La Mission du commandant Lex

Springfield Rifle is the film Gary Cooper made after his much acclaimed performance in High Noon. Not that it's a bad film, but a fairly routine western which even kind of gives away who the inside man is way too early in the film. It would have been better had their been more suspense.

Gary Cooper goes undercover to find a ring of rustlers who are working in cahoots with the Confederacy during the Civil War, stealing horses meant for the Union cavalry.

To do this he gets himself courtmartialed and drummed out of the army. And he gets the full Chuck Connors treatment, that Connors received on his series Branded. This enables Cooper to join the renegades led by David Brian and Lon Chaney, Jr.

Things do get complicated when Coop's wife, Phyllis Thaxter, shows up to tell him about their son who has run away. Her concern nearly derails the mission and her husband.

Some good western action is in Springfield Rifle, a couple of pitched battles with the renegades and Cooper finally uncovering the inside man in the rustling ring.

Three good performances besides the players mentioned are Guinn Williams as the sergeant who saves Cooper from a hangman, Paul Kelly as the post commander, and Philip Carey as a rival officer to Cooper on the post.

Springfield Rifle is good action entertainment for those who like their westerns action filled.

As a matter of curiosity, in 1952 Gary Cooper appeared in two Westerns as diverse as SPRINGFIELD RIFLE, in Technicolor, and in the masterpiece HIGH NOON, in B&W. In the former he was directed by a professionally competent but hardly out of the box André de Toth, whereas in the latter he had the guiding hand of the brilliant Fred Zinnemann.

Neither de Toth nor Cooper were helped by the predictable script by Charles Marquis about a Union Army officer putting on a show of supposed betrayal and cowardice in order to ramify into espionage in the enemy camp, and track down the mole in the US War Department (sounds like a Cold War movie, doesn't it?!)

Cooper has done much better work, in fact I would rate his performance here as substandard, especially when compared with his show in HIGH NOON.

I doubt I will watch SPRINGFIELD RIFLE again. 6/10.

andre de toth was a remarkable jewel in hollywood....perhaps possessing the most relentlessly savage humor of anyone in the history of that town....any movie he ever got his hands on were almost obsessive in his pursuit to put in his sharp jabs to the eye and ear....and springfield rifle is no exception....forget the plot and sit back and enjoy Cooper doing what he did best...being himself with that real western accent that only somebody who has spent more time on a horse than he should have owns.....and then get ready for a couple of de toth's unique moments.....the first coming when Cooper is talking to David Brian after stealing the horse out from under Lon Chaney Jr. and Chaney comes riding up sees Cooper and knocks him to the ground=====without mind you even a look by Brian over in Cooper's direction, but just giving Chaney a slightly narrorer pair of eyes as he kind of snarls....Pete i thought i told you never to ride a horse like that....................no other director in the history of hollywood ever ignored Cooper or their stories hero so gloriously.....and in film after film by De Toth, from House of Wax to Ramrod you get these moments..... but done so fast and laconically that you have to keep a sharp eye or they go right past you.............

I saw this film as I like films like this and I admire the cast. In most aspects this film delivered. The title is misleading I agree and I personally would've liked Springfield Rifle to have been 5 or so minutes longer. However, while it is not an exceptional movie it is a very good and enjoyable one, and I also think underrated.

Springfield Rifle is a very well made film, I loved the scenery and the cinematography is beautiful. It also has strong direction, a rousing music score from Max Steiner that compliments the film perfectly, a good story with an interesting structure and themes and sharp dialogue.

Good pacing is also at hand, and the cast are great. Gary Cooper has done better work perhaps, but still gives an engaging performance. Lon Chaney Jnr likewise, and Phyllis Thaxter and Paul Kelly are excellent. Overall, a very enjoyable movie. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Good Western with frantic action , thrills , fights , crossfire , wonderful outdoors , all of them keep things lively . Major Lex Kearny (Gary Cooper) is degraded and consequently considered a treacherous , as he becomes the North's first counterespionage agent , as he attempts to discover who's behind the theft of Union cavalry horses in Colorado during the Civil War . Falling in with the band of Jayhawkers (Lon Chaney Jr. , Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams , among others) and Confederate soldiers who have been leading the raids , he gradually gains their trust to uncover their plans and reveal the routes of the horse shipments . But then , it appears his wife , Erin Kearney , (Phyllis Thaxter) and things go awry . At the end the good boys take the Springfield Rifles , ¨The Gun That Made One Man The Equal Of Five¨.

Based on the real-life of Major Les Kearney who joined forces with outlaws to catch the thieves stealing Union horses . This exciting picture tells the story of an upright officer wrongly degraded , dishonorably discharged from the army for cowardice , being finely played by the great Gary Cooper who gives a perfect acting in his usual stoic style . And being released the same year as Gary Cooper's most famous Western , High Noon (1952), which also starred Lon Chaney Jr. in a secondary role . It contains noisy action , shootouts , a climatic confrontation on the final , twists and turns ; being breathtakingly photographed in WarnerColor . Interesting as well as stirring screenplay Charles Marquis Warren and Frank Davis , based on a story by Sloan Nibley .

This undemanding western is plenty of suspense as the dreaded final attack approaches and the protagonist realizes he must stand alone against impossible odds and nobody is willing to help him but he is accused as a traitor , while he attempts to clear his name as a wrongfully accused soldier . This enjoyable tale is almost rudimentary though full of clichés , a good guy comes to narration is almost adjusted in real time from the starring is degraded , subsequently detained , imprisoned , escaped , until the ending take on , when he is besieged by the bad boys . Nice supporting actors largely hang around waiting for something to do , and with plenty of familiar faces , such as : Paul Kelly , David Brian , Philip Carey , Fess Parker , Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams , Lon Chaney Jr., Alan Hale Jr. , Richard Hale , Martin Milner and James Brown . Colorful cinematography by Edwin DuPair , being shot on location at attitudes of up 9500 feet on the slopes of California's Mount Whitney . Furthermore , a moving and agreeable musical score by the classical composer Max Steiner .

This typical Western was professionally directed by Andre De Toth . At his beginnings De Toth entered the Hungarian film industry, obtaining work as a writer, editor , second unit director and actor before finally becoming a director. He directed a few films just before the outbreak of WW II, when he fled to England . Alexander Korda gave him a job there, and when De Toth emigrated to the US in 1942 , Korda got him a job as a second unit director on Jungle Book (1942) . Andre De Toth was a classical director , Western usual (Indian fighter, Man in the saddle , Ramrod , Last of Comanches , The stranger wore a gun), but also made Peplum (Gold for the Caesar) and adventure (The Mongols , Morgan the pirate , Tanganyika) . Probably his best known film is House of wax (1953), a Vincent Price horror film shot in 3D . Springfield Rifle rating : 6.5/10 , decent and acceptable Western , well worth watching .