Nice effects though.

Absolutely the worst movie.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Glenn Ford was very busy as an actor in 1958- 6 films including Torpedo Run and this movie. Because of his being busy, this movie though well cast is kind of an assembly line production. There are some accidents in this film that make people think it is supposed to be a comedy.The biggest one is the cast. Leslie Nielsen, Edgar Buchanan, and Slim Pickens all became know for comedy later in their careers. Just because they are in this cast does not mean it is a comedy. Just because this is sheep versus cattle doe not make it a serious film either.What we have is something in-between. Ford plays his role straight and yet at times is funny himself. Shirley MacLaine's role here as Fords girl Dell is not fully exploited here. I think that explains the whole movie. A good looking talented cast and an uneven script. Writer James Edward Grant would write a better western comedy with McLintock later featuring the Duke, Chill Wills and Buchanan amongst others but in this movie he is still working on how to shape a western comedy.This film is a pleasant diversion for those who like the cast. I believe it was intended to be more serious than it is but with everyone being so busy cranking out other films, and a lot of old western actors, the film is just a pleasure to watch and wonder if they really had tried to make a comedy here, how it would have turned out?

This is one of the 1950's best westerns in the Destry Rides Again mode of tongue-in-cheek westerns and foreshadows Support Your Local Sheriff by a decade. It's ideally cast and is certainly one of Glenn Ford's finest roles. He and Shirley MacLaine have marvelous chemistry. Familiar faces Edgar Buchanan, Mickey Shaughnessy,Willis Bouchey,Percy Helton,and Slim Pickins are around to give it the proper old western flavor and Leslie Nielsen is slickly handsome as Ford's rival for Shirley's affections. Pernell Roberts is an effectively slimy villain. Director George Marshall was an old hand at combining comedy with action and The Sheepman is one of his best efforts. The screenplay by James Edward Grant and William Bowers was nominated for an Academy Award.The Sheepman still holds up well today and will appeal to anyone who is a fan of western's,comedies,or just plain entertaining movies. It's good, clean, old fashioned fun and a prime example of one of those kind of films"that they just don't make anymore!" More's the pity

In 1957, there was enough phony gun smoke on the screen to choke Superman. Most Westerns were filled with cardboard characters, unimaginative stories, and predictable showdowns. Too bad this under-rated little entry got lost in the shuffle, because it's both highly original and genuinely humorous, with an expert cast, a great script, and some magnificent Colorado landscapes. What really distinguishes this oater is Ford's droll character (Mr. Sweet!) and the film's sprightly dialogue, neither of which sounds like you've yawned through it all before. In fact, Sweet is one of the few original cowboy creations of the time. He's a sly dog, so you never know what he'll do next, which keeps the audience riveted. Then too, Ford plays the part beautifully, his typical low-key manner making the many clever twists all the more surprising. Watch how adroitly Sweet wakes up the sleepy town at movie's outset. It amounts to a real head-turning treat.So why do cattlemen hate sheep, the crux of the story. I don't think the screenplay explains, but it's because sheep don't just graze, they eat the roots, killing the forage, which leaves nothing for the cattle. So you know sheepman Glenn Ford is in for a passel of trouble when he brings his flock to cattle country. And trouble he gets in the form of slickster Leslie Nielsen (before Nielsen showed his own comedic talents).And whose inspiration was it to cast the very un-frontier-like Shirley McLaine in the girl role. She's just wacky enough to make her pairing with Sweet seem natural. Then too, there're those two impossibly colorful characters-- the sneaky Edgar Buchanan at his slipperiest and the half-clown, half-thug Mickey Shaughnessy at his schizo best. What really surprises me is that this little gem came from Western-averse MGM, which always seemed to be above such common fare as horse operas. Still, the movie does benefit from that studio's emphasis on production values-- even the outdoor sets are hard to detect.My only complaint-- the two shootouts look like unimaginative sops to convention. It's as if the writers had to surrender to what someone thought the audience expected. Too bad. Anyway, don't let the movie's relative obscurity fool you. It's one of those sleepers that sometimes wandered away from the Dream Factory only to get lost in the crowd. Nonetheless, it's still well worth a look-see, even 50 years later.

I enjoyed seeing Leslie Nielson as a young man, and was quite taken with him...I love him in everything he's in, even as a bad guy! He does better in comedy than drama, though, in my opinion. Shirley MacLaine was beautiful, and her voice sounded higher than it did in "Two Mules for Sister Sara", the western she was in with Clint Eastwood.