The Restless Breed (1957) User Reviews

Passable and low-budgeted Western by the veteran director Allan Dwan

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 30 December 2010]

In the Old west there are always the men who live breathe violence and the women who hold their breath. This is a Western with a magnificent Scott Brady and a splendidly young Anne Bancroft . This exciting picture tells the story of a respected citizen and educated advocate named Mitchell, Mitch Baker (Scott Brady) who seeks vengeance against his father's killer and no one in town is willing to help him . Mitch has sworn revenge and detain to undercover gunfighter , taking on the gang leader and his hoodlums (Leo Gordon , Scott Marlowe as watcher gunman). The leader band is smuggling weapons to Maximilian emperor against the rebel Juarez and Mitch intents to detain it . At the border little town called Mission he meets the reverend Simmons (Rhys Williams) who has adopted various Indian children and a daughter named Angelita (Anne Bancroft) . Later on , Mitch falls in love with Angelita and is appointed deputy by the marshal (Jay C . Flippen ) to bring peace . At the end the kingpin gunslinger named Newton (Jim Davis) appears and attempts to murder Mitchell with his own hands.

Compelling tale of a secret service drifter hired by government authority to protect townspeople from revenge-seeking outlaws and avoid arms contraband . This classic western is plenty of suspense as the dreaded final showdown approaches and the protagonist realizes he must stand alone against impossible odds as the sheriffs are shot , as his fellow town people for help , nobody is willing to help him ; meanwhile he attempts to clear the killing his father who was wrongfully murdered . This is a tremendously exciting story of a sheriff-for-hire who had only one more killing to go. It begins as a slow-moving Western but follows to surprise us with dark characters and acceptable plot. This short runtime tale is almost ordinary , a pacifier comes to a town just in time to make sure its citizenry but later the events get worse . Although made in low budget by the producer Charles B Fitzsimons , who financed Batman TV series, is a quite efficient film and entertaining . The highlights are the showdown at Saloon and the climatic gun-play at the ending. Phenomenal and great role for Scott Brady as avenger angel and impulsive gunfighter, he's the whole show. Vivid and lively musical score with wonderful songs and spectacular dancing by Anne Bancroft . Atmospheric and colorful cinematography in Technicolor , though is necessary a remastering.

This quickie is middling directed by Allan Dwan , a craftsman working from the silent cinema . Dwan directed over 1400 films, including one-reels, between his arrival in the industry (circa 1909) and his final film in 1961. Among them some good Western as ¨ Restless breed, The rivers edge,Cattle Queen of Montana,and Montana Belle¨ , being ¨Silver Lode¨ is his unqualified masterpiece. Watchable results for this offbeat Western.

THE BEST THAT IT CAN BE WITH SUCH A POOR SCRIPT.

[rsoonsa · 4/10 · 4 March 2004]

Stalwart Scott Brady plays Mitch Baker, an attorney whose father, a Secret Service agent, has been slain in a southern Texas town by the leader of a renegade band of Americans that is selling arms to Emperor Maximilian's army in Mexico, and Mitch treks to the site of his father's death with a design of vengeance in this film set in 1865. The script is weakly composed with markedly inferior dialogue that is responsible for denying the actors an opportunity to interpret their roles, and with a considerable amount of anachronism, such as when the local marshal berates Mitch for behaviour stemming from an overwhelming "ego", a word not introduced into public parlance until Sigmund Freud culturally explicated it in the 20th century. Veteran director Allan Dwan is as effective as his scenarios will allow, accounting for his slack helmsmanship here in a work that begs for more substantive editing, denied instead because of its pronounced musical emphasis including three songs penned by producer Edward Alperson to the pleasing melodies of Raoul Kraushaar, used almost without reprieve to the point of characters whistling the tunes and having a reductive effect during moments of plotted suspense. The acting is uneven with Brady impressive in his scenes, brief but first-rate turns from Myron Healey and James Flavin, while Rhys Williams creates a defined part as a lay preacher; but Anne Bancroft's lines are too trite for her to make believable, Jim Davis is too little used, and fey Scott Marlowe is woefully miscast as a twitchy would-be gunfighter who eavesdrops during most of his scenes, a recurring event in the film since virtually all of the action follows upon someone overhearing private conversations, a tedious ploy following from unimaginative writing. Only a slender budget was available for the production made in southern California's high desert region near Apple Valley where a small set was created with notable contributions from Ernst Fegte for interior design and Howard Bristol for his detailed sets, able John Boyle being responsible for the camerawork in luminous Eastmancolor.

