Kampf ohne Gnade

At this Point in His Career Audie Murphy began to Show Personal Problems and Uneasiness with Films and Productions Available.

The Off-Screen Personal Problems, such as Gambling Debts and a Disgruntled Attitude Started to Manifest On-Set and On-Screen.

In this "Red River" (1948) Retread He seems Miscast as a Bully.

The Movie even Cribbed Scenes from the Aforementioned Cattle-Drive and Murph Thought the Script was Sub-Par.

Filmed in B&W, another Irritation that Didn't Sit Well.

Co-Star Terry Moore Encouraged Him to "Bite the Bullet" and Give it His All when Murph didn't even want to Rehearse.

That Helped a Little, but His Performance came Across as Below His Usual Standard.

John Dehner does a Good Job and the Rest of the Cast are OK.

But Thomas Carr's Lackluster Direction Didn't Help the Movie to Rise Above Average.

Overall, it's Not a Bad Movie, but Audie Murphy Fans may be Disappointed.

The 60's were Not Kind to the Former Super-Star and this one could be Seen as the Start of the Decline.

The Western Movie was also Suffering from Over-Exposure on the Big and Small Screen and would Soon be Out of Favor.

The End of the Decade Long Run was around 1962.

But After All this Being Said, its Still...

Worth a Watch.

Murphy was a hero in World War 2, being the most decorated soldier of the war, but as an actor he left much to be desired. Black and white should have gone the way of the arc projector lamp by the 1950's! The film does have a good cast of character actors doing they're best to pull this film out of it doldrums. Ms. Moore seems out of place in this film, lacking her usual sensuality. John Dehner is his usual best as the stern character of the film, outdoing Murphy who's supposed to be the lead. James Best is in his heyday period and shows good acting. One wonders if Murphy being a co-producer has any bearing on the quality of this flick? I would recommend it to people who like typical westerns of the B class.

Not his best but not his worst. He will always be one of my Western Heroes

During his movie career, Audie Murphy made 45 films...and nearly all of them were westerns. A few of them were really, really good...such as "Drums Along the River" and "Apache Rifles". Many were just ordinary programmers....westerns with little to distinguish them. Sadly, "Cast a Long Shadow" isn't one of the better westerns...mostly due to the way his character was written.

When the story begins, Chip Donahue (John Dehner) finds Matt Brown (Murphy) doing what he loves to do these days...hanging out in a saloon, drink and gambling. Brown is pretty much a bum...which makes Donahue's visit an important one. It seems that Chip doesn't realize it, but he's the heir to a large cattle ranch and Donahue wants to buy it from him now that the owner has died and left it to Brown.

Brown agrees to sell the ranch but soon after arriving at the place, he realizes that it would provide him with something important...and he decides to keep it for himself. However, there's a mortgage overdue on the place and unless he drives a mess of cattle to market as soon as possible, he'll lose the place.

But there is a HUGE problem with this plan.... Brown is a nasty jerk and he's excellent at driving away people around him. Soon, it appears he'll practically have to do the cattle drive himself since he's now such a hated man...and rightfully so.

The surliness of Murphy's character is THE major problem with the film. Had he evolved into a better person through the course of the story (as in the two excellent films I mentioned above), it might have worked. Here, on the other hand, he just seems like a jerk with severe constipation or migraine! It does abate a bit through the course of the story...just not enough to make you care about him and his ranch.

An Audie Murphy Western from 1959. Murphy is drunk, playing cards in a saloon when a man, played by John Dehner, comes a-calling. It turns out Murphy's father has passed & left his ranch to him but Murphy left home a while ago on the outs w/his father so Dehner proposes to purchase the estate from him (he's cobbled together a collection from all the other ranch hands), all Murphy has to do is come back, sign over the deed & go his merry way but once he's among the people he left behind, specifically the girl, now a young woman, who jilted him at the altar, all his past transgressions melt away emboldening him to propose marriage, which she accepts. The fearlessness continues when he announces he's not going to sell & herd 3000 head of cattle to New Mexico (to pay off the debt his father had saddled the farm with). At first his workers/investors aren't too pleased but his determination to get the job done does impress even though there are those among them who would be willing to bump him off if a stampede could happen at the right time. Offbeat to be sure, Murphy rises to the challenge in a role not unlike John Wayne's in Red River (where a megalomaniac pushes his men to their limits) but Dehner is his equal as an old herder who's too stubborn to admit his past regrets must now swallow his pride for the good of the ranch. Also starring a couple of Dukes of Hazzard vets, Denver Pyle & James Best, as Murphy's reluctant workmen.