Man Without a Star

This excellent 50's western from Universal Pictures and director King Vidor stars Kirk Douglas as Dempsey Rae, a wandering cowhand in old west Wyoming. He and recently-acquired friend Jeff (William Campbell) find good work on a large cattle ranch, but new owner Reed Bowman (Jeanne Crain) complicates things, bringing in so many new head of cattle that the other, smaller ranchers will be forced out. Those ranchers have no choice but to start stringing up barbwire fences to save some grazing land for their own herds, which sets off a range war.

I liked this western despite the familiar story line, mainly due to the offbeat characters and good direction by Vidor. Douglas in particular assays a complicated man, a rowdy, seemingly fun-loving roughneck who is also capable of deadly violence at a moment's notice. His character Dempsey is not a heroic man, instead driven by personal demons that may lead to self-destruction or a sort of redemption. William Campbell is good as the young kid learning the ropes, while Jeanne Crain plays an alpha female not afraid to use her sexuality to get what she wants. And few actors of the time made better western villains than Richard Boone.

Terrific stuff! Kirk Douglas stars as a whiskey-sluggin' man's man who drifts into a Wyoming cattle town after taking young, hot-tempered William Campbell under his wing; they get jobs on cattle baroness Jeanne Crain's ranch, but she's fixin' to muscle in on her rancher-neighbor's land (for the grass) until her neighbor puts up a barbed-wire fence--something Douglas has a violent aversion to. A quality package, what with King Vidor directing and Douglas at the peak of his rough 'n tumble charms. Kirk's paternal relationship with Campbell suits him, as does tough-lady Crain as a possible love-interest. Screenwriters Borden Chase and D. D. Beauchamp get this outdoor yarn off to a great start, and it just keeps going from there. Strong cast includes Richard Boone as the villain, an uncredited Jack Elam as a killer, and Claire Trevor, wonderful as a bar hostess. Douglas swaggers, shoots, bites, plays the banjo and sings! It's one of his best films. *** from ****

Solid western directed in magisterial way, in the best genre tradition, by prestigious King Vidor. You can said the topic of the experienced cowboy teaching to a newcomer results very common at movies western. But Man Without Star is some more. This excellent movie picture tell us about the rivalry between two land´s possession different conceptions and about men´s maladjustment to new society rules. Everything is good at Man Without Star: the story (Borden Chase), the casting (Douglas, Trevor, Boone...), the song (Frankie Laine), and, of course, the production. Many director told us stories in western, but a few ones so efficaciously and with so easy manner like King Vidor at this picture. Because things results easier when you are expert. The same story was years later (also starring by Douglas) the Lonely Are The Brave starting point.

While traveling clandestine in a train, the drifter cowboy Dempsey Rae (Kirk Douglas) befriends the naive youngster Jeff "Texas" Jimson (William Campbell) and helps him when he is arrested by mistake in a train station. Dempsey Is hired by the foreman Strap Davis (Jay C. Flippen) to work in the ranch owned by the greedy Reed Bowman (Jeanne Crain), who brings civilized habits from the East, like having a bathroom inside the house. When the owners of minor ranches use barbed wire fence in the open grass to protect some land for their cattle in the winter, Reed hires a gang of troublemakers leaded by Steve Miles (Richard Boone) to work in her ranch and tries to seduce Dempsey to convince him to help her. But Dempsey decide to help the ranchers against the gunmen and Reed.

"Man Without a Star" is a flawed but entertaining western. Kirk Douglas performs a nice cowboy that "adopts" a youngster to be the substituted for his brother that was killed in a dispute of land; hates barbed wire fences that he associates to the cause of the death of his brother; and is very successful with women. However, despite telling that barbed wire comes together with fights and killings, his character is incoherent when he defends the ranchers that are installing barbed wire fences. Jeanne Crain is amazingly seductive and sexy with her beauty, and her manipulative character is strong but totally forgotten in the end of the story. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Homem Sem Rumo" ("Drifter")

This is probably my favorite Kirk Douglas western. Although it has plenty of action this is not just another action western. Rather it deals with the implacable transition of the west from open range available to all to individually-controlled patches of range that are fenced off with barbed wire. Dempsey Rae (Douglas' character) loves open range and keeps drifting north to avoid the barbed wire which destroys it. Finally, however, he realizes that the small ranchers must fence off the range to protect themselves from the massive herds of a greedy rancher and her ruthless foreman and helps string and protect the wire that he hates so thoroughly. I love this under-rated western.