Sorry, this movie sucks

Excellent, a Must See

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

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

A pacifist-minded ex-Confederate gets caught up in a land war as he seeks a new life in post- Civil War Missouri.Considering the bizarre cast, I guess I was hoping for too much. After all, the compelling Tierney, Elam, Chaney Jr. and Dell are all established movie toughies. Then there's the unpredictable Ireland and Morris, performers comfortable playing with a wobbly moral compass. And finally there's the luscious Malone playing the good citizen, though she could also wobble when necessary, e.g. Written On The Wind (1955). Trouble is Tierney's entirely wasted, disappearing early on. No scary stare or frozen face here. As a result, there's no logical showdown between him and Ireland, as dramatically promising as that would be. Also, Chaney only gets a few minutes of loopy screen time, while Morris seems unsure of what he's supposed to do as the Marshal. And the latter's really too bad since the Marshal's uncertainty could be the story's most interesting character. The narrative itself is fairly familiar—greedy plotters trying to drive settlers off their land so they can cash in on the railway coming through. Not exactly a ground-breaking premise. On the other hand, shifting alliances among the town folk add character interest, while a restrained Ireland carries the film even though in a clichéd role. Still, I like the fact that the settlers organize themselves without waiting for the hero to save the day. That's a good non- clichéd touch.All in all, I'm wondering how a budget indie like this was able to assemble such an exotic cast, and whether they had to haul legendary juicers like Tierney and Chaney out of the nearest Hollywood bar. Too bad the screenplay didn't make better use of these colorful characters. That would have made something truly memorable. Instead, we get an unexceptional if occasionally interesting western.

Where do I start? This low budget B film is really really mean! This was made in 1951 before the really dirty villain was around in low budget westerns I thought? Maybe this film helped set the trend, the times they were changing. So what do I mean by "dirty" +++Spoilers+++ How about in the first 5 minutes crazy eye Jack Elam torches a settlers house with two pre teen boys still in it? This right after he cracks their Mom's skull with a torch making them both orphans because they had just gunned down their Dad? Now thats dirty! Then you got psychotic Lon Chaney and his really crazy daughter Myrna Dell, you do NOT want to mess around with that family! They put new meaning to the phrase "we don't take kindly to strangers"! In comes poor ol John Ireland who has vowed to never use a gun at the end of the civil war and heads out west? He couldn't gone east I guess because he never got rid of his rebel trousers? And let me tell you the first half of this film is John Ireland getting beat up and shot and then thrown in irons for murder by Wayne Morris in all his Paths Of Glory corruption as the town marshal. Dorothy Malone is the hot good girl daughter of the newspaper editor who also packs a gun, I mean everybody is gun crazy (except John Ireland), and they have quick trigger fingers too! The film poster linked here (actually a DVD cover) is that of Myrna Dell who's the blond in this film and because she's a psycho and she has 20 gun men to back her up. The story may be very clichéd but the out right ruthlessness of the bad guys and utter corruption of the whole town for a 1951 film raise this film up several notches. I'm giving it a 7 out 10, it doesn't deserve higher because it's cheaply made but it's very entertaining. I had this film in a 50 movie pack set for "War" films from Millcreek that I got off of Amazon. The print is pretty bad I see that since it's a public domain film that it's available on archive, youtube and hulu now so try them out, the print is probably better. Don't be getting Bushwhacked now, you hear?!

I found it interesting that the film's original working title was "The Rebel", since some of the early footage was also used in the opening sequence of the 1959 Civil War TV series, "The Gray Ghost". I'm pretty sure I've also seen it recycled in other movies with a Civil War theme.John Ireland stars as tired ex-soldier Jefferson Waring from Virginia, heading West without a gun and a vow to never use one against men again. Of course that's just the set up for the eventual finale when he does just that to take the side of settlers against scheming landowners led by Artemus Taylor (Lon Chaney). Chaney's character is wheelchair bound throughout the story, but that doesn't prevent him from looking about as spooky as he did in any of his horror flicks.The most complex, actually frustrating character in the story for me was Marshal Harding (Wayne Morris). He's in the pocket of villain Sam Tobin (Lawrence Tierney), but is on the fence most of the time trying to keep a level playing field for Waring and his new friends. Curiously, he never uses his six gun, and actually seems to have an aversion to firing one; he isn't even part of the finale when the settlers stand up for their rights.Where the film gets really gritty has to do with the treatment of Taylor's daughter Nora, who's every bit as ornery as her father. Following the ambush on Taylor's hired gunmen, she attempts to make a getaway with money from the local bank, and shoots banker Stone (Charles Trowbridge) in the process. Now it's not unusual for a woman in a 'B' Western to get shot, even killed, but here, when Stone recovers, he shoots her IN THE BACK - Wow! That was something I never thought I'd see, in fact, never even thought about it, even though it happened all the time when men were involved.A couple of things to keep an eye out for - early in the story when Waring first meets Peter Sharpe (Frank Marlowe), they sit down, and Sharpe begins his conversation with "You know Randall...". Ireland's character looks at Sharpe as if to say, 'hey, that's not my name', but the scene continues. Later on, I got a kick out of the funeral service being held in the local saloon for a couple that was killed by Taylor's goons. Right there on top of the bar was a sign stating - 'Bar Closed During Services'!

Using a theme that became quite popular decades later, Amateau scores well on his directorial debut. The original title of this movie was to be "The Rebel" however, producer Broder was unable to keep his hands off anything he was involved in, hence the uninspired title. It is interesting to note that Director Amateau years later in his TV show "Dukes of Hazzard" named the automobile "The Rebel." Ireland is perfectly cast as the emoting Civil War veteran, only seeking peace, but willing to fight and kill to get it. The supporting cast is extremely interesting, featuring the, by then has-been Morris, Tierney, Dell, and Chaney. Considering that Ireland, Chaney, Tierney, and Morris were renown for their drinking bouts, working on this picture must have been a real challenge. The end result is a very good, if dated western, featuring some of the finest acting put on celluloid.