THE SILVER LODE is a pretty good Technicolor western from RKO. The story is good, the cast is top notch, and the photography is particularly fine. This movie is supposedly an anti-Senator McCarthy parable, and if so I'll rate it an "F" and No Stars, but the idea this is about McCarthy is nonsense.
John Payne and Lizabeth Scott have their wedding interrupted by a US Marshal (named McCarty, not McCarthy) and played by dependable bad guy Dan Duryea on a charge of murder. Duryea is a fake, and it seems he's more interested in a certain $20,000 than the untimely shooting of his brother. This "parable" obviously has exactly zero to do with investigating Communist infiltration of the film industry during the Cold War Era.
One of the most cowardly things a filmmaker, author or journalist can do is to attack Senator McCarthy. McCarthy was a war hero who offended Hollywood's lefties by daring to expose the many Communists in their industry --- as verified by testimony from the much-honored director Elia Kazan. They took their revenge out by attacking the man with mountain-upon-mountain of cheap shots and lies for the past 50 years; and the lies continue today.
Almost any American, not just the left, many otherwise well informed people, believe the lies, if only through sheer abundance. To pile more lies on top of this is sheer cowardice -- as is the idea of re-defining this 1953 western in terms of their evil and vindictive spin.
Rent this one and enjoy it for the good western that it is.
John Payne and Lizabeth Scott have their wedding interrupted by a US Marshal (named McCarty, not McCarthy) and played by dependable bad guy Dan Duryea on a charge of murder. Duryea is a fake, and it seems he's more interested in a certain $20,000 than the untimely shooting of his brother. This "parable" obviously has exactly zero to do with investigating Communist infiltration of the film industry during the Cold War Era.
One of the most cowardly things a filmmaker, author or journalist can do is to attack Senator McCarthy. McCarthy was a war hero who offended Hollywood's lefties by daring to expose the many Communists in their industry --- as verified by testimony from the much-honored director Elia Kazan. They took their revenge out by attacking the man with mountain-upon-mountain of cheap shots and lies for the past 50 years; and the lies continue today.
Almost any American, not just the left, many otherwise well informed people, believe the lies, if only through sheer abundance. To pile more lies on top of this is sheer cowardice -- as is the idea of re-defining this 1953 western in terms of their evil and vindictive spin.
Rent this one and enjoy it for the good western that it is.