The Brass Legend

There seems to be a lot of the same kind of people that inhabit the town that Hugh O'Brian is the sheriff of as there were in High Noon where Gary Cooper was the law. O'Brian gets about the same amount and kind of support that Cooper did.

The Brass Legend has Sheriff O'Brian getting a tip from young Donald MacDonald that notorious outlaw Raymond Burr is in the area and keeping company with a lewd saloon woman Rebecca Welles. Before they get down to business O'Brian has the drop on Burr.

Well by God this is not according to the code of the west where you're supposed to face the bad guy down and maybe get killed. Bad enough that Welles believes it and makes no secret about it, but half the town thinks like she does and thinks that Burr got a raw deal.

Further they don't like that O'Brian tried to keep young MacDonald's name out of it thinking that one of Burr's friends might want to shoot the snitch even if he's 12 years old. Sure enough a particular low life specimen does.

O'Brian is a stalwart hero in the mold of Wyatt Earp whom he just started playing on television. Burr is always an interesting villain and Welles as the vengeful saloon woman is fascinating.

The Brass Legend a good B western, fans of O'Brian and Burr will not be disappointed.

A marvellous Western from Oswald, a director who brought an intensity and fluidity to the B-Western that seems impossible given the five-to-seven-day shooting schedule it and the equally impressive 'Fury at Showdown' (1957) shared. Burr and O'Brian are the baddie and peace officer respectively set on collision course, when O'Brian captures Burr only to have him escape. The action is breathtaking - the climax has Burr and O'Brian racing towards each other on horseback, guns drawn - but it is Oswald's assertive camera, creating a jail break in one long take, for instance, that one remembers.

Ph. H.

Routine Western with not much to recommend it, which is rather surprising since director Gerd Oswald has something of a cult following. The problem lies with a stone-faced O'Brien and an undistinguished script whose high-point comes in a gun jousting showdown along a country road. In fact, only bar girl Millie (Rebecca Welles, aka Reba Tassell) manages to inject some life into the proceedings. Too bad Raymond Burr's villain Tris Hatten doesn't get more screen time. He has all the makings of a good florid baddie. It's odd to see Burr in such a leering role after his career years as the super-straight Perry Mason. Anyway, the European-born Oswald plays the unfamiliar material of a Western in pretty straightforward, unimaginative fashion, when what's needed is something to lift the movie above the ordinary.

Wanted outlaw Tris Hatten turns up in Apache Bend, looking for former sweetheart Millie Street, a saloon girl. Clay Gipson, the little brother of Sheriff Wade Addams' girlfriend, spots the fugitive and informs the sheriff, who knocks Hatten cold and takes him to jail.

Town opinion turns against the popular Wade, who is suspected by girlfriend Linda's father, rancher Tom Gipson, of being after a reward for Hatten that rightfully should go to the boy, Clay. In truth, Wade is trying to protect the child, particularly when the notorious Barlow gang rides into town to try to spring Hatten.

A reporter named Tatum helps damage the sheriff's reputation by revealing Clay to be the informant. Clay is wounded by a gunshot, bringing dad Tom to his senses. After shooting two of the Barlows, proving his courage, Wade must apprehend Hatten, who has had a gun smuggled to him in jail. Hatten shoots the reporter, but can he outdraw Wade?

There's an earthy and no-frills feel to this 1956 Western directed by Gerd Oswald and starring Hugh O' Brien as the sheriff who is trying to do the right thing by not revealing that his girl's brother informing about a killer named Tris Hatten who is played by Raymond Burr. Stark photography and harmonica soundtrack gels well with the overall serious tone. It's not the most exciting western, but it's very well made, compelling in a gradual way and more character based, though I felt the father was an idiot for wanting his son to be known as the informer for the sake of pride. It's well acted by all, especially by Hugh O' Brien who isn't only charismatic but comes across really fed up of being a sheriff. A couple of shootouts are well done.

I would have liked to have liked The Brass Legend more. I well remember watching Hugh O'Brian as a kid in Wyatt Earp on TV and quite liked him. He was much more effective I think playing villains as he did in a some westerns as his stone face look doesn't exactly give you a warm feeling here as a hero. He should have stuck to playing baddies, however he's very good in the gunfight scenes here, where he really brings some impact to an otherwise flat direction. The biggest flaw for me was the terrible acting by the child actor Donald McDonald and had a more accomplished child been chosen it would have been a big improvement as the other acting roles are generally quite good, particularly Raymond Burr and his girlfriend floozy Reba Tassell who both exude evil. Some of the dialogue is quite decently presented as well but the delightful Nancy Gates is wasted and there's zero chemistry between her and O'Brian. A clear rip off of High Noon but 4 stars out of 10 for trying and the gunfights.