Most of the players around William Elliott did not become household words, with the possible exceptions of Beverly Garland and Claude Akins, who became big TV stars.
But all of them were superior actors, people just loaded with talent.
To name two, Jim Hayward and John Harmon, who played best friends to the hero, performed so believably one has to wonder why stardom did not knock on their doors.
The story was somewhat pedestrian, or at least frequently used, but it is always a good vehicle for action and emotion.
And, since this was an Allied Artists production, the music was excellent, another of those lush scores by the amazing Raoul Kraushaar, a composer of extraordinary talent, and sadly little known today.
Bill Elliott grew up around horses, according to the bio here at IMDb, and he made a believable cowboy and a hero one could always cheer on.
There were so many great actors, from Carleton Young to Veda Ann Borg to John Pickard to Forrest Taylor and John Larch, whose character doesn't even have a name, and we must mention that great ol' pro Dabs Greer, who probably never gave a bad performance.
Perhaps they were as good as they were because R.G. Springsteen was such a good director, one of my favorites among the lesser known directors.
I recommend "Bitter Creek," which is available in an unfortunately too-dark print at YouTube. It is copied from a presentation on Turner Classic Movies, which surely will broadcast it again. Watch it and copy it for yourself.
