Sheriff Brown räumt auf

For a low-budget film, this one really captures the imagination. Jim Davis gives one of the most enigmatic performances of his career in a very off-beat Western that draws its main plot elements from a combination of Eastern mysticism and tried-and-true Western cliches. A truly eccentric and haunting score adds to the ethereal nature of the proceeding. On one level almost laughable, but on another, deeply profound.

I noticed this movie tonight when I had trouble sleeping, listed on "Movieplex"for 2:15 a.m.. The cable guide gave it 2 stars (out of four possible), so I gave it a shot.

I just could not believe how horrible the dialogue, score, and much of the acting was. Jim Davis and Lee Van Cleef (both very young in this) are, quite naturally, solid in their performances. The rest, however, are questionable at best in their abilities.

Also, the "Indian" is just comes off as he is.....a white guy with heavy make-up playing an Indian. And the "hispanic", "Fillipe", comes off as a white guy trying to play a hispanic with a labored accent that comes and goes.

The music behind the film was usually inappropriate to the scene (dramatic scenes should have dramatic music) and should not be as overbearing as this score is.

All of these factors make the entire film rather comic, instead of dramatic. And as most people know, there's nothing better sometimes than sitting up at 3 a.m. laughing at a hacked-up, third-rate movie that tries to be serious.

I gave this pictures 2 stars because I thought the story was promising and could've really been something. Unfortunately, they never really flesh out the plot and there's no real depth behind the characters. For whatever reason, they seem to rush into the action without letting the story build into it.

Jim Davis, later of DALLAS fame, is a gunslinger in this hokey back yard western who assumes the identity of a recently deceased federal marshall when he runs into a town being run by bad guys. He quickly straightens things out and proceeds to move on, but things keep happening to keep him in town. There actually is a plot: the only rancher of any consequence in the area has badly infected cattle, and will kill anyone who tries to interfere. The town doctor stands up to the rancher and Davis and the local sheriff back up the doctor. A young Lee Van Cleef is the ranch owner's sadistic son. The action is intermittent at best and poorly staged, the soundtrack would have better been left without music, and most of the cowboys are clean-shaven and neatly attired in that 1950s Roy Rogers style.

The Badge of Marshall Brennan is an extremely SLOW moving western from 1957. The basic premise is fine. A rather tame outlaw named Jeff Harlan (Jim Davis) helps the title character (Douglas Fowley) - who was wounded by hostile Indians out in the desert. When Marshall Brennan dies Jeff takes his badge, their last conversation had been about Jeff's childhood dream of being a lawman.

In the nearest town a conflict is starting between the doctor (Harry Lauter) and a rich cattleman and his son Shan (an extremely young Lee Van Cleef-already playing a bad guy). The doctor suspects the cattle are infected with Black Spot Fever and that it is being transmitted to the people in the town.

There will soon be a love triangle with Jeff and the good doctor vying for the attentions of a redheaded café owner named Murdock (Arleen Whelan-still extremely pretty at age 40). Marty Robbins (soon to be a county music star) plays a Mexican with blonde hair and a very bad "Cisco Kid" accent.

The problem is that the story elements are enough for a 40-50 minute television show, not a 74-minute feature film. So there are expanded establishing shots and considerable chatter, not in the service of the plot but as a way to pad the running length. Making this the type of film that is best watched while doing your homework or reading a book; it is hard to give the thing more than 30% of your focus.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Country&Western performers Carl Smith and Marty Robbins are featured in this fine no frills western from Allied Artists. The Badge Of Marshal Brennan really could have used a nice A budget from a big studio and some name stars. As it is Jim Davis, Arleen Whelan, and Lee Van Cleef do just fine in their parts. I could have James Stewart in the lead had this been an A film.

Outlaw on the run Davis leaves a pursuing posse behind as he goes into the desert where they don't want to chase him. He meets a dying marshal played by Douglas Fowley and assumes his identity which stands him in good stead when he gets across the desert and into a town where the local Ponderosa is run by Louis Jean Heydt and his homicidal son Lee Van Cleef.

They've got a real problem, black spot fever, second cousin to typhus as Dr. Harry Lauter puts it. The cattle ought to be destroyed, but Heydt and Van Cleef would sooner lynch the marshal and save their diseased cattle and profits.

When Davis breaks up said lynching he becomes involved with the town and its problem of standing up to Heydt who is not used to people telling him no. He also becomes Lauter's rival for Arleen Whelan who runs the local café.

I think you can see where this is all going. I might have changed the ending, but even with the climax it has The Badge Of Marshal Brennan is a fine feature with a plot that's a cross between Shane and The Left Hand Of God. It really deserved a bigger budget.