recommended

Charming and brutal

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

A Brilliant Conflict

"The Cariboo Trail" is a trail through the "wilds" of British Columbia in Canada where cattleman Jim Redfern (Randolph Scott), Mike Evans (Bill Williams) and Ling (Lee Tung Foo) are driving a small herd of cattle from Montana with the hope of reaching a so-called promised land on which to establish a cattle ranch. Along the way, they meet up with grizzled old prospector Grizzly (Gabby Hayes - in his final film).On the trail, they are confronted by a toll bridge manned by Murphy (Douglas Kennedy) and Miller (Jim Davis). Redfern and company refuse to pay the toll and stampede the cattle across. Town boss Frank Walsh (Victor Jory) owns the bridge. Walsh sends his men to rustle the cattle but during the stampede, Evans is injured and Redfern is forced to amputate his left arm. Evans becomes bitter to the point of hiring out his gun to Walsh.Redfern meanwhile, is befriended by independent saloon owner Francie Harris (Karin Booth) who grub stakes him for a go in the gold fields. Refern, Grizzly and Ling venture onto Indian lands and are captured. With the help of Grizzly's mule, the trio escape in different directions.Redfern discovers a hidden valley suitable for cattle while panning for gold. He discover gold and returns to town where Walsh cheats him and incites the towns people to drive him out of town. By chance Redfern meets up with Grizzly who has returned to Montana and hooked up with his brother's family. Headed by the feisty Martha Winters (Mary Kent), they are driving their herd north. Along with Martha's daughter Jane (Mary Stuart) and foreman Will Gray (Dale Robertson), Redfern is offered a partnership in the venture.Back in town, Walsh plots to steal the cattle. Mike Evans has a change of heart as Redfern returns to town to confront the Walsh gang and.....................................................Randolph Scott could sleep walk through most of his westerns playing variations of the same character. But he did so in a most entertaining way. Gabby Hayes, who was anything but the be-whiskered old side kick he portrayed, goes out on a high note. Bill Williams never got to the big time but had a successful marriage to Barbara Hale and became the parents of actor William Katt. Victor Jory, always at his best when playing the villain, turns in another great show as the sneaky be-speckled, oily Walsh. Dale Robertson was just starting out at this time. Douglas Kennedy, Jim Davis and James Griffith also stood out as members of Walsh's gang.Just a note. Since the story takes place in a lawless part of British Columbia with crime abounding, one has to wonder "Where were the Mounties"?

This film marked the end of George "Gabby" Hayes screen career.He is shown as having made 190 screen appearances in Westerns between 1929 and 1950.Although in the quotes section he is quoted as saying that he hated westerns.He has always been my favourite western sidekick.He was just so good at it.He looks quite old in this film though in actual fact he is only about 68.One supposes that with the advent of TV he foresaw the end of his type of Westerns.I have to say that I consider that he is the best sidekick of all.He has a very good role in this his final film.Otherwise it is just run of the mill.As has been mentioned elsewhere the cinecolor is truly awful and was clearly used for the sake of economy.

I won't bother to summarize the plot, as all of the previous reviewers have done so and there's nothing new I can add. As others have noted, this is not one of Scott's best films, or even one of his better ones. Director Edwin L. Marin has done some good westerns in the past--John Wayne's "Tall in the Saddle" comes to mind--but he doesn't seem to have had his heart in this one. Direction is perfunctory, performances are nothing special--although Bill Wiliams as a bitter one-armed cowboy has some good moments--and the action scenes are routine and not particularly well done. The worst thing about the film, however, is the photography. For some reason producer Nat Holt, who had done many of Scott's previous westerns, saw fit to use the cheap, crappy Cinecolor process for this film instead of the much superior Technicolor or Deluxe or even the chintzy Eastman Color, which would still have come out better than Cinecolor. The colors are muddy, everything is way too dark--even the day shots--actors' faces seem to fade into the background, and the major action setpiece takes place at night and the colors are so dark and muddy that, while the battle is certainly noisy, you can barely see anything.All in all this is a decidedly below-average Scott western. The lousy photography definitely detracts from the film, but it didn't really have anything going for it in the first place.

This film has many faults, and if Randolph Scott made many westerns that could be called "adult" this is certainly not one of them. You can't take it seriously but I enjoyed it. One must remember that this film was made in 1950, and color here is of great importance,considering most westerns of the forties and before were made in black and white. Randolph Scott had the ideal physique for a western hero, and his presence together with a nice scenery and a lot of action, the usual fistfight, and shootouts, cattle stampede, Indian attacks would please most of the spectators of the fifties and it sure pleases me, perhaps a nostalgic feeling. Gabby Hayes is always a welcome presence, great sidekick. Bill Williams has a good performance as Mike Evans, who loses his arm and blames it on Scott, Karen Booth as the saloon owner who falls for Scott, and a small part of a very young Dale Robertson as Will Gray. If you are a nostalgic for old westerns like me you will enjoy it.