5000 dollars mort ou vif

This film started well and then got silly, as hero Taggart gets to meet four attractive well-coiffured women in a very short space of time, managing to keep clean-shaven when being pursued. Lifted from mediocrity by Dan Duryea (at his nastiest), several familiar support actors, and some good cinematography.

The abandoned mission looked in very good shape.

This is a mediocre low budget movie. The acting is OK including Tony Young as the lead but personally I find Dan Duryea really annoying in this one. As mentioned in other reviews there are a few familiar actors from the era. An abundance of stock footage takes away from the continuity and limits some of the action scenes. The plot starts out OK but then becomes somewhat weak and the ending rushed. It has a TV movie feel and definitely is a bottom rung B movie. OK to pass the time but that's all.

One of those movies where you get the impression you would have been better off reading the (Louis L'Amour) book. Shoot a gun, the horse throws his rider. Crack shots from people firing a revolver. Often while riding a horse. I watched it because I was reading David Carradine's Endless Highway autobiography, and it's his first film. He looks sufficiently evil, so I did enjoy parts.

Kent Taggart's family, with their cattle stampeded, are killed by those who started it. In a fair gunfight, he kills the man's son responsible for it all and is on the run. Before the rancher dies he hires three bounty hunters headed by Dan Duryea to avenge him with the promise of $5000 as a reward. Taggart must flee into Apache territory to escape the wrath of the trio of hired killers.

Based on a Louis L'amour novel, this western moves at a steady clip, getting into one perilous situation to the next - it has the right modicum of action and drama. There's some decent performances from Dan Duryea as the hired gunslinger out to kill the hero Tony Young. Dan is at his usual manic self, oozing with reptilian glee and saying dry one liners. Dick Foran as a miner and Elsa Cardenas as his opportunistic wife also turn in decent performances. Yes there's some mismatched stock footage during the action sequences, but it isn't too bad. Overall a solid western with some fine twists.

Director R.G. Springsteen spent many years at Republic Pictures turning out efficient little B westerns, and his expertise is evident in this crisp, sharp little western. From around 1960 to about 1966 Universal churned out a stream of quickie westerns, most of them run-of-the-mill at best and low-grade junk at worst. This tight little oater, however, falls into neither category. A cast of western veterans like Emile Meyer, Ray Teal, Dick Foran and the great Dan Duryea, and a more than competent leading man in Tony Young, combine with a good story and Springsteen's firm hand to make this one of the best B westerns to come out of Universal in that period. Young plays Taggart, a man who gunned down the son of a powerful local rancher who led a gang that attacked his camp and murdered his parents. The dead son's dying father sends hired killers out to track down and kill Taggart. Fleeing through Apache territory, he comes to the aid of an old man and his daughter defending their gold mine against rampaging Indians. Young reminds you of Gary Cooper in his early years, although a bit more animated, and it's a shame his career never really went anywhere, as he's quite good in this (he also shot another western around this time, "He Rides Tall," and is equally as good in that one). Long-time cowboy actor Dick Foran plays the father, and the gorgeous Jean Hale--who years later married actor Dabney Coleman--is his daughter. The story is interesting, the scenery is pretty and Duryea is--as always--tremendous fun to watch. There's some sharp action, although a good chunk of it is obvious stock footage from other westerns, and things are resolved satisfactorily--though somewhat abruptly--at the end, something that didn't always happen in Universal's westerns of the period. All in all, a very watchable little B picture. You could do a lot worse than spending some time on this one.