Bancroft Is Best

[januszlvii · 6/10 · 29 July 2022]

The Restless Breed would be an average revenge B Western except for the presence of Anne. Bancroft (Angelita a half breed girl who lives in a Mission run by Simmons who pretends to be a Reverend) She manages to dominate every single scene she is in ( including those with Star Scott Brady ( Mitch)). Mitch is an angry young man who goes to Mission Texas to find out who murdered his Secret Service Agent Father and immediately shows how fast he is with his gun, by killing a couple of bad guys. The main culprits are Cherokee ( Leo Gordon ( who almost always plays a bad guy)), and Newton ( Jim Davis ( who I suspect had scenes left n the cutting room floor)). You can figure out that there will be the showdown between Mitch and the Villains after they murder Marshal Steve Evans ( as soon as you see him you know he will die). I will say Spoilers Ahead: but no surprise Mitch wins. He also ends up throwing away his guns and ends up with Angelita who is very devoted to him. Angelita is very important because without her, Mitch might have become a vigilante and ( or) bounty hunter ( even after finishing off Cherokee and Newton), because he had so much anger in him. 6/10 stars. Again mostly for Bancroft.

A passable but sub-par movie even by b-movie standards, with missed opportunity just making matters worse

[bob the moo · 31 May 2004]

When his father is murdered trying to stop the illegal sale of guns across the Mexican border, his son, Mitch Baker, leaves his job and sets out for revenge. He arrives in the small western town to find it lawless and rowdy.

He finds lodging with a local reverend and his adopted children and starts to fall for the eldest – the beautiful Angelita, but at the same time his desire for revenge and justice begin to eat him up inside. The reverend and Marshall Steve Evans both try and save him from himself.

From the opening cheese of the title song (which is awful!) you know that you are in b-movie land, and you'd be right to believe that for that is just what this film is. The plot is the usual revenge storyline with the usual romance thrown in to stretch it out. It is rather plodding at times and one has to wonder why it moves so very slowly and without action – usually b-movies will fall back on tough talk and tough action to cover the lacking substance. For what it is it just about manages to be passable as a film but it is not great and it is also frustrating because it has elements that could have been used to better effect.

The character of Mitch is the main element that the film could have used better. He is a haunted, lonely man who needs saving just as much as the town he has come to does. However, other than referring to this several times during the film, it doesn't actually do anything interesting with it – certainly all we see of this inner pain is that Mitch gets drunk once and staggers round town for 10 minutes like a bear with a sore head. Of course this failing and others all come down to the fact that there really isn't much of a script here and much of it is contrived to try and make it reach a respectable running time. Like I said, it still does what you expect it to (it certainly gets no worse than the title song!) but it could have been a much better movie, albeit still a b-movie.

The cast reflects the film's status. Brady is hardly a memorable leading man and he can't mange to make a complex character out of the material he is given. Instead it's like he flicks between normal mode and 'painful' mode, contributing to the feeling that the inner suffering thread is not really a thread so much as an afterthought that doesn't work. Bancroft's involvement is made more interesting by the fact that she is better known now than then.

Her character is flat though and she can do nothing with it apart from the usual love interest stuff, sadly she isn't even good enough looking to fill the traditional role of the genre. The rest of the cast are very much b-movie fare – some are OK (Flippen and Davis) but some are poor (Gordon's Cherokee in particular).

Overall this is below average for the b-movie genre. It does what you expect it to do and it isn't actually that bad but it doesn't really do anything well at all – from acting, the script, action right through to the delivery. It's just a shame that it didn't manage to do anything of note with the central character of Mitch other than hint at him having a character that is hardly touched on by the script.

Peeping Tom

[dsewizzrd-1 · 3/10 · 14 December 2008]

Edward L. Alperson turns his clumsy hand to westerns in this very ordinary film.

An attorney and a marshal are baffled as to how a marshal was killed in a border town densely populated by bandits. The attorney whose father it was vows revenge.

He repays the kindness of a missionary by sexually assaulting his adopted daughter.

What looks like Epstein from "Welcome Back Kotter" is the town sneak who peeps through windows but is too cowardly to shoot, but this potentially interesting subplot is not really developed.

The attorney wins through a clumsy and obvious subterfuge.

Revenge is for the weak, the cruel and the thoughtless.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 12 April 2014]

The Restless Breed is directed by Allan Dwan and written by Steve Fisher. It stars Scott Brady, Anne Bancroft, Jay C. Flippen, Rhys Williams, Leo Gordon and Jim Davis. Music is by Edward L. Alperson Junior and cinematography by John W. Boyle.

1865 and Mitch Baker travels to Mission in Texas to find out who murdered his father who was working for the Secret Service. His father was investigating the operations of "Newton's Raiders", a gang of gun runners fronted by Ed Newton (Davis) who are supplying arms to Emperor Maximillian in Mexico. Mitch has no intention of upholding the law, he has only one thing on his mind; revenge!

"Yer a wild eyed hooligan looking for a cheap revenge, not to satisfy the ghost of your father, but your own hurt - warped - disturbed ego".

Another of Allan Dwan's vastly under valued Westerns, it's also the last of his genre offerings. Production value is not high end, the Pathe Color is poor, the sets sometimes wobble and it features one of the most frustratingly awful music compositions laid down for a 1957 Oater, but Dwan could quite often craft a silk purse out of a sow's ear. So it be the case here.

