Zweikampf bei Sonnenuntergang

Peaceful rancher Robert Sterling is on the losing side of a range war with his ruthless neighbors, that is until notorious outlaw Robert Preston shows up out of the blue to level the playing field. Soon he begins to go too far, feeding a growing sense of unease in Sterling, especially when his son begins to idolize the wily criminal.

The Sundowners is a tightly-paced, gritty, and surprisingly tough little picture with a great performance by Preston. Here, he comes across as an evil version of Shane, that is until the real nature of the rancher and the outlaw's relationship is revealed. Most movie guides and video boxes spoil the surprise!

Rounding out the cast is Chill Wills, Jack Elam, and the debut of John Drew Barrymore, who became more famous for his offspring than his acting.

Despite having everything in its favor, "The Sundowners," with great cast, good story, gorgeous scenery, is still slow and tame.

No tension is ever present. I think how it will finally end is obvious rather early, but you will want to see it through, if only to test your judgment.

Robert Sterling, a good-looking and talented actor, is not someone I had associated with Westerns, but he rides like a cowboy and seems absolutely real.

Robert Preston has done everything, and I mean everything: He is probably still best known for "Professor Harold Hill" in "The Music Man" but he also was the wagon master in "How the West Was Won," and seemed right at home brandishing a whip and heading 'em up.

Chill Wills can't do much wrong. (The ad campaign for him to win an Oscar for his role in "The Alamo" was a major exception, but maybe we can't blame him for that.) His character here is an example of great writing and he, as always, pulls it off perfectly.

Cathy Downs is probably best known for the title role in the moronically a-historical "My Darling Clementine" (it is one my most disliked pieces of history twisting on film), and she died terribly young, 26 years after this film. She was a lovely and capable actress, and her character too was different and an example of good writing.

Her character was the wife of the one played by Jack Elam, who had a different role for him. You might want to watch "The Sundowners" just to see Jack Elam in this unusual part, and to see how talented an actor he was.

John Litel was a veteran performer, and always so believable, whether on horseback or as Thomas Jefferson or as the boss of the Secret Service. He is one of my favorite character actors -- which means one of my favorite actors.

That writing, by the way, was by veteran Alan LeMay (known here as Alan Le May), perhaps best known for "The Searchers."

God bless 'em, but Westerns on the Web has this available at YouTube and you should be quick to grab a chance to watch. At no time will you be on the edge of your seat, but you will admire the more than capable cast especially against some of the best scenery Texas has.

RELEASED IN 1950 and directed by George Templeton, "The Sundowners" is a Western taking place in the Texas panhandle where honest rancher Tom Cloud (Robert Sterling) and his teenage brother (John Drew Barrymore) are having a difficult time with dubious Sheriff Elmer Gall (Don Haggerty) and some rustlers. When supposed outlaw Kid Wichita (Robert Preston) comes back to town, however, he starts cleaning up the county, which earns the ire of the sheriff and the rustlers. Chill Wills plays a kindly neighbor while John Litel appears as the sheriff's father, who's (apparently) unaware of his son's questionable activities.

NOTE: This shouldn't be confused with the 1960 movie of the same name about Australian sheep drovers starring Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr.

While "The Sundowners" is a small, obscure Western, it's one of my favorites because of its interesting characters, engaging writing and palpable realism. As far as the latter goes, it was actually shot in the Texas panhandle, rather than Arizona or Southern Cal like too many old Westerns.

Someone criticized the movie on the grounds that he "had a hard time figuring who was good and who was bad," which illustrates another element of realism: The characters have shades of grey rather than being wholly black or white. Even the main protagonist, Tom Cloud, who represents wisdom and goodness, reveals an imprudent side, which I'm not going to give away. Of course the people involved in the rustling ring are definitely shady, albeit secretly. The father of the ringleader, however, isn't corrupt and didn't know what his son was doing, although he might have suspected and turned a blind eye.

