Here's a Western that would have been right at home as one of Gene Autry's flicks back in the Forties, but done in the Seventies with singer Marty Robbins in the lead role. It's not a particularly good one, filled with inconsistencies and a decided lack of acting ability by any of the principals. Except for Chill Wills, I haven't seen any of the players in any other picture, so perhaps that would explain the acting deficit; Dovie Beams as Virginia was particularly lifeless. Taking a quick look at her bio on IMDb I was stunned by the mention of an affair she once had with a famous, former world leader. Check it out, I'm still shaking my head over it.
If you read the short description of the story on it's title page here, you'll note that Sheriff Matthew Roberts (Marty Robbins) was 'torn by inner anguish' after killing a rowdy gunslinger to open the story. Giving up his badge, he became a drifter of sorts, winding up in the small town of Fargo Springs. How the 'inner anguish' plays into his character is kind of questionable to my mind. That transition was never explained reasonably after Roberts gave up his job as sheriff, but even more so, he didn't seem to be conflicted with much concern after shooting three outlaws in the back over the rest of the story.
All the while as Matthews settles in and begins working at the Duncan Ranch, I kept wondering when the wardrobe department would outfit Miss Virginia with a different dress than the blue print she wore for most of the picture, day after day it seemed like. They must have figured it out after a while because she finally got to wear a couple different outfits before the picture ended. If you notice early in the story when Matthews first arrived, a breakfast scene seemed to place an awful lot of emphasis on Virginia's baking ability - "Your sister's biscuits are the best in the world". I think they tried a little too hard working that biscuit angle, I got it the first time.
With Marty Robbins' success at being a top flight country singer, it probably made sense to star him in an oater like this, but it would have helped a lot if the writing was better and the supporting players more up to the task. Even the arrangement of the songs seemed haphazard, they weren't spaced well throughout the picture with three tunes offered almost one right after another but in different settings. Then when they paired him up in a boxing match against a dubious Western champeen, I gave up on any semblance of a rational story.
If you read the short description of the story on it's title page here, you'll note that Sheriff Matthew Roberts (Marty Robbins) was 'torn by inner anguish' after killing a rowdy gunslinger to open the story. Giving up his badge, he became a drifter of sorts, winding up in the small town of Fargo Springs. How the 'inner anguish' plays into his character is kind of questionable to my mind. That transition was never explained reasonably after Roberts gave up his job as sheriff, but even more so, he didn't seem to be conflicted with much concern after shooting three outlaws in the back over the rest of the story.
All the while as Matthews settles in and begins working at the Duncan Ranch, I kept wondering when the wardrobe department would outfit Miss Virginia with a different dress than the blue print she wore for most of the picture, day after day it seemed like. They must have figured it out after a while because she finally got to wear a couple different outfits before the picture ended. If you notice early in the story when Matthews first arrived, a breakfast scene seemed to place an awful lot of emphasis on Virginia's baking ability - "Your sister's biscuits are the best in the world". I think they tried a little too hard working that biscuit angle, I got it the first time.
With Marty Robbins' success at being a top flight country singer, it probably made sense to star him in an oater like this, but it would have helped a lot if the writing was better and the supporting players more up to the task. Even the arrangement of the songs seemed haphazard, they weren't spaced well throughout the picture with three tunes offered almost one right after another but in different settings. Then when they paired him up in a boxing match against a dubious Western champeen, I gave up on any semblance of a rational story.