The Haunted Room.

It's a standard revenge tale at its core as angry young Mitch Baker arrives in town and promptly sets about dismantling all the scumbags who cross his path. He's quick on the draw, he bristles with machismo and he's catching the eye of the ladies. Giving this simplest of formula extra weight is a religious angle, and no it's not eye rollingly preachy. Mitch finds lodgings with Reverend Simmons (Williams great) and his adopted brood of half-breed children, the eldest of which is a sexually awakened Angelita (Bancroft).

Mitch is quickly seen as some sort of Religio Revenger, the younger members of the Simmons gathering thinking he's an Archangel. Thus Mitch, his revenge fuelled objective at the forefront of his mind, finds a number of other emotions battling to take control of his soul. The arrival of Marshal Evans (Flippen under used but a welcome and telling addition late in the play) cranks up the story considerably and Dwan builds it skillfully in readiness for the big showdown, where we are not sure exactly how it will pan out.

Along the way there's plenty of action, with Dwan not concerned with over-kill sequences, plenty of sexual tension, and there's devilish nods towards the perils of temptation. No masterpiece here, but for Western lovers this has so much to recommend. Sadly it's under seen and the only existing print available doesn't do it any favours. 7/10

not enough good dialogue and exciting action

[christopher-underwood · 5/10 · 6 July 2023]

I heard this might be okay but although I liked the skies and Anne Bancroft and especially the dancing but not enough good dialogue and exciting action. We saw the splendid picture of the dancer on the wall so many times, I assumed we would see much more of the dancing but just some romancing, although not really that either but she weeps. I didn't really liked Scott Brady in this but I think it was because the script so weak. Both the lovely Bancroft and even Brady would do much better, with him before in Johnny Guitar (1953) and later like Gremlins (1984) and her as, of course with The Graduate (1967) and really good in The Miracle Worker (1962).

Miniscule budget but who cares...

[stuart-432 · 7/10 · 5 August 2013]

There is an obvious absence of finance behind this film but it excels for all that. Somehow, even the obvious stage/studio setting enhances the experience of this modest effort. It is a play... and if the audience is to be drawn in... it will be through the characterization, the dialogue and the drama... not through stunning visuals and computer generated crowd scenes.

The fundamental flaw is the age of the two principals. Bancroft was 26 at the time this was filmed and Brady 33. Angelita (Bancroft) is supposed to be a "child" of about sixteen and Mitch (Brady) is playing the part of an educated young man (late teens ?) so incensed by his father's murder that he is in danger of "taking the wrong road". It's remarkable... when you contemplate that this detail of age is fundamental to the story and to the drama... that the principals carry the thing so well and that it still works.

For its time, it must have been something of a "blood fest" with people being killed from the outset. And again, they get it right. Lots of blood, guts and gore does not add significance to the fact that someone is killed or murdered.

Some nice touches of humour and some becoming self-parody by some of the actors adds to the stage play quality of the film.

The New Tough Guy in Town

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 2 July 2020]

Young Scott Marlowe was already hanging out with hoods well before 'A Cold Wind in August' when he here played one of Jim Davis's gang. Unfortunately for Anne Bancroft Mrs Robinson was still ten years away in the future, and she decided she'd had it with Hollywood and abandoned the screen for the stage after playing yet another dusky maiden in this good-looking western potboiler into which veteran director Dwan managed to insert the occasional visual flourish in his final western.

The biggest surprise is Myron Healey playing a good guy for a change as the honest sheriff squaring up against Davis' mean-looking sidekick Leo Gordon.

A marvellous film

[discount1957 · 9/10 · 17 February 2010]

For his last western, veteran director Dwan transforms Fisher's crude revenge plot into a gentle comedy. Brady is the son of a government agent out to revenge his father's death, Davis the outlaw leader who inhabits a Mexican-American border town and Bancroft the girl who gets her man. Made on a minuscule budget, the film has an austerity and formality about it that few films achieve. As a delightful touch (and a throwback to the days of silent cinema)Dwan has the characters appear to be perpetually eavesdropping on each other. A marvellous film.

The music is by the producer's son, Edward Alperson Jr.

Phil Hardy

One of Allan Dwan's best

[searchanddestroy-1 · 23 April 2023]

At least from his last part of a sooo long career. Alan Dwann began during the silent era, don't forget this, is one of the most prolific director in Hollywood studios history. His last films were, for most of them, produced by Benedict Bogeaus, but this one, no. Edward Alperson did and the result is a true beautiful, atmospheric western, despite a overused scheme. But Scott Brady, Leo Gordon Rhys Williams and above all a surprising Anne Bancroft, make us forget this surpriseless story. Terrific music score that you hear all long this story. I don't get boed every time I watch it, precisely because of the exceptional atmosphere, that not so many film can provide.