Kid Wichita, however, is somewhere in between black and white, mainly due to his dubious past and the leery way Tom regards his return. Wichita amusingly says a few times: "From Amarillo to Gee Whit, nobody never proved a thing on me - 'cept twice," which means he committed at least two actual crimes in the past and obviously more.

In the current events of the movie, though, I didn't see Wichita do anything wrong. All he does is help rid the county of a rustling ring. There are several references to Wichita murdering someone but, actually, he caught the individual scheming and didn't shoot until the guy went for his gun. That's not murder; it's self-defense. The same thing happens in another situation. Personally, I was all for Wichita cleaning up the county of the rustling trash. Maybe Wichita deserves to die for his past sins, but not for anything he does in this movie.

Kid Wichita, by the way, is an excellent example of a classic antihero before antiheroes came into vogue with Leone's (overrated) spaghetti Westerns in the mid-60s. Wichita is a bold gunslinger who oozes confidence and la Joie de vivre (French for "the joy of living"), not to mention recognizes and fearlessly confronts true corruption (evil), which is usually hidden. The boy (Barrymore) naturally starts to look up to Wichita and emulates him. This brings to mind the best succinct line: "Why sure!"

Jack Elam is featured in a peripheral role as an unloving husband in one of his first films at the age of 29 (during shooting). Most people understandably view Elam as a likable human-looking gargoyle so it's interesting to see him as a relatively good-looking young man. On the female front Cathy Downs (the titular character in 1946' "My Darling Clementine") has a pretty meaty part as Elam's hot redhead wife, who naturally looks for romance elsewhere.

THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour 23 minutes and was shot in the Texas panhandle (Palo Duro Canyon State Park and ranches near Canyon, Stinnett and Amarillo) with studio work done at Universal Studios, CA. WRITER: Alan LeMay.

GRADE: A

I thought this was quite enjoyable. It has some interesting character developments and some realistic depictions of what I am certain people were like in the old west. Outlaws who were usually outlaws, but sometimes good guys, and lawmen who you were sometimes not sure of. There is the big rancher who wants to rule everything and the small rancher trying to survive. There is more dialog in this then most folks are used to with a western, but that is what makes it unique. The bad guy is a rascally sort who likes to tease. You find yourself not liking his teasing all the while respecting his brashness. He is ill mannered and imposing such that you have no doubts he can be unscrupulous, but he has a way of not being revolting all the same. Some reviewers were a bit put off by the amount of talking but that is what let you get behind the mentality of the characters. I liked this movie enough to watch it again soon. There is some breathtaking scenery of Texas to be seen. Enjoy.

Plot-- Mysterious Kid Wichita arrives to help two brothers Tom and Jeff defend their ranch from cattle rustlers. Trouble is the Kid creates more problems than he solves. So why does straight arrow Tom put up with him.

Anyone doubting that Texas has a scenic part needs to see this Western. The Palo Dura Canyon in the Texas panhandle looks like a smaller version of the Grand Canyon of Arizona and makes an eye-catching backdrop. In fact, the movie skillfully weaves the action into the red rock slabs, especially the big shoot-out, bull whip and all.

There're a lot of cross currents to the plot, making the story sometimes difficult to follow, but the central characters—Preston and Sterling—remain clearly drawn. The script only fills in important information in dribs and drabs, which means we have to keep up with why some people are doing what they do as best we can. Thus some patience is needed, but I think it does pay off.

Preston is obviously enjoying his charming bad-guy role, playing it for all it's worth. His Kid Wichita may be one of the biggest, most booming, personalities in Western annals and probably the only singing villain. Wisely, his opposite number, Sterling, underplays his part as Tom, the reluctant good guy. This makes for a good dramatic contrast and helps build tension for the inevitable showdown. Apparently, Jack Elam helped get financing for the film (IMDB) and so got his first acting part. He sounds a little shaky, but then his cuckolded husband, Earl, is supposed to be. And, of course, there's Chill Wills lending his reliable "aw- shucks" brand of character color.

Anyway, there's a lot of entertainment in both the scenery and the characters, making this a generally under-rated little Western.