The Marshal of Mesa City

I thought I'd get your attention. This movie may not be any better than Stagecoach but I submit it's just as good and twice as entertaining.

Other reviewers have down a good job declaring the merits of this oater and particularly the obvious parallels it shows between its plot and the Wyatt Earp story. If you like Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer then you'll enjoy George O'Brien as Wyatt Earp, I mean Cliff Mason, and Henry Brandon as Doc Holiday, I mean Duke Allison. Duke has been hired to shoot down Marshall Mason but is taken by his character - and even reluctantly becomes his Deputy. Watch Mason Ala Wyatt Earp walk straight into the group of surly armed outlaws led by hulking Harry Cording and disarm them all with his icy gaze and fearless demeanor. The final shootout that takes place in a cloud of smoke and dust years before John Ford shot the OK Corral shootout in My Darling Clementine in a similar manner is very effective. Give this one a chance, western fans, and see what you think.

It's a better 60-minutes than average horse opera. I like the way the plot involves dueling lawmen, one a county sheriff (Ames), the other a town marshal (O'Brien). Also, the judge and town mayor are on different sides. So it's not just good guys versus bad; it's one town faction versus another. Of course, O'Brien's faction are the good guys while Ames' are crooked as the proverbial dog's hind leg.

At first, I thought RKO might be trying to pair up Brandon (Duke) with O'Brien for a series like the Three Mesquiteers, but that's not the way things turn out. The oater's also notable for including Leon Ames who later went on to an A-movie stint with MGM and a lengthy TV career, usually as an amiable father. Though getting close to middle-age (40), O'Brien looks like one of the physically strongest of the cowboy heroes, with biceps like proverbial ham-hocks. Anyway, it's a generally well done little matinée special that manages to avoid many clichés of its type.

It's Mesa City, Arizona 1880. The town is a violent place run by corrupt Sheriff Jud Cronin (Leon Ames). School teacher Virginia King (Virginia Vale) has had enough of the violence and Jud's advances. She is set to leave town. Her stagecoach is stopped by Jud's men. Retired lawman Cliff Mason (George O'Brien) comes to her rescue. He gets selected as the new Marshal. Cronin sends in infamous gunman Duke Allison (Henry Brandon).

It's an old fashion western. The good guy is in white. There is a damsel in distress. It's simplistic. It's old school. On the superficial side, George O'Brien is a bit wide. I'd like a fitter actor as the leading man. Duke is the more compelling character. If Cliff is Wyatt Earp, Duke is his Doc Holliday. Apparently, this is a remake of The Arizonian (1935). I've never seen that movie. It could be this has all the standard premise that is in every other western.

Turner Classic Movies made a recent Monday morning memorable by presenting this little-known (in fact, unknown to me) gem.

First, the cast was one of the most impressive ever found in a B western, including as a bad guy the excellent Leon Ames. Mr. Ames, suave and debonair and very citified in so many films, was just about perfect as a corrupt sheriff.

His henchmen, not necessarily big names, were all huge in talent and were absolutely delightful to watch. Hmmm, "delightful" might be misleading: I don't mean they were fun, because they were, after all, bad guys, but I do mean they were such great cowboy villains that it was a real treat to see them getting an opportunity to perform in a high-class western.

George O'Brien was actually not very tall, despite a reference to that effect by the leading lady, the more than lovely Virginia Vale. But he was very manly and had a great physique, looking like a weight-lifter, and he could move gracefully and handle his fight scenes well.

In scenes where he attempted to intimidate bad guys without using his weapons, he was, therefore, very believable.

One very surprising actor, one I didn't, I blush to admit, recognize (and I used to see him at Sons of the Desert meetings when I lived in Los Angeles), was the great Henry Brandon in an unusual role.

Naturally, being Henry Brandon, he was winning and likable, and also very believable.

Western fans will love this; classic movie fans will love this; movie history buffs will love this. I know I did.

County Sheriff Leon Ames is stuck on schoolmarm Virginia Vale, and his henchmen slug anyone who speaks to her. She decides to leave town, but the henchmen hold up the stagecoach, only to be thwarted by well-mannered George O'Brien. He's a retired lawman on his way to his new ranch, but escorts the lady back to town, then stays over to the dance, and then gets cajoled by mayor Lloyd Ingraham into becoming town Marshal.

George O'Brien's western series for RKO in the late 1930s were arguably the best of the lot, even if he hated the way his career was going. This movie with a "Gunfight at the OK Corral" feel -- there's Henry Brandon slightly miscast as the gunslinger hired to kill him, but charmed into becoming his deputy -- is a remake of 1935's THE ARIZONIAN. Leon Ames makes a fine villain, and Miss Vale reminds me a bit of Loretta Young. Harry Wild's camerawork is well up to his usual standard. Mostly, though, it's O'Brien giving a fine performance as a man who knows his job and does it intelligently that appeals to me.