Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Good concept, poorly executed.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

This picture combines elements from the real life exploits of the Dalton Gang and outlaw Bill Doolin, but if you do an internet search on The Cimarron Kid, all you get are references to this movie. I was surprised to see how quickly the Daltons faded from the story, but the events of their raid on Coffeyville, Oklahoma were portrayed fairly accurately. The historical Bill Doolin rode with the Daltons for a while, but whether he was with them on the Coffeyville run remains a matter of conjecture.Be that as it may, this Western is about par for the course for Audie Murphy's movie output. He played both heroes and villains in his pictures, trading on the personal popularity he gained as a real war hero during the Second World War. I don't think you'll find many reviewers who would call him a great actor but he managed to entertain well enough, and that's about the most one can expect from films like these.The puzzler for me in this film was why Murphy's character turned to a life of crime after being exonerated and recommended for parole over his associations with outlaws like the Daltons. His character was one that could have swayed either way, so when he goes the bad guy route I felt the film makers missed an opportunity. A scene I thought was pretty clever was the one in which Carrie Roberts (Beverly Tyler) wrangled an engagement ring out of the Kid when she wasn't even trying. Seems like Dad Roberts (Roy Roberts) was pretty much OK with it too.Now I've seen Hugh O'Brian in outlaw roles before but giving him red hair and a red beard was a bit much, wasn't it? I guess it had to do with his character's name, Red Buck. On hand as a foil to Bill Doolin's position in the gang as nominal leader after most of the Daltons get wiped out, Red doesn't make it out of Rigby during the shootout there. Speaking of which, the inclusion of that railroad turntable was a neat distraction since it had nothing to do with the outcome.Well, the real life Emmett Dalton survived the Coffeyville Raid and after serving prison time, wound up going to Hollywood to consult on films like "When the Daltons Rode". He was given short shrift in this story because the only Dalton survivor in this one was Dynamite Dick (John Hudson) who wound up double crossing Bill Doolin. Sometimes you just can't trust a fellow outlaw.

This B Western opens with protagonist Bill Doolin being released from prison on parole; he intends to go straight but things soon go wrong when the train he is travelling on is robbed by the Dalton Gang. While he never rode with them he knew them as friends so when one of them recognises and speaks to him the other passengers assume he is involved with the gang. He jumps off the train and gets away but rather than running he returns to town to answer questions. The sheriff doesn't want to hear any excuses though and tries to arrest Bill; he gets away once again and ends up hiding out with the Dalton Gang. This time he ends up riding with them although there first robbery goes disastrously wrong leaving many of the gang dead or wounded. It isn't ling before Bill, know known as 'The Cimarron Kid' is leading the gang as they rob banks and steal from trains across Oklahoma Territory. Eventually the law begins to catch up with them; but with one last job planned Bill reckons he can earn enough to buy a ranch in Argentina and live there with his sweetheart... of course things don't go according to plan.The plot for this western might not be that deep but there is plenty of solid action and a decent cast of characters. Audie Murphy puts in a decent performance playing against type as Doolin. Beverly Tyler is good enough as love interest Carrie Roberts but Yvette Duguay is the most memorable of the female cast; she plays Rose whose job it is to get information about targets for their robberies... it is great to see a female character doing more than occasionally act as a nurse or only get involved in the action when it is absolutely necessary; Rose is very much one of the gang. There is plenty of varied action including people jumping from a train onto horses; a burning hay wagon being pulled through a town and an impressive shoot out in a railway yard. The film was made in some stunning scenery although, as was often the case, it is Californian scenery not Oklahoman. This might not be an all time great but it is a pretty good western and fans of the genre should check it out if they get a chance.

This emerges as a pretty good example of the typical Audie Murphy Western vehicle – though of lesser quality to the only one I had previously watched, NO NAME ON THE BULLET (1959) and, being Budd Boetticher's first Western, clearly a minor effort in his canon. Many films of this era treated (in a heavily romanticized manner) the exploits of famous outlaws of the Old West: Murphy appears as Bill Doolin and, at one point, he is told by the leader of The Dalton Gang that "They'll be writing ballads about us" and, sure enough, their exploits were later immortalized in music by the Country Rock band Eagles in "Doolin-Dalton", a song off of their second album "Desperado" (1973). Typically, Murphy is seen forced into a life of crime by circumstances or, more precisely, the persecution of a law-enforcement officer (while another, played by Leif Erickson, is more sympathetic to his plight). As ever, the gang is an eclectic assortment of characters: affable Noah Beery Jr. is their leader, Hugh O'Brian the red-headed hot-tempered challenger, James Best the ladies' man, Frank Silvera the half-breed, etc.; interestingly, we get a couple of romances going on (Murphy with the daughter of a man who shelters them and Best with a fiery Mexican girl) and the female characters are surprisingly strong for this type of film. Reassembling themselves in the wake of a bank hold-up gone awry (the film's best action sequence, climaxing in Beery's memorable come-uppance with the spilling coins a graphic substitution for blood), the gang is subsequently betrayed by the 'inside man' in a train robbery they try to pull off. Murphy is eventually persuaded to give himself up, with Erickson promising him a fair trial this time around. Shot in pleasant Technicolor, the generically-titled THE CIMARRON KID serves up compact, pacy and unpretentious entertainment – perfect viewing after a hard day's work.

The best Audie Murphy films are the ones he plays outlaws. That gave an unusual touch to the films, you never knew how it was going to come out at the end. In "The Kansas Raiders", and also on his last film, he was Jesse James. Here, he rides with the Daltons, their chief is Bob Dalton (Noah Beery Jr.) and they plan three bank robberies at the same time. This film is pure fun from beginning to end, with great action scenes, after all it was directed by Budd Boetticher, whose westerns are like wine: they get better as they get older. The two women, Beverly Tyler and Yvette Duguay are quite strong characters, also unusual in this type of westerns. There are spectacular moments like when they are surrounded in a town and try to escape, with Yvette Duguay helping by turning a track on a circular platform. Also when they hold up the two banks in Coffeyville at the same time. If you enjoy a good western, this one is a must.