras Co. and the state park in Columbia... especially as they were supposed to be somewhere in southern Indiana. This movie had a very strong cast but a bit of a choppy plot. I would also add that neither the vegetation nor the rock outcroppings fit with Indiana, and for a western buff, will distract from an otherwise acceptable film.

Any movie that has J. Carroll Naish as a cowboy can't be all bad (he's good) and pros like Kenneth Tobey and Edgar Buchanon have a certain "authenticity" that benefits a western. Forrest Tucker could be a good guy or a bad guy as the occasion demanded. Here, he's in his nasty, bad guy mode, pumping lead at people and even burning an informer alive. Tucker heads a gang of notorious robbers, including three of his brothers, that owns the corrupt lawmen of one Indiana county. In order to undo them, Randolph Scott, a resourceful spy, must be infiltrated into the gang. To complicate matters, Tucker and Naish's sister, who disapproves of their illegal ways, falls in love with Scott but is disillusioned when he appears to be an outlaw like them. Almost everything (there is a slight surprise at the end) works out as one would expect. Scott's presence carried many a mediocre western and, with interesting actors supporting him, it happens here but don't expect anything more than variations on a familiar theme.