Postraub in Central City

Bill Mayhew is growing tired of bailing out his hot headed younger brother, Sam. After breaking him loose from a Texas jail he decides enough is enough and tells Sam they must go their separate ways. He heads towards Denver and sets up in Central City where he lands a job (and soon to be partnership) with kindly gent John Sutton, he also starts to fall for Sutton's pretty daughter Elizabeth. However it soon becomes apparent that the towns money mad crook, Jim Donovan has issues with Sutton's dealings, and after enlisting into his fold the newly arrived in town, Sam, sets up the scenario of the brothers being on opposing sides.

Simple yet executed with no little style, The Road To Denver is a hugely enjoyable Western. It's directed by Western specialist Joe Kane and stars John Payne (Bill Mayhew), Mona Freeman (Elizabeth Sutton), Lee J. Cobb (Jim Donovan), Ray Middleton (John Sutton), Skip Homeier (Sam Mayhew) & Lee Van Cleef (Pecos Larry). The tale of sibling rivalry amongst the fabulous Snow Canyon location is highly watchable stuff, where even though the sense of the inevitable is hard to get away from, a number of sequences delight and fully form the story. Homeier is particularly good at playing the loose cannon role of Sam, and the best scenes tend to land with him, but Lee J Cobb is always a solid performer, and when given a bad guy role such as here, he positively delivers with sneer in full effect.

One of Kane's better efforts in the genre, and certainly one that is either under seen or undervalued on internet sites, so if you get the chance have a look, because it's a very tidy little piece. 7/10

Two fugitive Texan brothers called Bill Mayhew/John Payne and Sam Mayhew/Skip Homeier at odds with one another escape from a Texas Town and go to Central City . Bill finally gives up on his younger brother and heads for Colorado . As they flee to Colorado where they take jobs with rival bosses , as there takes place a strong confrontation brother against brother . Then Bill gets a job , working for the good entrepreneur John Sutton (Ray Middleton) , both of them carry out a Stageline from Central City to Denver , leaving Central City on regular schedule along Wednesday , Friday and Sunday , transporting passengers , express and US mail ; this company is called ¨Sutton and Mayhew¨ Props . And all is well until his brother appears and takes a job that puts them on opposite sides of the law , as Sam works for the mean Jim Donovan (Lee J. Cobb), a wealthy baron who is owner of the Central City saloon and Golgonda Bar . By the way , a love triangle emerges in which implicates Bill/Payne who falls for Sutton's daughter and Sam/Skip Homeier who is also in love with Elizabeth Sutton/Mona Freeman . Face-To-Face and Pistol-To-Pistol! Young...but not too young for love! Honey-haired Liz---an exciting girl in a town of reckless men! He Was The Fastest Gun In A Gunfighter's Town...'Til A Tall Texan With A Lightning Draw Hunted Him Down...it was brother against brother ¡

Decent but run-of-the-mill Republic Pictures with usual elements , such as noisy action , thrills , crossfire , assaults , drama , treason , romance and some spectacular action scenes . Thrilling and colorful Western starred by a tough John Payne , involving a sibling confrontation in which the older brother Bill repeatedly attempts to keep younger brother Sam out of jail , but at the end they contend each other . Acceptable Western blending some functional main actors with great character players of whom John Payne holds the best role as the righteous brother . The hothouse plot drives mercilessly forward with go riding , action , thrills , attacks , betrayals and turns . The tale is strong one and the yarn is wonderfully located against a background of Utah . Well directed by Joseph Kane who made a lot of low-budget movies , though he followed to work for cinema and was capable of making a few large-scale films . Stars John Payne, one of the popular actors of the forties and fifties, today a little forgotten. He starred the classy ¨Miracle in 34th street¨ and performed all kinds of genres as Noir : ¨Slighly scarlet¨, ¨Kansas City confidential¨, ¨The vanquished¨ ; Adventure: ¨Raiders of seven seas¨, ¨Crosswinds¨, ¨Tripoli¨, ¨Iceland¨ and Western : ¨Santa Fe passage¨, ¨Silver lode¨, ¨Tennessee's partner¨, ¨The Road to Denver¨. Payne also starred various TV series and episodes : ¨The restless gun¨ and ¨Zane Grey¨. Payne is well accompanied by a good support cast , such as : the prestigious Lee J. Cobb , here co-starring , along with the usual villian Skip Homeier . Remaining support cast is pretty good , such as : Ray Middleton , Glenn Strange , Andy Clyde , 'Killer' Davis , Robert 'Buzz' Henry , and some uncredited as John Dierkes , Chuck Hamilton , Chuck Hayward , and , of course , Lee Van Cleef , pre-Sergio Leone .

