The Plunderers

"The Plunderers" is a color western from Republic Studios. While it's filmed in Cinecolor (which usually looks awful over time), the color on this YouTube copy is exceptionally nice.

John Drum (Rod Cameron) is a soldier in the US Cavalry and who is on a special undercover assignment. He is to convince everyone he's a horrible criminal in order to, hopefully, ingratiate him to a criminal gang...thus joining them and learning who is in the gang and what local is helping them. Unfortunately, over time, John becomes good friends with the gang leader and his heart isn't into bringing him to justice...where he'll hang. How to get out of this dilemma? An Indian attack out of nowhere!

The first 75% of the film is pretty good and there is an interesting possibly gay subtext as well. But the ending seemed like a giant cliche...as if the writer just thought an Indian attack was the way to resolve everything. An okay western overall...watchable, of course, but it could have been better.

The Plunderers has Rod Cameron on detached duty pretending to be an outlaw. His mission is to get outlaw Forrest Tucker who's been causing such mayhem in the territory that the army has an interest in his capture, conviction, and execution.

To establish his credentials with Tucker, a fake killing of sheriff George Cleveland is carried out and that does put him in solid with Tucker. It also puts him in solid with Tucker's girlfriend Lorna Gray and her companion Ilona Massey. By the way Massey looks completely lost in a western. Maybe Herbert J. Yates had Vera Hruba Ralston shooting another picture at Republic.

There's a nicely staged Sioux attack as a climax where both Cameron and Tucker find out who's been selling rifles to the Sioux. Selling weaponry to the Indians is a cardinal sin in all western films.

Yates put a bit more budget into this western than normal, possibly thinking that Cameron, Tucker or both might be a breakout star from the B westerns. Of course that never happened as it did with John Wayne. It should have had a better story with better drawn characters. Paul Fix for instance when we first meet him is a back shooting rat. For no apparent reason he becomes downright noble in the end.

Not the best western Yates ever turned out of his horse opera factory.

It's a Western set in the 1870s that sees stranger-in-town Rod Cameron (John) buy a coconut from a shop and meet Lorna Gray (Julie Ann) and Ilona Massey (Lin). Sheriff George Cleveland (Sam) comes into the shop after hearing a gunshot. Cameron has shot into the coconut to get the milk and share it with the girls. He's a smooth operator. However, the sheriff recognizes Cameron as a wanted man and Cameron is forced to escape town. Whilst on the run, he bumps into fellow outlaw Forrest Tucker (Whit). Things aren't what they seem...

It's an entertaining Western with a good cast and a buddy-buddy feel to it as we follow Cameron and Tucker Throw in some Indians at the climax and this film covers all bases. It has plenty of action, there is tension, the lead characters are appealing and you root for the bad guys. Well, I did. It's a shame that Massey gets 2 rubbish songs to sing. I like my Western saloon girl songs to be uptempo with a catchy tune. Not here, unfortunately.

I can't wait to go to my local shop, ask for a coconut and try out my latest way of getting into the damn thing. I might buy some arms as well whilst I'm there and sell them to the enemy. Everyone seems to be up to those tricks in Westerns. And in real life, just check out what our Governments are STILL doing!

A tight script, decent dialogue, and good supporting cast, separate this one from the routine shoot 'em ups. Sort of a "buddy movie" with Cameron, the lawman and Tucker the outlaw, forced to set aside differences to avoid a sioux massacre. Fix, as one of the bad guys, delivers cynical wit throughout. They just don't make 'em like this anymore.

I always found Rod Cameron a solid actor, and it was a shame he didn't star in bigger scaled B-westerns a la Randolph Scott throughout the 50's. He was an archetypical cowboy, tall and deadly, but with a twinkle in his eye. And this appeal is showcased in the Plunderers, an energetic film where he plays an undercover agent who befriends Forrest Tucker so he could capture Tucker and his gang of robbers pilfering from wagons. It's great entertainment, irrespective of the year it was made, and it's a buddy western punctuated with some romance, quick-witted dialogue, great saloon songs, and well-staged action scenes. It was good for 1948, and it's good for now.