I was surprised how good this movie turned out to be. Talk about a Western for Western-lovers - there's the guy (Wes Tancred played by Richard Egan) who's good with a gun, a cattle drive where the cowboys are going to overrun and terrorize a town, the sheriff is weak and his wife falls for Tancred. There are a lot of smaller stories that influence the action. Billy Chapin plays a boy named Jody whose father is killed by outlaws; Tancred kills the outlaws and takes the boy to live with his uncle and aunt (the sheriff and his wife). The local newspaper's editor is at odds with the sheriff, knowing he is weak and is afraid to stand up to bad guys.
The basic plot is of someone, Tancred, who is trying to escape his past and start over, but things keep making it hard for him to do that. A popular folk song claims that he killed his best friend by shooting him in the back, so under his actual name he is a reviled man. He changes his name and ends up taking part in the town's struggles against the bad guy cowboys.
This movie has plenty of action; it doesn't just sit there and talk you to death. Between the guns and horses and fights and shooting and saloon and all, it's got to be called a classic Western, no doubt.
The casting is good though I was surprised at how many people I hadn't really seen in many Westerns; meanwhile there was not a Lee Van Cleef or a Denver Pyle or a Jack Elam or a Paul Fix to be seen. Doesn't matter much though, the cast did a very good job. The movie is in color though the quality of the color is uneven from scene to scene.
I enjoyed this movie more than I expected to, and it's surely worth the watching for anyone who likes Westerns.
The basic plot is of someone, Tancred, who is trying to escape his past and start over, but things keep making it hard for him to do that. A popular folk song claims that he killed his best friend by shooting him in the back, so under his actual name he is a reviled man. He changes his name and ends up taking part in the town's struggles against the bad guy cowboys.
This movie has plenty of action; it doesn't just sit there and talk you to death. Between the guns and horses and fights and shooting and saloon and all, it's got to be called a classic Western, no doubt.
The casting is good though I was surprised at how many people I hadn't really seen in many Westerns; meanwhile there was not a Lee Van Cleef or a Denver Pyle or a Jack Elam or a Paul Fix to be seen. Doesn't matter much though, the cast did a very good job. The movie is in color though the quality of the color is uneven from scene to scene.
I enjoyed this movie more than I expected to, and it's surely worth the watching for anyone who likes Westerns.