It contains colorful and brilliant cinematography in Trucolor by director of photography Reggie Lanning . And thrilling and atmospheric musical score by Dale Butts . This classic as well as traditional movie was produced by Herbert J Yates from Republic Pictures and professionally directed by Joseph , ¨Joe¨ , Kane , containing some vigorous scenes . Kane was a good craftsman who made around 100 titles from the 30s . This motion picture was well directed , though with no much enthusiasm. Kane directed a great number of films and several episodes of notorious TV episodes . Kane started directing career started with co-directing serials for Mascot and Republic, and he soon became Republic's top western director. He handled many of John Wayne's Republic westerns of the 1940s, and piloted numerous Roy Rogers and Gene Autry films . He was once asked in an interview why he did so many westerns . He replied, "I like the outdoors. The horses. The cowboys. I like that". Unlike most Republic house directors, Kane was credited as associate producer on many of his films. He stayed at Republic until the studio's demise in 1959, and after freelancing for mostly independent production companies, he turned to directing TV series as Bonanza . Kane usually worked with Vera Ralston, whom husband Herbert J. Yates, president of Republic Pictures and Kane's boss, attempted without success to make a star . He made a lot of westerns , such as : King of the Cowboys 1943 , Idaho 1942 , Ridin' Down the Canyon 1942, Heart of the Golden West 1942 ,Sunset Serenade 1942, Sons of the Pioneers 1942 Romance on the Range 1942 , Sunset on the Desert 1942 , South of Santa Fe 1942 ,Man from Cheyenne 1941 , Red River Valley 1941 , Jesse James at Bay 1941, Bad Man of Deadwood 1941, Rags to Riches 1941 , Nevada City 1941 ,Sheriff of Tombstone 1941, In Old Cheyenne 1941, The Great Train Robbery 1941 , Robin Hood of the Pecos 1940 , The Border Legion 1940 , Young Bill Hickok 1940 Colorado 1940 ,The Ranger and the Lady 1940 ,The Carson City Kid 1940 ,Young Buffalo Bill 1939, Days of Jesse James 1939 , Saga of Death Valley 1939 , The Arizona Kid 1939 , In Old Monterey 1939 , Wall Street Cowboy 1939 , and many others . The motion picture will appeal to Western/adventure buffs ; it's an agreeable popcorn story plenty of breathtaking scenes , emotion , adventures , colorful exteriors and many other things . It's a wonderful enjoyable story for kids , teens and old people . Rating : Decent Western 6.5/10 .

Several reasons to comment on this entertaining but otherwise pretty routine Western. Scope out the saloon at the beginning. It may be the only Western watering hole I've seen with actual pink accents for inside and outside decor. How the heck did that happen in a macho horse opera. Maybe Republic had a few gallons left over from a Vera Hruba Ralston flick. Also, note how those early scenes along the sagebrush trails resemble the wistful Frederick Remington paintings of the early West. They're subdued pastels and in my book, quite striking, especially with the light snow cover unusual for any Western. Then there's Skip Homeier creating another of his cocky young punk characters he was so expert at. Working at lowly Republic would never get you an Oscar in snooty Hollywood. But in my book, Homeier was as good at etching memorable characters as any of the higher-priced talent. Too bad he eventually matured out of these roles, but here he's near his peak as the hot- headed young Sam Mayhew.

The movie starts off fast, but sags somewhat in the middle—probably to accommodate the stagey skills of Broadway heavyweight Lee J. Cobb. (Notice that he has no outdoor scenes, holding forth instead from his saloon headquarters. That was probably in his contract so he wouldn't have to travel to Utah locations.) I was really impressed with the screen presence of Ray Middleton as the limping John Sutton. He's such a quietly imposing character that exudes integrity and strength. He certainly qualifies for a bigger career. Much of the movie's appeal comes from the cast, even Mona Freeman as the sweet young thing. She may be miscast, snuggling up with 43-year old Payne, but she does have a winning personality. All in all, it's a worthwhile little Western with a positive message of the sort that unfortunately they don't make anymore.

This film essentially begins with two brothers from Texas with the first one named "Bill Mayhew" (John Payne) and the other one "Sam Mayhew" (Skip Homeier). Because Bill is older and more mature, he tries to mentor Sam as much as he can but finds great difficulty due to his younger brother's violent temper and selfish ways. As a result, they often find themselves drifting from one place to another either in search of jobs or simply trying to avoid the law. That said, after one particular incident, the two decide to take separate paths with Bill riding into the small town of Center City, Colorado looking for work. As luck would have it, he meets a cowboy by the name of "John Sutton" (Ray Middleton) who hires him to work in the local stable. And while this isn't a great job by any means, the pay is adequate and it has the added incentive in that he gets to socialize with John's attractive daughter "Elizabeth Sutton" (Mona Freeman) on a frequent basis. However, problems arise when Sam rides into town and not only becomes attracted to Elizabeth but also hires on as a gunman for a disreputable businessman named "Jim Donovan" (Lee J. Cobb) who seeks to move in on one of John Sutton's new ventures. Now, rather than reveal any more, let me just say that this turned out to be a decent Western due in large part to actors chosen for this film with Lee Van Cleef (as "Pecos Larry") performing in a secondary role. Be that as it may, while this certainly isn't a great Western by any means, I found it to be enjoyable enough and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

If anyone is thinking this is another journey for Bob and Bing, forget it. The Road To Denver is your average western from Republic in its declining years after John Wayne was free of the contract and the B western star stable had gone or moved to television.

The bread and butter of Republic Pictures were those B films of Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and the rest of the gang. By 1955 only Rex Allen was still doing films for them and he was in his final year. But that's what Republic did best so they kept doing it until the studio closed in a couple of years.

The Road To Denver is about a pair of estranged Confederate veteran brothers from Texas, John Payne and Skip Homeier. Homeier is playing his usual young punk who brother Payne has to keep bailing out of trouble. Payne gets tired of that soon enough and the brothers part.

But both travel different roads to Denver and wind up on different sides of a feud in the town. Payne hooks up with Ray Middleton who wants to start a stagecoach line and Homeier allies himself with town boss Lee J. Cobb who wants nothing in that town he doesn't have a piece of. Both Payne and Homeier have eyes for pretty Mona Freeman who is Middleton's daughter.

The Road To Denver is directed by Joseph M. Kane who with William Witney was the favored director of studio boss Herbert J. Yates for his cowboy stars. Quantity was the byword at Republic not quality and Kane delivers his usual workman like product.

I think the film had potential to be something better if someone like Howard Hawks or John Ford or Henry Hathaway got a hold of it. The ending is far from satisfactory as well.

Still for the die-hard western fan The Road To Denver should satisfy. And John Payne is always good.