Matar o morir

I watched this film when it was recently shown on British television, largely because it was an early work by Don Siegel, at the time an up-and-coming young director, but later to become one of Hollywood's most distinguished directors, responsible for films as good as "Dirty Harry" and "The Shootist". It is a Western of the traditional heroes-and-villains variety. The villains are a gang of claim jumpers whose victims are the local miners. Their method of working is a simple one. They pick on a lone miner, force him to sign over his claim under threat of death, and then kill him anyway so he cannot inform on them. (The film does not point out the obvious hole in the scheme, namely that the claim jumpers will not be able to enforce their rights to the claims they take over in this way without revealing their identities).

The main heroes are the local Marshal and the Silver Kid, a young gambler and gunfighter whose father was one of the claim jumpers' victims and who joins forces with the Marshal to seek his revenge. There are two complicating factors. One is that the Marshal has fallen in love with a young woman named Opal Lacey who is secretly in league with the killers. The other is that the Marshal has been shot in the shoulder, an injury which affects his ability to handle a gun.

The best-known actor in the film is Audie Murphy. He made a few good films, most notably "The Red Badge of Courage", but a lot of his output consisted of routine Westerns. Murphy always seemed to be struggling against two disadvantages. The first was the fact that because he had become well-known to the American public for something other than his acting- he was a much-decorated war hero- he was unable to ditch his odd, feminine-sounding Christian name in favour of something more rugged. The second was his smooth, youthful looks which meant that he was frequently typecast as a callow young greenhorn even when he was in his thirties.

Here, however, Murphy is pretty good as the Kid, a brash and undisciplined but basically decent young man who gradually grows in courage and stature. I would agree with the reviewer who pointed out that the relationship between the Kid and Steve McNally's older, wiser Marshal is similar to that between John Wayne and Ricky Nelson in "Rio Bravo". (I've never seen "El Dorado", the other film he mentions).

"Duel at Silver Creek" is a fairly standard Western. As others have pointed out, its plot- the one about the heroic lawman tackling a gang of bandits- is familiar enough to be called a cliché, although that in itself does not mean that the film itself will be a bad one. After all, some very good Westerns, and at least two great ones ("High Noon" and "Gunfight at the OK Corral") have been based around it. "Duel.." is in nothing like the same class as those two films, but Siegel handles the action well, showing signs of the great director he was to become. It may be a B-movie, but it is a fast-paced, entertaining and enjoyable one. 7/10.

A band of claim jumpers assault humble proprietaries , gaining ownership of undermanned mining operations and killing anyone who gets in their way including the family of Silver Kid : Audie Murphy . Later on, Kid seeks vendetta and sets out in pursuit the murderers , as arriving in Silver City he befriends the local sheriff nicknamed Lightning : Stephen McNally . Then Silver Kid is deputized by the marshal to help him to track down the assailant group and to discover who murdered his former deputy . Along the way, the sheriff falls for a stranger female arriving in the town, who may not be healthy for him , she is called Opal Lacy : Fay Domergue ; while Kid romances the charming Susan Cabot . Gun against gun for the rule of the town¡ .

This is an exciting Western with thrills , frantic action, go riding , crosses and double-crosses, and, of course , there are lots of shootouts. Here Stephen McNally is the real starring more than Audie Murphy. Both protagonists form an uneasy alliance against the outlaws who are infesting the territory through extortion , violent robbing and leaving no live witnesses . Stephen is acceptable as the tough sheriff who bears a wounded hand , though his role is supported by an unnecessary voice-in-off explaining the happenings . While quick-drawing Audie Murphy plays a nimble and swift gunrunner who seeks vengeance against those killed his father. Murphy was the most decorated soldier in WWII , and subsequently starred his self-biography : ¨To hell and back¨ and other wartime movies : ¨War is hell¨, ¨Battle of bloody beach¨ . Murphy played a lot of Westerns as ¨Texas Kid¨, ¨40 guns to Apache Pass¨, ¨The red badge of courage¨, ¨Guns of Fort Petticoat¨, ¨The unforgiven¨, ¨Arizona raiders¨, ¨Night passage¨, ¨Apache rifles¨, ¨Cimarron Kid¨, ¨The legend of Billy Kid¨, ¨Posse from hell¨, ¨Sierra¨, ¨Legend of Sam Guard¨ . Although he also performed in others genres in ¨The bad boy¨, ¨Joe Butterfly¨, and the considered to be his best one : ¨The quiet man¨. Both of them are accompanied by two gorgeous girls , the femme fatale Fay Domergue and the beautiful young Susan Cabot . Support cast is frankly excellent , such as : Lee Marvin, Walter Sande, James Anderson, Eugene Iglesias and Gerald Mohr.

