Yuma

Yuma is passable enough entertainment but something directed by Ted Post (Hang 'Em High) and produced by Aaron Spelling (who made some of the best low budget TV movies of the seventies) should have been a bit better. This seems like a television pilot that never materialized into a series.

Clint Walker, the new Marshall of Yuma is forced to deal with the two brothers of a powerful cattleman, shooting one in self defense and jailing the other. Later, two mystery men break him out and shoot him in the back, framing Walker for the death and leading to a confrontation with the cattleman and the uncovering of a larger conspiracy.

Some familiar stars and a good bit of intrigue make this worth watching if not a must-see.

Yuma is directed by Ted Post and written by Charles Wallace. It stars Clint Walker, Barry Sullivan, Kathryn Hays, Edgar Buchanan, Morgan Woodward and John Kerr. Music is by George Duning and cinematography by John Stephens.

Walker stars as Marshal Dave Harmon, a no nonsense lawman sent into Yuma Territory to clean house. Straight away he is fronted up by the King brothers, something which puts him into conflict with the town bigwig, their father, Arch King (Woodward).

It's a familiar tale, certainly one that any Western fan would have seen numerous times. A TV movie and an intended pilot for a show, the budget is obviously not that high, but there's some good star appeal (Sullivan & Buchanan reassuring presences for Western lovers) and there's a lot crammed into the hour and fifteen minute running time.

Big Bad Clint Walker is a mighty presence, giving us a character that is easy to like and respect, he's not only tough and handsome, but he also turns into a Sherlock Holmes type as well! Into the basic town tamer plot also comes the issues of the Indian Beef treaty, or lack of in this instance, the crafty tactics of the Raiders and their crimes, while there's the cute/annoying kid and a gorgeous lady circling our hero.

It doesn't pull up any trees, but it's well performed, has nice location scenery (Old Tuscon), and the action is well staged (pic opens with a very nifty stagecoach stunt). While of course for Walker fans it's always going to have a watchability factor. 6/10

The new sheriff comes to town and immediately happens to shoot down a hoodlum who happens to be the brother of the local tycoon on whom the whole town depends for its limited prosperity. This is Tombstone and O. K. Corral settings, and if you expect some gunfire you will not be disappointed. The intrigue is good and interesting, as it accelerates by complications, and you are in for some positive surprises. The most interesting part though is played by the Indians, who appear in two scenes, but that is enough to save the film. They are very convincing in their brevity, and Clint is sometimes reminding of both Henry Fonda and Gregory Peck, which brings back to memory other golden times of the very wild west.

Notable is the small part of the lieutenant and quartermaster White, the most sensitive part of the film and in some ways the most decisive, as he is the one who turns the tables. He is played by John Kerr, who excelled in equally sensitive parts in films like "South Pacific" (another lieutenant) and "Tea and Sympathy" with Deborah Kerr, who was not his mother.

Ted Post is also notable for his very few films, he was mainly a TV director, also this one was made for TV, but he has two major films to his credits, "Hang Them High" with Clint Eastwood and the tremendously clever thriller "Nightkill" with Robert Mitchum as the police lieutenant. He lived a long life to 95 years.

"Yuma" is hardly great art, nor even a great Western. It is a good TV Western, and a good TV mystery. The cast of stalwart TV regulars, a post-Cheyenne Clint Walker as well as the lovely Kathryn Hays (Gem of the odd Star Trek episode "The Empath" I believe)make for good viewing. Peter Mark Richman brings his unusual screen presence and the writing is rather good. Walker's character has a tragic back-story that supports his gritty determination. Morgan Woodward brings his usual strong Western presence (again a guest star from Star Trek). In many ways a cross between a fifties Western and a sixties mystery, "Yuma" is not at all a bad way to take a break from the challenges of everyday life in the 21st century. The kid is not all that irritating.

This was an obvious series pilot TV movie that wasn't picked up, most likely due to the fact that there were already Western series on TV and this one did not stand out as particularly unique in comparison. Plus TV westerns were on the way down, being replaced by cops and robbers action series, and such. As a TV movie, this is slightly above average than most, and entirely enjoyable and fairly fast-paced, especially if you like Clint Walker. The other actors are more than adequate for their parts, nothing awe-inspiring, and that's how it's supposed to be in these projects. Nobody shows up the lead. There is little on screen violence, as should be expected for a TV movie from 1971, and the "Indians" are once again pretty stereotypical, and reduced to welfare status as they wait for their dole of cattle from the Army. This part was probably pretty true. One thing that's nice is to see Edgar Buchanan as a weasel get taken down, like I wished he had been on the series Petticoat Junction, where he also played a weasel.