Born to the Saddle

This movie has to be one of the great sleepers of western movies. At the beginning it seemed like it was going to be just another revenge story. However, I was pleasantly shocked to find out how much more there was to the plot. It all starts with a bang when Bill Walton's (Chuck Courtney) uncle shoots at Matt Daggett (Donald Woods) but he shoots his nephew by mistake. From an instant bonding the relationship goes downhill at a rapid rate. Hopolong Cassidy's sidekick, Rand Brooks is granted custody of young Bill, but Brooks may have some shady dealings with none other than the man of many talents Glenn Strange. A very spirited role by Dolores Prest who comes horse theiven and sets a volatile relationship with Walton, as if he needed anymore problems. Uncle Bob Marshall (Leif Erickson) tries to ease the tensions but young Bill is fighting a war on many fronts and now he's got to ride against Ricky Summers (Robert J. Anderson). The relationships between all the players were built up wonderfully and the acting was superb. Born to the Saddle is a hidden gem and much more than meets the eye.

Even though he had been in 13 movies before "Born to the Saddle," he was credited here with "Introducing Chuck Courtney."

Chuck Courtney was by no means the biggest name, and he didn't carry off the acting honors, but he was quite obviously the real rider and real stunt rider: Part of what earns "Born to the Saddle" a 10-star rating was Courtney's trick mounts.

Was he a born Westerner? Well, yes: He was born in Los Angeles. And you can't be born much farther west.

I always hate to admit to any lack of knowledge when it comes to Western movies, but I had not heard of him before watching this YouTube movie in April of 2017. Since watching him in this, I did a bit of research. Chuck Courtney was a busy actor, in movies and TV, with such roles as the Lone Ranger's nephew, and as Davod in "Star Trek."

And he did a lot of stunts, obviously, judging from his performance in "Born to the Saddle," a very talented horse-man.

He was very ably accompanied in this movie by the beloved Rand Brooks, who might be most famous for either his role as Scarlett O'Hara's first husband in "Gone With the Wind," or his role as Corporal Boone in the TV series "Adventures of Rin Tin Tin."

In my opinion, though, he out-did himself in "Born to the Saddle," playing a much tougher character than usual, and deserving all the praise he can get.

There were three strong women roles, the youngest being played by Dolores Prest, about whom nothing is known here, but she was really cute, very outgoing, and deserving, judging from this only known role, to have been a star.

Karen Morley was the central female, vied for by both of the male characters played by Donald Woods and Leif Ericson -- and all three kept our attention.

"Born to the Saddle" had an excellent story, by Gordon Young, with many levels of interesting characters, all well played and well directed.

There are several versions of this movie at YouTube, including one in the original Cinecolor, but it's jumpy and hard to watch. Do sample all the versions and find the one that plays best, but do watch "Born to the Saddle." You should be impressed and pleased.

For a C film western that was independently produced with a scarcity of production values Born To The Saddle turned out not so bad. Some second line performers were in this one and one of them broke his usual typecasting.

The protagonist of the story is young Chuck Courtney who is coming to town looking for his uncle. The uncle is looking however toward crooked gambler Donald Woods and Courtney steps in the way and takes a slug from his uncle's gun meant for Woods whereupon Woods kills him. After that Woods kind of adopts Courtney and since Courtney and his late father used to break and train wild stallions, Woods has Courtney training a new colt he has named Blue Chip.

There's a big race that Woods is planning to fix and Courtney is a small part in some long range schemes. Woods also has a few other crooked irons in the fire as well.

Woods was always a competent actor, but was usually typecast in nice guy roles as the hero's best friend. Here he does something completely offbeat and isn't half bad.

Karen Morley made her farewell big screen appearance the wife of Donald Woods who we would now call a 'battered spouse'. Morley and husband Lloyd Gough were blacklisted and this was the only work she could get, away from the big studios. Her role is not fully developed and she makes the best of what she was given.

Born To The Saddle could use some restoration. Hopefully someone who wants to preserve the work of Karen Morley might finance the effort.

Considering that this was a low-budget western, I was shocked how good it was. While some might find it all a bit hokey, I was surprised how much I enjoyed this one.

When the film begins, a young man arrives in a strange town. He's looking for his uncle and accidentally walks into the middle of a shootout with his uncle and another man. In the process, young Bill (Chuck Courtney) is shot but he saves the life of the gambler, Matt Daggett (Donald Woods). Daggett seems to appreciate this and helps the young man during his recuperation...too bad Daggett is a wolf in sheep's clothing! Through the course of the film, Bill starts to see Daggett's true side...and a showdown between them appears inevitable...especially since Bill is such an honest and earnest young man.

The film has a lot of surprises. Sure, it has a few of the usual B-western clichés...but it also violates many of them and offers some nice surprises. Overall, a very good and shockingly enjoyable picture.

By the way, although this film apparently was originally in color, the copy I got from archive.org was black & white. Also, I noticed folks with balloons in the film and assumed they were a rather recent invention. However, I checked and they developed them in 1824...so this isn't an anachronism.

This movie really ain't anything too spectacular but it's a pleasant enough western to watch.

It's a pleasantly slow going movie (which western isn't?) and takes it time to set up things and characters. Granted that it doesn't have the most interesting story or main character but it's all good enough to maintain your interest throughout. It's not a movie that bores, even though not an awful lot is happening. So just don't expect any long big gun fights or anything of that sort. It's a pretty 'innocent' sort of western.

It doesn't have an all too common main story for a western, which is also involving domestic violence and an horse race, among other things. This is a sort of a 'pleasant' change and approach to the genre. It works out original, since the movie starts off as your typical revenge flick but in the end the story has a whole lot more in it. It however on the other hand at times also means that this movie isn't the most interesting the genre has to offer.

Guess it's a sort of a pointless redundant movie to watch but when you do watch it you most likely won't be bored or regret it, especially of course when your a fan of the western genre and western's from the '40's/'50's in particular.

7/10

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