Canyon Ambush

Denver Pyle 's name appears on the credits for this picture but for some reason doesn't appear, his role being filled by another actor. His presence might have brightened up this fairly dull Western, though Johhny Mack Brown was always a welcome sight in Saturday morning children's matinées at the time. The absence of any other well-known faces is a problem and there are too many stock situations in the script, although the identity of the chief villain remains a mystery until late in the film. Unusual to see the masked gunman wearing a cloak (but no dagger). Curiosity value only unless you are a Western fan.

Agent Johnny Mack Brown is called to Border City, Wyoming, by the U. S. government and ordered to catch a gang of outlaws led by a mysterious masked man that is murdering ranchers and holding up stagecoach drivers. The female editor of the town newspaper, Marian Gaylord, and the sheriff Bob Conway, start an anti-crime campaign. Agent Brown discovers that some members of the gang actually work in town government, and even discovers the identity of the gang's masked leader.

Another entertaining b-western finds Johnny Mack Brown helping the sheriff stop a masked man and his outlaws from holding up the Stagecoach. It's the standard action-packed stuff with a fairly hectic plot. It features some stock footage taken from Montana Desperado, which also featured a mask raider. Not terribly remarkable, but it does grab one's attention.

Canyon Ambush is directed by Lewis Collins and written by Joseph Poland. It stars Johnny Mack Brown, Lee Roberts, Phyllis Coates and Hugh Prosser. Music is by Raoul Kraushaar and cinematography by Ernest Miller.

Out of Monogram Pictures, Canyon Ambush is the sort of compact serial time filler that feels like it's in the wrong decade. Though coming out in the early 1950s, it has all the hallmarks of being a movie released ten years previously. Of course there was still a market for serial silliness, where the good guys were cut and dried in white, and the villains were black clad and easy to spot from the get go, but even in 1952 it feels old hat.

We are in Wyoming Territory, Border City, and a masked man on a black horse is terrorising and robbing all and sundry. Enter Johnny Mack Brown, a government agent on his way into town to work under cover as the sheriff's deputy. The sheriff, a war hero following in his father's footsteps, is pleased as punch to have some help in rooting out the bad eggs in town.

What follows is the standard formula for the quickie Westerns of the era, male characters mooch about barely concealing their true motives, a pretty gal (Marian Gaylord played by Coates) enters the fray and lowers the testosterone levels, and then it's action a go-go.

So it's shoot-out followed by a chase, a cunning plan is then hatched, then another shoot-out. Then time for a date with destiny, a mass shoot- out, some shifty shenanigans and a glorious happy ending, hooray! All crammed into under one hour of film.

In the year where Western fans had the likes of High Noon, The Naked Spur, Shane and the under seen War Arrow to gorge on, Canyon Ambush is a step backwards in the trajectory of quality Western cinema, but that doesn't mean it can't be enjoyed. It wants to entertain and it does so, the honest intentions ensuring it's above average for those in the mood for such olde Western frothery. 6/10

Canyon Ambush is a very low budget western with an hokey plot and some even hokier acting.

Johnny Mack Brown is uninspiring and doesn't convince me as a cowboy. The dialogue and general acting is stilted and much of the movie comes across as amateur especially the seemingly endless scenes in the sheriffs office.

The plot is as paper thin and pretty ridiculous and the characters wooden and unbelievable apart perhaps from the sheriff Lee Roberts. Some of the scenes are just laughable and it's pretty clear this must have been shot in a hurry. Thankfully by the time it reaches it's desperately predictable conclusion not much time has elapsed, which is indeed a blessing.

Even for a B Western this is poor stuff. One for western film buffs only and even then it is unlikely to leave a lasting impression other than bemusement.