Shootout at Big Sag

What information we have on Shootout At Big Sag is that Walter Brennan produced and starred in this feature which he had in mind for a series pilot. I find that hard to believe because he was starring in a successful TV series at that point. And Brennan would have been nuts to abandon The Real McCoys when that wasw doing so well.

The film concerns two families the Hawkers and the Barbeys in Montana. The Hawkers have settled there and the Barbeys have moved up from Texas to become neighbors. Walter Brennan who fancies himself an itinerant preacher is the patriarch of the Hawkers and Leif Erickson is head of the Barbey clan.

These two don't get along even though Brennan's daughter Luana Patten and Erickson's son Chris Robinson are courting. But they have to team up because saloon owner Les Tremayne wants to put them both out of business. Tremayne has a Snidely Whiplash interest in Patten.

Best in this film are Virginia Greg as Tremayne's alcoholic mistress and Virginia Gregg as Brennan's estranged wife.

This was a strange western with an incoherent plot and dull cinematography. No wonder here why it wasn't picked up for a TV series.

A pilot TV film that wasn't picked up and not surprisingly either! It's puzzling that Walter Brennan who starred in many a classic western and who produced this could make such a dull dud. Filmed mostly on a back lot with a few outdoor scenes of horse riding,it meanders all over the place,characterisation,what there is, is inconsistent and their attitudes change from scene to scene. Brennan does some voice-over narration which makes me think it was probably cut down from the original running time. But that's a relief as what's left is pretty awful,if it hadn't been just over an hour long,I would have switched off long before.

Hardly any action and when the climatic shootout does come,it's off camera and just related to us by one of the characters. At least Leif Erickson did go onto a much better western series when he starred in 'The High Chaparell.'

It came as no surprise when I came to this web site right after watching "Shoot Out at Big Sag" to find out that it was originally made as a television pilot. The short running time is a big clue, but also the fact that it has a very television feel to the entire enterprise, such as the cheap-looking sets. But those facts didn't bother me anywhere as much as the real problem I had with the movie, which is that it's just so gosh-darn dull. The title promises a lot of action, but there's virtually no action until the final few minutes, and it's not worth the wait. It's just talk talk talk for the most part, none of it the least bit engaging. It's hard to believe that long time actor Walter Brennan agreed to appear in this dud... though he probably did it as a favor to his son, who was one of the producers.