Un roi et quatre reines

The cinematography (Lucien Ballard) in this film is as luscious as the four pretty young brides (Eleanor Parker, Jean Willes, Barbara Nichols, and Sara Shane). From the opening credits to the end of the picture, it's pure classic 50's western in terms of rich and sumptuous color, this time by DeLuxe. While the plot isn't going to hold up to the scrutiny of some hyper film critics, it still allows for scenes that are full of sexy humor, as each bride tries her best to undress Clark Gable, perhaps none more than a seductive Jean Willes as Ruby. Jo Van Fleet, as the gun-toting mother-in-law of the four "queens", each of whom married one of her four outlaw sons, is mainly preoccupied with protecting the girls from any man who's bold or stupid enough to stray onto their out of the way property until her supposedly one living son returns from a botched bank robbery to reclaim his wife (whichever one that may be) and buried gold dust, and is the only obstacle between the girls and Gable, who only wants the gold, but is no fool when it comes to women.

The King and Four Queens marked the fourth time Raoul Walsh tried his hand in directing a motion picture in Cinemascope, the first three of them being Battle Cry, The Tall Man and The Revolt of Mamie Stover the second of them being also the first film out of three in totality that Walsh made with legendary Clark Gable.

In The King and Four Queens Gable plays a handsome middle-aged adventurer Don Kehoe, known in the West for his skills in using a gun who comes to a rancho called Wagon Mound with its entire population consisting of five women, four of them being beautiful widows of the McDade gang brothers recently killed while attempting to rob a bank. They are led by a tough middle-aged Ma McDade (Jo Van Fleet) who is quite feared and respected not only by the four young widows under her command but also by a population of all villages and towns a few hundreds miles around the ranch. Promptly upon our hero's arrival, the rivalry among the four sisters as about conquering of Don Kehoe's heart ensues, resulting in many insignificant troubles manly for the old mother-chief. The purpose of Don Kehoe's joining of such a pleasant company nonetheless is a large sum of money that, as a word goes around, is hidden at the ranch and which hiding place he ought to find by any means.

Overall the average Western as it is, The King and Four Queens provides much less viewing pleasure then one may expect from an average one, but nonetheless it has its interesting moments and is a worth watching experience for a genre fan. 6/10

Here the King out-blazes the desert sin in one of the hottest westerns ever made . Seducer adventurer , ex-con and fast-on-the-draw gunman called Dan Kehoe : Clark Gable arrives in a small town saloon , there he meets Bartender (Jay C. Flippen) of Rosebud Saloon in Touchstone and hears stories of the four villains McDade Brothers . Three of the career outlaws were murdered on their last heist while one escaped , being his identity unknown. Hearing that the gold is buried at Wagon Mount, Kehoe ignores dangerous warnings and ingratiates himself with an old woman : Jo Van Fleet with a fake tale about meeting her surviving son in a prison cell . Meantime , 4 tempting widows have stayed with their cantankerous mother-in-law for the past two years , and Dan seduce them : Oralie cried , Birdie teased , Ruby fought , Sabina waited for him with a smile . Each widow : Sabina McDade : Eleanor Parker , Ruby McDade : Jean Willes , Birdie McDade : Barbara Nichols , Oralie : Sara Shane hoping that her husband is the surviving son and sole claimant to the money : $50,000 cache of stolen gold that is hidden somewhere on the family ranch .The King plays the hottest game in the West . . . with four beguiling Queens!





Hilarious Western comedy in which smooth-talking Clark Gable playing an ex-con who is a crack-shot shows his particular talent , acting in his stereotyped role , as he uses his charm on four ladies and he also dances wonderfully with them . This is a battle of sexes and six-guns ; it includes humor , songs , sprawling , almost primitive action teeming across the screen . The plot is plain and simple , a seductive and opportunistic con man named Dan ingratiates himself with the cantankerous mummy of four outlaws and he seduces 4 beautiful widows in order to find their hidden gold . A rip-roaring Western/comedy /romance in which the conventions of the Wild West are turned upside down . This funny picture has comedy , diverting situations and concentrating on humor along with nice inventive bits , skilfully combining the entertainment with the amusement . Clark Gable runs away with every cowboy cliché and even arranges to wind up with the girl . Important appearance by Hollywood veteran Clark Cable gives a sympathetic acting as the opportunistic con man, on the run when meets 4 beautiful as well as captivating woman. Jo Van Fleet provides a sensational performance as the feisty mother, who dislikes visitors , but she was actually 14 years younger than Gable ; furthermore she guards her daughter-in-law's chastity as tightly as the hidden gold ; finally , he realizes that with Kehoe, she has let the fox into the henhouse. And the four gorgeous man-hungry McDade widows marvelously played by the attractive Eleanor Parker , the busty as well sultry Barbara Nichols , Sara Shane ,and sassy , sweetie Jean Willes . In addition , some notorioues secondaries in brief interventions as Roy Roberts , Arthur Shields , Chuck Robertson and Jay C. Flippen .



The motion picture produced by Clark Gable himself , he formed a production company with his Tall Men (1955) co-star Jane Russell and her husband Robert Waterfield in order to produce thiis movie , being well directed by Raoul Walsh by relinquishing creative control , though being an inferior work . From his starts in the silent cinema Walsh achieved successful films until the 50s and forward , early 60s , when he was less dominant , but is still stayed lots of lusty adventure , stories of comradeship and friendship , and Raoul makes the most of plentiful action scenes . Walsh was an expert director of all kind genres but with penchant in Western as ¨Colorado territory¨this interesting Western and action film makes it of the finest of Raoul Walsh genre entries , following other essencila titles as ¨They died with their boots on¨, ¨Along the great divide¨, ¨Saskatchewan¨, ¨King and four queens¨ , ¨The sheriff of fractured jaw¨, ¨A distant trumpet¨ ; Adventure as ¨Thief of Bagdad¨, ¨Captain Horatio Hornblower¨, ¨World in his hands¨, ¨Blackbeard the pirate¨ , ¨Sea devils¨ ; Warlike as ¨Objetive Burma¨ , ¨Northern pursuit¨, ¨Marines let's go¨ ; and Noir film as ¨White heat¨, ¨High Sierra¨, ¨They drive by night¨, ¨The roaring twenties¨ and his last one : ¨The sheriff of fractured jaw¨ . Rating : 5,5/10 ; fairly straightforward movie and passable Western comedy . This average Western film makes it of the lesser interesting of Raoul Walsh genre entries. Rating : Fairly straightforward movie and average .

Below average with a dumb sequence of dance in a living room with no one playing the music. The music was only playing on the soundtrack! Eleanor Parker and Jo Ann Fleet were interesting, not exceptional. Some stunt riding at the start of the film, that had little to do with the story line, was noteworthy.

At the age of 55 (nearly twenty years older than Jo Van Fleet who as usual gives the best performance as the gun-toting matriarch) Clark Gable still had the charisma to be ogled skinny-dipping in this charming and mellow yarn set against majestic mountains and with an excellent score by Alex North in which he arrives among a coven of widows. Since one of them is played by by the radiant Eleanor Parker (only three years younger than the woman she calls 'Ma') no prizes for guessing who finally gets him.