Gegenspionage

Springfield Rifle is the film Gary Cooper made after his much acclaimed performance in High Noon. Not that it's a bad film, but a fairly routine western which even kind of gives away who the inside man is way too early in the film. It would have been better had their been more suspense.

Gary Cooper goes undercover to find a ring of rustlers who are working in cahoots with the Confederacy during the Civil War, stealing horses meant for the Union cavalry.

To do this he gets himself courtmartialed and drummed out of the army. And he gets the full Chuck Connors treatment, that Connors received on his series Branded. This enables Cooper to join the renegades led by David Brian and Lon Chaney, Jr.

Things do get complicated when Coop's wife, Phyllis Thaxter, shows up to tell him about their son who has run away. Her concern nearly derails the mission and her husband.

Some good western action is in Springfield Rifle, a couple of pitched battles with the renegades and Cooper finally uncovering the inside man in the rustling ring.

Three good performances besides the players mentioned are Guinn Williams as the sergeant who saves Cooper from a hangman, Paul Kelly as the post commander, and Philip Carey as a rival officer to Cooper on the post.

Springfield Rifle is good action entertainment for those who like their westerns action filled.

As a matter of curiosity, in 1952 Gary Cooper appeared in two Westerns as diverse as SPRINGFIELD RIFLE, in Technicolor, and in the masterpiece HIGH NOON, in B&W. In the former he was directed by a professionally competent but hardly out of the box André de Toth, whereas in the latter he had the guiding hand of the brilliant Fred Zinnemann.

Neither de Toth nor Cooper were helped by the predictable script by Charles Marquis about a Union Army officer putting on a show of supposed betrayal and cowardice in order to ramify into espionage in the enemy camp, and track down the mole in the US War Department (sounds like a Cold War movie, doesn't it?!)

Cooper has done much better work, in fact I would rate his performance here as substandard, especially when compared with his show in HIGH NOON.

I doubt I will watch SPRINGFIELD RIFLE again. 6/10.

Depending on what reviews you read of course, Springfield Rifle is either a slowly paced pot boiler or an action packed suspenser. Such is the diversity of this form of the arts, you could easily favour one or the other and nobody could really argue with you. The truth is that André De Toth's film wants to be both, but with an almost dizzying plot and a misleading title, it winds up being an over ambitious picture that doesn't quite pay off on its promise.

Gary Cooper stars as Maj. Alex 'Lex' Kearney who gets himself cashiered from the army on a charge of cowardice in order to go undercover to break up a Confederate ring who are stealing horses during the civil war. But Kearney is not the only spy at work so his mission is a touch more complicated than at first thought. Not only that but he is so deep undercover his wife and son believe him to be a real coward and have therefore ostracised him. Oh and the new and war changing Springfield Rifle will have a part to play in the shenanigans.

Released in the same year as Cooper was wowing genre fans in High Noon, De Toth's movie does actually feel like an attempt to cash in on the big mans star appeal. However, it should be noted that executives at Warner Brothers didn't want Cooper to play the role, fearing his wholesome image just wouldn't suit a role involving cowardice and double dallying for both parties in the war. De Toth stood by his guns and was rewarded, to my mind, by a film saving performance from Cooper. Frank Davis and Charles Marquis Warren adapt from a story written by Sloan Nibley (who is noted in the genre for his numerous work on Roy Rogers scripts), Max Steiner provides the score and Edwin B. DuPar photographs out of Lone Pine and Warner Ranch in California. The film is not shot in Technicolor {as stated by some reviewers}, it was shot in the Warnercolor process. With the result somewhat pleasing on the eye, notably the uniforms of the soldiers and the flame engulfed sequence towards the finale.

The support cast are fair to middling. Lon Chaney Jr. is sadly a shadow of his former self, tho a good old dust up with Cooper raises the temperature. Phyllis Thaxter, David Brian, Paul Kelly & Philip Carey file in and say their lines. While Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams & Alan Hale Jr. deserved more screen time than they actually got. With surprises in the plot and Cooper adding some quality, Springfield Rifle is entertaining enough. But ultimately it ends up being a modest genre piece that really should have been much much better. 6/10

See it- This is a diamond in the rough. It is relatively unknown but a must-see for Gary Cooper fans. Cooper plays his usual character of a man on a mission to redeem himself, but this is not a typical western. Exciting from start to finish, it's the story of the inception of counterintelligence used by the Union in the Civil War. It is not necessarily James Bond with a cowboy hat. It is still very much a western, and a refreshingly good Civil War movie for a change. Movie buffs will also get a kick out of a young Fess Parker. Full of twists and lots of battle scenes, it's a good old-fashioned, fun movie. 4 action rating

The dates of the civil War stem from 1861 to 1865. In between, half a million men fought and died on both sides. Then Hollywood introduced the Western and then writers quickly retold the history depicting the many facets within the ranks of the two opposing camps. Here is one such story which if you don't look too closely, is interesting and confusing at the same time. The movie is called " Springfield Rifle " and stars one of the most enduring actors to filled the Silver Screen. Gary Cooper plays Maj. Alex 'Lex' Kearney a Union Officer who is cashiered out of the U. S. Army and branded a traitor. The audience however understands his cover as he joins the renegade outlaws who have been stealing herds of horses for the Confederacy. With danger threatening him on both sides, Kearney walks a tight-wire as he seeks out the ringleader of the outlaws. The movie is a cat-and-mouse game and Cooper is aptly supported with other notable western stars like. David Brian, Paul Kelly, Lon Chaney Jr. Alan Hale Jr. and Martin Milner as Pvt. Larsen. The entire cast assembles to provide real shoot-em-up action with the new Springfield Rifle and plenty of hair-raising excitement. Excellent western fare. ****