Abilene Town - Banditen ohne Maske

Uncompromising town Marshall Randolph Scott attempts to get to the bottom of a terror campaign against peaceful homesteaders who've settled on government land used by cattlemen in the plains around Abiline, Kansas.

Scott gives an appropriately stern performance in this low-budget independent production, but this just isn't as good as his color studio westerns he made in the following decade.

The script is intelligent but a bit too talky, failing to ignite any real fireworks until near the end.

Cowardly Sheriff Edger Buchanan and Lloyd Bridges as a heroic farmer give adequate support, but villainous Jack Lambert is a real standout.

Ann Dvorak's incredibly leggy costumes are a real treat.

Excellent, under-appreciated movie, which I suspect fell into public domain because only cheap copies from original prints seem to be available. Randolph Scott is rock solid in the unassuming characterization of a modest but moral man acting as a moderating influence between three distinct groups, the cattlemen, the homesteaders and the tradesmen in a frontier town. Each have their own agendas, and the most alluring enticement for Scott on the bad side of town is the brassy but captivating dance hall singer, Ann Dvorak, in one of the best performances of her career, who is so fresh and sexy in her several numbers that I can well believe a whole roomful of cowboys would just sit there, stone silent with their mouths open, staring at her as she dances and flirts through her songs. I don't know if her voice was her own or dubbed, but she could sure deliver those lyrics!

There's not a dull or extraneous scene in the movie, with many well cast characters, fistfights, gunfights, a cattle stampede, romance, comedy and first-rate film noir lighting and dialogue for those who care. And besides all that, I didn't notice until about the third time I'd watched it, Scott's horse follows him around when he's on foot like a pet dog. Very subtle, never made a focus of attention by the director, one of the old-timers who had the sense to let audiences find their own points of interest. I think it's a classic.

Edwin L. Marin had a very varied directorial career. His first film was the excellent "movie" crime drama "The Death Kiss" (1932), he then directed "A Study in Scarlet" (1933). From "Sequoia" (1934) to "Listen Darling" (1938) there wasn't a genre he didn't tackle. He also directed some memorable westerns including "Abilene Town" . It stars reliable Randolph Scott as Deputy Marshall Dan Mitchell and beautiful Ann Dvorak.

Ann makes a great entrance putting her musical talents to good use. She plays Rita, the dance hall songbird who sings "I Love it Out Here in the West". She also sings "All You Gotta Do" and "Everytime I Give My Heart" during the film. She runs foul of town Marshall Dan Mitchell for singing and carousing on a Sunday (firearms have to be checked in on entering the town).

There is bad blood between the homesteaders and the cattlemen. The homesteaders have come to settle the land but the cattlemen want them out - they want the land for their cattle. Mitchell thinks the home- steaders will be there long after the ranchers are gone. After the farmers settlement is burned war is declared but the cattlemen are not the only ones with an interest in keeping the farmers out. The dance hall is secretly on the cattlemen's side but the general store does some mathematics and realise that keeping the homesteaders happy will be very good for business. Hostilities come to a head when Sherry (Rhonda Fleming in a thankless part) sells barbed wire to a very young Lloyd Bridges as Henry. He is one of the young farmers and after Sherry has a vocal showdown with Mitchell, the way is paved for Sherry and Henry to form a romantic pair. Mitchell, of course has had eyes only for Rita from the start. Edgar Buchanan plays the dithering Sheriff "Bravo" Trimble.

Recommended.

Randolph Scott (1898-1987) plays the Marshall Dan Mitchell who tries to keep things peaceful in town.Edgar Buchanan (1903-1979) plays the sheriff Bravo Trimble who rather gambles than shoots. Lloyd Bridges (1913-1998) can be seen as Henry Dreiser.And sure there are also some pretty ladies involved.Abilene Town from 1946 is a nice old western with great actors.There are some brilliant scenes in the movie.I recommend Abilene Town for all of you who like old black and white western movies.Or if you just don't have anything better to do.

There's a good Western buried somewhere in this meandering screenplay. Someone in production apparently decided it was not a movie for the audience to take seriously. Thus, Edgar Buchanan's county sheriff provides more than just comedy relief, coming perilously close to acting the buffoon. Ann Dvorak's dance hall entertainer shows spunk, but the overproduced musical numbers are obviously there to build up her star billing. Between the comedy, the music and the romance, not a lot is left for plot development.

And that's too bad, because the clash between Texas trail herders, and newly arriving homesteaders is nicely set up. Naturally the two sides are in conflict over land use; however, the focus here is on the commercial effect each side has on the town's prosperity. On one hand, the cowboys keep the saloons and bordellos busy (this latter, of course, is just hinted at), but they also shoot up the town and bring little business to the merchants. On the other hand, homesteaders offer the prospect of steady trade with the merchants and are peaceable, but they don't patronize the saloons or carouse in the bordellos. Thus the town's business interests split into two competing factions based on commercial self-interest.

Now, this amounts to an interesting approach to the usual farmer vs. rancher conflict and provides a lot of plot potential. But this potential goes largely unrealized because of digressions with Buchanan, the unnecessary Scott-Fleming romance, and the overlong musical numbers. Note, as an indicator of the poorly disciplined script, its treatment of tallying up the potential profit numbers. Merchants are shown switching sides once the profit margins favoring homesteaders are calculated. But the script can't resist continuing this with a brief comedic follow-up which turns a serious and revealing point into an unnecessary laugh line. In a matinée Western, this might be forgivable, but Abilene Town is not a cheap production-- note all the extras in the crowd scenes.

Anyway, Scott makes a very believable town marshal, ditto Dvorak as a musical performer, but glamorous Fleming looks out of place in the unglamorous role of a merchant's daughter. As a virile homesteader, Lloyd Bridges really shows more energy and ability than the part calls for and is obviously on his way to a bigger career. And when Scott says at the end something like-- This is the way towns change-- after facing down the cowboys, I expect he was uttering a genuine frontier truth. Even then, towns went where the money is. Nonetheless, the movie wastes a lot of that kind of potential, but may still please those who like to mix comedy, music, dance, and romance into their shoot-em-up's.