If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

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

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

Considering that "The Maverick Queen" was the first widescreen film from Republic Studios, you'd think it would be a prestige picture. Well, apart from sporting a once A-list actress Barbara Stanwyck (who looks pretty awful in color under such heavy makeup), it was far from a memorable movie.The film is about Butch Cassidy and the Hole in the Wall gang. It seems they are being aided, covertly, by a lady (Stanwyck) who runs a business called 'The Maverick Queen'. When a guy comes into town saying he wants to join the gang (Barry Sullivan) and that he's Jeff Younger (of the famous Younger gang), Stanwyck goes gaga for the guy and blindly pushed him into a role in their next robbery. At first the ruse seems to work--until the REAL Younger shows up--then it sure looks as if Nelson's days are numbered. Will his new sweetie just stand back and let the gang do him in or will his sheer manliness win her over to his side--getting her to give up EVERYTHING she's ever worked to create?! Well, in real life, the answer would clearly be NO--but this is a movie after all! As the film progressed, I kept feeling like I've seen this film before. The notion of a butch female gang leader falling for a lawman and betraying the gang is very old and very clichéd--and other actresses like Marlene Dietrich and Joan Crawford (among others) made similar flicks....VERY similar flicks. Additionally, in a scene when there is a showdown and Nelson's character attacks Sundance, not once does Sundance call out for help from his gang who is waiting outside!! Because of bad writing there is never any suspense in the film if you've seen many westerns--you know what MUST happen with each and every cliché--especially the ending. The bottom line is that although this movie looks nice with its location shoot and color widescreen print, the story itself is pure B-movie all the way. It's pretty indistinguishable from a Roy Rogers or Gene Autry film the studio made in previous years--films which cost a whole heck of a lot less to make and with much more modest pretensions. Passable entertainment but no more and perhaps my score of 5 is a bit generous.Please note: In the film, Sundance is killed. However, in real life he died in South America--thousands of miles from where the film is set! Historical accuracy....who needs it?!

Tough gal Kit Banlon opens a hotel and saloon out in frontier Colorado that soon becomes a haven of gamblers and gunfighters. With notable patrons being none other than Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. Fighting off the romantic advances of Sundance, Kit's life gets more interesting when she becomes attracted to a relative of the Younger Brothers' outlaw posse. Or is he? Whispers in the shadows point to the handsome stranger perhaps being a law man on the trail of the infamous Wild Bunch. Kit could very well be jeopardising much more than a unfulfilled romance if she falls in with the stranger?Directed by the genre prolific Joe Kane and based upon on the novel written by Zane Grey, The Maverick Queen is something of a wasted premise, with all the elements are in place for a twisty psychological Western. The story is a sound one, with the characters at first glance looking to have potential for gusto and intrigue, but it just doesn't come together as a whole, either through one dimensional male characters or through lazy writing, it ultimately ends up being a damp squib. A squib briefly sparked by Barbara Stanwyk (Kit) in one of her later career tough feminine roles, and a pretty as a picture Mary Murphy who also gets to show a bit of spunk. But the girls can't carry the picture alone...Barry Sullivan was a safe and amiable actor, he however was far from being a leading man who was able to carry a picture up front, thus here as the leading protagonist he struggles badly as he tries to make the tepid Kenneth Gamet screenplay work. It's a surprisingly weak adaptation from the man who wrote The Flying Leathernecks and the hugely enjoyable Coroner Creek, while Kane himself has to take some of the blame for letting the film plod when it should be zippy. There's a nice kicker in the finale - something that saves the piece from rotting at the bottom of the "B" Western barrel, but sadly it's just not decent enough to warrant a second glance - rendering as fact that both Stanwyck and the audience deserved better. 4/10

When Barbara Stanwyck's era of Hollywood superstardom came to an abrupt end in the early fifties, she refused to quit and became the star of a number of feminist westerns which cast her as a tough yet sensuous aging woman in tight pants and a cowboy hat, oftentimes the leader of an outlaw gang. She'd make one minor classic of this variety, Forty Guns for Sam Fuller. The Maverick Queen has a bigger budget (and was shot in color) but lacks the energy and magnetism of that later film - both, however, co-star he with Barry Sullivan, a highly underrated leading man who enjoyed far greater success on TV (including a two year stint as Pat Garrett on The Tall Man) than in the movies. Babs struts around in tight pants and we're not supposed to notice that she could easily pass for her boyfriend's mother. And as the badguy, her former boyfriend the Sundance Kid, there's Scott Brady - who played The Dancing Kid in JOHNNY GUITAR, the very best of the odd westerns that cast visibly aging former big name female stars in cowgirl roles. (Joan Crawford, in that film's case). This is handsomely produced by strictly minor stuff. We're supposed to cry when Babs "gets it" in the end, but I can still recall kids in the Rialto theatre in Patchogue, Long Island laughing out loud at the end way back when.

Lucy Lee is a young and pretty cattle owner, trying to get her herd to market to sell. One night in camp her and her partner are joined by Jeff Young – a man who saves them when they are later ambushed by the Sundance Kid and his gang. Sundance reports back to Kit Banion (aka the Maverick Queen) and she in enraged by his failure. However the arrival in town of Jeff Younger gives her a new scheme to run. As she attempts to assert further power can the others stop her criminal schemes?Starting out with the usual style of song over the usual sort of landscapes nothing gave me any doubts that this would be a fairly ordinary western adventure and indeed that is what it turned out to be. The plot offered potential because it is more than just the standard good guys/bad guys stuff – this plot is driven by betrayal, lies, jealousy and intrigue. Shame then that it doesn't all come off, it is interesting and engaging but it does struggle to keep it tight with so many things going on – I wasn't sure exactly what my focus was supposed to be. This is also seen by it taking 15 minutes before the title character actually made it onto screen, not that bad a thing but just further suggestion of the slight lack of focus that made it a bit harder to get into. The characters don't all make sense and again the lack of focus meant I was confused as to who I was following.The cast aren't much help in this regard either because nobody really steps up and makes the film their own. Stanwyck tries hard but she was approaching the end of her long career at this point and she isn't helped by being left in the background for most of the start of the film while the much younger Murphy makes us think the film is about her. Sullivan is pretty good and has a nice easy charm. Brady, Petrie and a few others make for interesting bad guys but their performances aren't that interesting and they just accept whatever changes the script throws at them.Overall this is an enjoyable enough western that is fairly run-of-the-mill despite having aspects of it that are more than the standard stuff. The plot is good but the lack of focus for large chunks means that it is a little difficult to get into and the solid if unspectacular directing and acting don't do anything to really remedy that. Enjoyable for genre fans but no more than that.