Quantrill's Raiders

My God, I totally forgot that Steve Cochran played once in his career the good guy role. But the villain is Leo Gordon, so I hardly imagine the contrary, Leo Gordon playing the good undercover "agent" against the evil Quantrill. Stories concerning the latest were numerous in western history. Numerous One inaccurate more than the other. And I guess this one makes no exception, but it is pleasant to watch, though being so predictable, except, I repeat, Steve Cochran in the good role - I still CAN'T BELIEVE IT, really. In LBX and in color it is even more easy to appreciate from this director specialized in cheap - and also in LBX - science fiction films. But also westerns: ESCAPE FROM RED ROCK, STORM RIDER.

This bland and historically suspect western is made in Technicolor and Cinemascope with efficient action sequences in this otherwise bland western which has become a rather obscure film over the years.

Steve Cochrane plays a Confederate agent Alan Westcott organising Quantrill's gang on a raid of a federal arsenal in Kansas. Wescott realises that Quantrill (Leo Gordon in an effective performance) is a despicable and amoral villain interested only in murder and plunder. Westcott warns the town-folk of the impending danger and stand up to Quantrill and still has time to have romance with a local beauty.

Diane Brewster is spunky and easy on the eye. Gordon is the stand out as the rotter, Cochrane is staid and dull. The film is competent but will never be ranked along the better westerns of the period.

This brisk Cinemascope Civil War tale is a no nonsense movie that runs around 70 minutes and makes good use of its time.It tells of the raid on Lawrence,Kansas by Quantrill and his men during the war.Steve Cochran is top billed as a Confederate officer assigned to Quantrill to assist in the planning and execution of the raid .The town contains a Union ammunition dump and is thus a legitimate target .However when the ammunition is moved Quantrill -whose interest in the war lies not in the Southern cause but an opportunity to settle old scores -insists on pressing ahead with the raid anyway thus forcing Cochran to change his loyalties.

The movie rewrites history in a cavalier fashion - the fate of Quantrill in real life is not the one shown here-but there is much to enjoy if you are not over punctilious about such matters.Cochran is adequate as the hero but Leo Gordon ,who specialised in psychotic villains ,dominates the movie with a full blooded performance .The colour is good and the music score rousing .The action is plentiful and well staged .The script is clichéd and well worn and this is the movie,s chief liability All in all it is a good B-Movie from its era but it does raise one issue for me however-alone of all the key figures of the West and the Civil War,Quantrill has not received a "revisionist" movie about him .the movies have shown ,say Billy the Kid ,or Bill Cody in a number of contrasting lights,from hostile to sympathetic .Quantrill has been demonised in every single movie where he appears .Does nobody actually have to a good word to say about the guy? Good movie and a decent way of passing an hour or so

This film struck a chord because when I was a child in the 1950s the local newspaper billed it as "Quantrilla Raider". I tried to see as many Westerns as possible, but missed out because of school. Little did I know that decades later it, and many other 1950s films, would be shown on TV.

Leo Gordon is one of my favourite "character actors" and as Quantrill he adds a nervous edge to his usual tough-guy acting. Steve Cochran makes a bland hero, and it seems strange that in civilian clothes he wears distinctive striped trousers, almost military, even when he's masked his face for a hold-up.

The biggest letdown is the raid on Lawrence, which is depicted as an ineffectual charge or two. Even by Hollywood's usual standards when it comes to revising history, especially that of the West, the audacity in changing the facts is astonishing.

Lawrence, Kansas had to go undergo a seizure from both sides in the Civil War. The first time was John Brown who executed quite a few because they were of southern birth and sympathy. The next time was by William Quantrill who was fighting for the south in his own way of course.

The bloodthirsty Quantrill has been a hand movie villain, there's not too much you can say good about him. If there is anything true about this film it is strictly unintentional.

Leo Gordon plays Quantrill here and while there's more Gordon than the real Quantrill that all right by me because Leo Gordon is one of the best and meanest of villains and always fun to watch.

Our protagonist hero is Steve Cochran who is a Confederate army captain traveling as a spy behind Yankee lines. He's got orders for Quantrill from the Confederate command to destroy the Union arsenal at Lawrence, but don't do any of the looting and atrocities for which he is getting a bad rep for. Gordon has his own agenda for Lawrence and it has nothing to do with the issues of the Civil War.

Cochran indulges in a little romance with Gale Robbins. Also the very sexy Diane Brewster who is Gordon's woman makes a play for Cochran.

All in all and average B western under the Allied Artists banner.