À feu et à sang

THE CIMARRON KID (1951) was one of about two dozen westerns Audie Murphy starred in at Universal Pictures in the period from 1950-1966. In brief, it tells the story of outlaw Bill Doolin who rode with the infamous Dalton gang in the disastrous raid on Coffeyville, Kansas, and went on to lead the gang's survivors in a subsequent robbery spree. A WWII hero-turned-movie star, Murphy plays Doolin as a misunderstood youth who gets forced into a life of crime through guilt by association and persecution by an overzealous railroad detective. Further complications ensue when Doolin falls in love with a rancher's daughter who wants him to go straight.

The film was directed by western specialist Budd Boetticher who provides quite a number of interesting touches. One of the gang members, played by James Best, has a Mexican girlfriend, known as Cimarron Rose (Yvette Dugay), who is an equal participant in the action and is used to acquire information about payroll shipments and assorted robbery targets. The other major woman character, rancher's daughter Carrie Roberts (Beverly Tyler), is pretty strong and forthright on her own and makes no attempt to play coy in her meetings with Doolin. She even comes up with a plan to help him leave the outlaw life, but one which he rejects.

Also, there is a significant black character, a man named Stacy (Frank Silvera) who provides support services for the gang, and who, while not actually a participant in their crimes, is dealt an equal share of the proceeds. There is a scene of him at home with his family--a wife and three children--that indicates his choice of a domestic life over an outlaw one, yet he is always treated with respect by the other men.

The rest of the cast consists of a mixed bag of character actors like Noah Beery Jr., Leif Erickson, Roy Roberts, John Hubbard, and Rand Brooks, and up-and-coming Universal contract players: James Best, Hugh O'Brian, John Bromfield, John Hudson, William Reynolds, Palmer Lee (Greg Palmer). At times they threaten to crowd the soft-spoken, unassuming Murphy off the screen, but Audie ultimately manages to hold his own. Boetticher and Murphy would work together one more time on Murphy's last film, A TIME FOR DYING (1971), in which the actor has a cameo as Jesse James.

With the completion of The Cimarron Kid Audie Murphy played three of the Old West's legendary outlaws, Billy The Kid in The Kid From Texas, Jesse James in Kansas Raiders, and Bill Doolin in this film. I'm not sure any other player earned that distinction.

Not that this is a true story of Doolin any more than those other two Universal western classics. Still Murphy makes an appealing and misunderstood hero who tries to go straight but the elements and his destiny work against him.

True enough his running buddies were the Dalton gang and in this film Doolin who was picked up by the railroad detectives after his release from prison when the Daltons held up the train he was riding. He was just a paying passenger, but the railroad cops thought he was in on it.

Standing out in the supporting cast is Hugh O'Brian who plays Murphy's rival for gang leadership. The fact that Murphy shoots better and has more upstairs than O'Brian fazes him not a wit. He's a mean and surly man miles from the upright Wyatt Earp he played on television.

Budd Boetticher directed Murphy in good polished style and this western delivers on both action and plot.

Since in the early 80' when a local TV had scheduled the Audie Murphy's week always at 8.00 pm l was there watching those magnificent movies from this great actor who became one of my fav ones, in this picture Audie has an ambigous character between right and wrong, the second choice is more appropriate for such behavior, great action on banks robbery and the last one on a train pay the picture itself, the surprise come from two suporting cast, firstly Yvette Duguay as mexican girl could be easily Cimarron Kidd's lover and finally not least important Leif Erickson as marshall who tried by any means help the upcoming outlaw!!

Resume:

First watch: 2011 / How many: 2 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7

I never saw an Audie Murphy film I didn't like & this one is no exception. It is a real action packed shoot-em-up, but it also has a better than average plot to hold your attention between the action sequences that were Audie's trademarks. I knew Audie quite well, we used to shoot together at the various "fast draw" contests in CA that were popular back in the '60's. I can tell you this, anything you saw Audie do on film, he could do for real. He was one of the fastest guns in the movies, & he could do it with real bullets, not just blanks or wax bullets! He became a fine horseman, even riding some of his own horses in his films. Watch for Flying John, his horse that he rode in "Night Passage". Audie was a much better actor than he was ever given credit for, or allowed to be in Universal's films.

May be of interest that Audie Murphy (and momentarily Noah Berry Jnr) rides James Stewart's horse Pie in this movie. Stewart rode him in many movies over 22 years. I believe Glen Ford ride him in one movie too, but he bucked Ford off.