It contains a luminous cinematography in brilliant technicolor by Irving Glassberg. As well as thrilling and stirring musical score by uncredited Herman Stein and Hans J. Salter . Being financed in budget enough by the important producers as Leonard Goldstein and Ross Hunter. This picture Duel at Silver Creek was professionally directed by Don -Donald- Siegel. At his beginning he made Westerns and Noir Films as ¨Private hell 36¨, ¨The verdict¨ , ¨The big steal¨ , ¨Baby Face Nelson¨. Then, he directed Clint Eastwood in notorious films as ¨The beguiled¨, ¨Coogan's bluff¨,¨Two mules and sister Sarah¨, ¨Escape Alcatraz¨. Directing successful thrillers as ¨Madigan¨, ¨Charly Varrick¨. Finally, he directed failed films as ¨Rough cut¨ and ¨Black Jack¨, as well as TV episodes until his death.

This is an entertaining but brief '50's Western and is still on UK TV regularly mainly because it was lucky enough to get shot in colour. However the story isn't too bad either, this side of Tolstoy anyway.

Wild bunch of brutal claim jumpers are terrorising the locality, but eventually fall foul of full-of-himself Marshal Lightning Stephen McNally (also doubling up as the noirish narrator) and the wronged Silver Kid played by smooth Audie Murphy. Who also respectively fall foul of dirty Brown Eyes and clean Dusty. In between the downbeat comments from McNally there's some sparkling dialogue, perhaps more intelligent than should be expected from this type of film but it helps keep you onboard while the hackneyed plot unfolds. Favourite bits: McNally's varying speeds of eating betwixt fillies; Murphy being told to stay in the jailhouse but turning up everywhere in Brown Eyes' house naturally riling McNally; Johnny Sombrero's swift comeuppance.

No surprises but quite a good film really, although sadly most people nowadays would pass it by as they prefer nothing but sex and gore for their entertainment.

"The Duel at Silver Creek" is a 1952 Western starring Stephen McNally and Audie Murphy as a sheriff and green deputy who are trying to track down a murderous gang of claim jumpers. Meanwhile the sheriff pursues a new hottie in town (Faith Domergue) while the deputy is interested in a teenage cutie (Susan Cabot). A 27 year-old Lee Marvin is on hand as one of the possibly shady characters.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this old Western. Murphy is great as the youthful and likable fast-gun and McNally is effective as the sheriff. Domergue is beautiful, but duplicitous and even shockingly evil (e.g. the unexpected strangling scene). Cabot is a joy to watch and it's interesting to see Marvin so young.

The story is interesting with McNally narrating and it easily keeps your attention at only 77 minutes, but what brings my rating down is the roll-your-eyes plot gimmicks (for lack of better word) typical of old Westerns. For instance, the sheriff's bad finger that makes it almost impossible for him to squeeze the trigger of his handgun and how this becomes a big secret. And then there's the way the deputy expertly grazes the sheriff's arm in order to take his place in a fast-draw duel (What if he was off by a couple of centimeters?). If it weren't for these types of lame aspects I'd give "The Duel at Silver Creek" a higher grade.

The locations are good, shot at three California ranches -- Corrigan Ranch, Iverson Ranch and Janss Conejo Ranch – as well as Vasquez Rocks.

GRADE: B-

Stephen McNally is a rugged hero, playing the marshal "Lightning" Tyrone. He goes up against a vicious gang of "claim jumpers" making life miserable for miners. He makes the acquaintance of a youth who's been dubbed "The Silver Kid", played by WWII hero Audie Murphy, and decides that he can put The Kid to use as his deputy.

Although pretty average in terms of story, this is still entertaining thanks to the assured direction of Don Siegel, in the years before he'd graduated to the ranks of major A list directors. He knew how to handle action scenes, for one thing, and "The Duel at Silver Creek" is reasonably rousing at times. Overall, the filmmaking is quite capable, with top notch location work and superb creation of the classic Western look (in glorious Technicolor). You will notice that Siegel and the screenwriters don't exactly bother to keep the identities of certain villains a secret. You're also left in little doubt as to how the predictable script will unfold, so the scenario isn't about suspense, despite the fact that good guy Lightning has been badly wounded and can't handle a gun as well as he used to.

There are very fine performances by a well chosen cast: McNally, a confident young Murphy, lovely ladies Faith Domergue and Susan Cabot, Gerald Mohr, Eugene Iglesias, James Anderson, Walter Sande, Lee Marvin, George Eldredge, Griff Barnett, Harry Harvey, etc.

It's worth noting that the run time is a mere 77 minutes. It's always nice when actors and filmmakers can tell their story in a succinct manner and not drag it out any longer than necessary.

Six out of 10.