La mujer que podía haber sido

A band of renegade Utes, led by a sneaky, low down, forked tongue white man, burn, loot, and pillage across the southwest. A rugged settler and the Army go after the elusive skunk and his gang of dirty rats and meet in a blazing gun battle in the mountains. Above average western.

Flaming Feather is directed by Ray Enright and written by Gerald Drayson Adams. It stars Sterling Hayden, Forrest Tucker, Arleen Whelan, Barbara Rush, Victor Jory, Edgar Buchanan and Richard Arlen. A Technicolor production, music is by Paul Sawtell and cinematography by Ray Rennahan.

The mysterious outlaw known only as The Sidewinder is in cahoots with the Native Americans and terrorises Arizona's settlers. But when The Sidewinder chose Tex McCloud (Hayden) as one of his targets, he hadn't banked on Tex linking up with the U.S. Cavalry to hunt him down.

Enjoyably energetic Oater that makes up for what it lacks in originality with gorgeous location photography and a barn storming finale. Ray Enright was a good old pro at this sort of thing, and here he doesn't waste any time with pointless filler scenes or drawn out conversations that don't advance the plot. From the get go we are thrust into an action sequence, and from there on in the film rarely pauses for breath.

Hayden and Tucker make for a beefy coupling, and although the mystery element is not exactly rocket science to work out, the presence of three lovely lady characters does spice up the intrigue surrounding The Sidewinder and those in pursuit of him. It all builds to a wonderful finale that starts out with a Little Big Horn type siege, which then develops into a pursuit and battle up at the Montezuma Castle Monument in Arizona, where fire pit punch ups and ladder skills enthral greatly.

It isn't hard to pick holes in it, it is after all one of those quintessentially early 1950s Westerns that was ignorant to intelligent scripting and screenplays. Yet for sheer gusto and consistently airy beauty this is a must see for Western and Hayden lovers. 7/10

Sterling Hayden stars as a cowboy who hits the trail in search of a renegade white man leading a band of Indians who burned his ranch and ran off his horses and cattle. The mysterious raider is responsible for the killing and looting of towns and wagon trains manages to elude the pursuing cavalry until events conspire to unmask the villain. Barbara Rush is the romantic interest of Hayden and also the renegade and her role is that of a damsel in distress throughout the picture. Forrest Tucker is good as an army lieutenant and there are comical exchanges between old timers Edgar Buchanan and George Cleveland. Victor Jury is also good as the dark, saturnine trading post owner. Arleen Whelan's role as a saloon singer doesn't have much to do with the film's plot but is quite a looker nonetheless. The technicolor is excellent, as is Paul Sawtell's spare music score.

Flaming Feather casts Sterling Hayden as a rancher and Forrest Tucker as a cavalry lieutenant who make a bet as to who will catch the notorious outlaw known as the Sidewinder. Hayden whose ranch was recently burned out and cattle stolen is not satisfied with the performance of the army in catching this desperado. The Sidewinder has as his gang a collection renegade Ute Indians which makes him the army business as opposed to civilian law enforcement. Hayden and Tucker have a wager on who will catch him first as no white people know his identity.

It wasn't hard to figure it out just look at the casting. Even without IMDb identifying the Sidewinder on Flaming Feather's page it was easy to figure out by the kind of roles this player is usually cast in. The real suspense is whether Hayden or Tucker will wind up with leading ladies Arleen Whelan and Barbara Rush. Another good part is that of Carol Thurston who played many exotic types in her career and is the Indian mistress of The Sidewinder.

Flaming Feather is good, but highly predictable.

This a good picture for what it is. It seems to start out as a formula western with an age old plot, white man running with Indians doing bad things, lone hero sets out to stop him, etc. However the script is pretty good, there is some suspense, though we sort of know from the get-go who the bad guy is,the moment he shows on the screen. I love Sterling Hayden...for a guy who really didn't like being an actor, he does all right. Barbara Rush is beautiful and appealing. Forrest Tucker just shows up, and Victory Jory steals the picture with his oily charm.Edgar Buchannian is wasted in a role he really isn't suited for.

However, all in all, a pretty good picture. I enjoyed it.