Three Desperate Men

Only a lack of production values prevents me from giving this Lippert Production a higher rating. Three Desperate Men is an outstanding B western that stars Preston Foster, Jim Davis and Ross Latimer as the Denton brothers, read Dalton Brothers.

Foster and Davis are earning a living in Texas as honest lawmen and learn that their brother Latimer has been arrested in another state on a train robbery charge he couldn't possibly have committed since he was with them. They ride with evidence to clear him before he hangs, but the railroad agent Rory Mallinson is a vicious sort who tries to send them out of town before the hanging. They spring Latimer, but a deputy is killed. After that they're all hunted outlaws.

Although the film is short it packs quite a lot of action in its 70 minute time frame. In the supporting cast note a pair of good performances from Monte Blue as the former marshal who employed Foster and Davis and now has to track them down and from William Haade who may have his career role in this film as the amiable outlaw whom Foster and Davis once hunted and who now joins with them.

There is also a bittersweet romance with Virginia Grey and Foster that also ends badly. As for the ending itself Denton is an alias for Dalton and we know how it ended for those brothers.

One of the best films I've seen from Lippert and that's not just comparatively speaking.

Director Sam Newfield does a useful job of bringing this unusual script to life with generally very good performances from the three desperate brothers, with Preston Foster at the head.

I thought for a while that Larkin, the Wells Fargo detective who detained the younger of the three brothers and had him quickly tried and put on the gallows to hang, was the actual brain behind the robberies that the three brothers stand accused of, after they manage to spring their brother from the noose.

Beautiful Virginia Grey is the love interest but somehow disappears from the film as the three desperadoes step up their robbery rate.

Some great horse chases, nifty final shootout.

THREE DESPERATE MEN has flaws, but it has surprises too. Good old Preston accepting so readily to rob banks so he can get away from a life of crime provides the heart of the brothers' dilemma.

Worth watching.

That's my favorite from director Sam Newfield who, with this film, proves he could give interesting movies when he wished to, and also when he had the adequate budget.... Sheriff turned outlaw, we'll have it nine years later with Alan Ladd in ONE FOOT IN HELL. Here Preston Foster is marvelous, gripping in this so ambivalent character, and I was glued to this outstanding little western that loooks like a Reginald Le Borg or Lesley Selander's film, or at worst, an Edward L Cahn's from the thirties...Do not miss the final shoot out, not that far from THE WILD BUNCH. If there is one Sam Newfield's film you must see, this is definitely this very one.

When they learn that their brother Matt Denton (Ross Latimer) is awaiting trial in California, charged with train robbery, deputies Tom Denton (Preston Foster) and Fred Denton (Jim Davis) leave their home in Fort Grant, Texas and head west. They arrive in Tulare just in time to rescue Matt from being hanged, but a guard is killed during their escape. Ed Larkin (Rory Mallinson) who framed Matt, falsely accuses them of a long list of crimes. They return to Fort Grant so that Tom can see his sweetheart Laura Brook (Virginia Grey). They encounter outlaw Bill Devlin (William Haade) who persuades them to hold up a train which Laura unwittingly told them would carry a large payroll. Soon the whole territory is enraged at their deeds. They return to Fort Grant to hold up the two banks that are filled with huge sums of cattle money.

Three Desperate Men has a standard "good guys turn into outlaws by cruel circumstances" western plot which is given a lift by the presence of Preston Foster and Jim Davis, some lively shoot em up action and a fast pace. The finale features a real intense shootout- quite impressive. I think originally it was meant to feature the Dalton gang, but instead it was decided to have the desperate outlaws as fictional, which is a good idea. Notice that Denton isn't too far a stretch from Dalton.