Les éperons noirs

I just watched Black Spurs (1965) on Grit TV. It's one of several westerns made by A. C. Lyles during the 1960s. He always employed older, veteran actors, many of whom were over the hill.

Santee is a cowhand engaged to dressmaker Anna. When the bank is robbed by El Pescadore, Santee sees a chance to get the $3,000 reward and buy that ranch he's always wanted. It takes him ten months but he finally kills El Peacadore, and takes the outlaw's unique black spurs to wear himself. But, he then learns that in his long absence Anna has married Ralph Elkins, the sheriff of Lark, Kansas. Embittered, Santee conspires with Kyle, owner of the town of Kyle, Kansas to turn Lark into a hell town so that the railroad will change its proposed route from Lark to Kyle. He imports a crooked gambler, dancehall girls, and gunslingers to accomplish the job. Sheriff Elkins is no match for the bad guys. But will Santee go through with his plan? Or will he decide to do the right thing and stand up to the bad guys?

The male actors are mostly overweight. Rory Calhoun, Bruce Cabot, Richard Arlen, Lon Chaney Jr., Scott Brady, and Jim L. Brown are past their prime. Only Joseph Hoover and Jerome Courtland appear trim and fit.

Of the actresses, Linda Darnell looks bloated. She doesn't have much to do, anyway. Ageless Terry Moore looks very good. And Patricia Owens is still youthfully trim and beautiful at 40. It's too bad her part wasn't larger.

Black Spurs (1965) has a fairly good script and character development. The fast pace keeps the viewer interested in waiting to see what Santee will finally do at the end.

1964's "Black Spurs" marked the fourth of 13 A.C. Lyles B-Western productions for Paramount in the mid 60s, and another offbeat choice for the veteran filmmaker in that leading man Rory Calhoun is no shining hero, but a bounty hunter known only as Santee looking for bigger and better paydays. His hard riding presence in every town is enough to make the citizens quake in fear, and his arrival in the Kansas town of Kyle is no coincidence, as Gus Kyle (Lon Chaney) is amenable to any scheme to enrich himself by diverting the railroad from the neighboring town of Lark to his own, with Santee's ultimate reward a tract of land (along with a hefty fee). Complications such as Lark's sheriff (James Best) being married to Santee's old sweetheart (Terry Moore), or its 2 fisted man of the cloth (Scott Brady), are no deterrent to Santee's goal to bring women and gambling to the forefront of the formerly peaceful town. The madam is played by a second billed Linda Darnell, who plays her final role here, while Kyle Sheriff Nemo (STAR TREK's DeForest Kelley) provides an interesting subplot that fizzles out before it catches fire. Veterans Bruce Cabot and Richard Arlen are also among the bad guys, on their way to victory until Santee finds out what they've been doing behind his back. 4 for 4 for producer Lyles, Lon Chaney is as solid as ever (though only around for three scenes), while Scott Brady's Tanner demonstrates how the rope burns around his neck prove that he wasn't always a preacher, something repeated verbatim by John Carradine in a Scott Brady Western just two years later, Al Adamson's "Five Bloody Graves."

Black Spurs is directed by R.G. Springsteen and written by Steve Fisher. It stars Rory Calhoun, Linda Darnell, Lon Chaney Junior, Terry Moore, Bruce Cabot, James Best, DeForest Kelly and Scott Brady. Music is by Jimmie Haskel and Technicolor/Techniscope photography is by Ralph Woolsey.

A brisk and ebullient Oater out of Paramount, Black Spurs finds Calhoun as Santee, a sharp shooting gunman turning to bounty hunting and then paid to corrupt the town of Lark. Lark has been pencilled in to receive the on coming railway, so wealthy town owner of nearby Kile, Gus Kile (Chaney), hires Santee to discredit Lark in order to have the railroad routed through Kile instead. Once in Lark, Santee finds lots of resistance, particularly from an ex-lover and her husband, the sheriff!

Plot holds few surprises as per outcome and characterisations, but the pic is no less entertaining for it. There are a number of live wire action sequences, with Santee often proving he is the number one gun in the West, and there's even some evil nastiness portrayed when things start to come to a head. The seedy saloon set up by Santee is awash with beautiful girls in beautiful costumes, and these girls drink beer out of pint pot tankards! The villains are a gruff, rough and tough bunch, and naturally there's a big good versus evil heart thundering away in the story.

Calhoun has swagger and dangerous sexuality in abundance and he's surrounded by a good cast of pros. Darnell and Chaney, however, were winding down their careers, and in truth there two characterisations could have been played by any studio actors of the time, but they don't disgrace themselves as Springsteen wisely keeps their screen time to a minimum. The Techniscope photography doesn't really add much as more could have been made of the exterior locations, while Haskel's score is a bit too jaunty for its own good.

It feels like a 50s Oater at times, which is no bad thing at all. Not prime Calhoun or a prime 60s Western, but much to enjoy here for the discerning Duster fan. 7/10

This film begins in Texas with a cowboy named "Santee" (Rory Calhoun) watching as a notorious bandido by the name of "El Pescadore" (Robert Carricart) robs a bank and, after killing the bank manager, quickly riding off with the sheriff and his deputies in hot pursuit. Realizing that there is nothing he can really do about the situation, he then proceeds to take his girlfriend "Anna" (Terry Moore) on a romantic picnic where he subsequently proposes to her. Although she willingly accepts his proposal, to her dismay, Santee then announces that he has decided to pursue El Pescadore in order to collect the $3000 bounty on his head to help start their new lives together. Ten months later, he finally finds the outlaw in a small town in Mexico and proceeds to gun him down in the street. Not only that, but he also dons the bandido's famous black spurs as a trophy of sorts. However, once he rides back to town to see his fiancé, he then learns that she has since married another man by the name of "Ralph Elkins" (James Best). Quite upset with this new development, Santee decides to become a permanent bounty hunter and, in the process, acquires a rather notorious reputation of his own. The scene then shifts to several years later with Santee making a deal with a wealthy businessman named "Gus Kile" (Lon Chaney Jr.) to help divert a proposed railroad line from its original destination of Lark, Kansas to the town of Kile, Kansas where the two of them can make a fortune in real estate. The problem is that Lark, Kansas has a sterling reputation and in order to divert the railroad line Santee has to stir up enough trouble there to change the minds of the railroad executives. What complicates matters, however, is the fact that Lark, Kansas has recently acquired a good sheriff who is determined to keep the town as peaceful as possible-and his name is Ralph Elkins. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that, this was a decent "old-style" Western which benefited by solid performances from both Rory Calhoun and Terry Moore. Along with that, although I would have preferred a slightly different ending, I found the overall story to be fairly enjoyable as well and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Rory Calhoun is a young cowboy who is seeking a career change with upward mobility and big money. His fiancé Terry Moore does not like the fact he wants to be a bounty hunter and leaves him and marries someone else. Years later Calhoun and Moore get reunited sort of when he comes to her town to take it over on behalf of Lon Chaney, Jr. who wants it wild and lawless so the railroad won't use it as a route.

The title of the film comes from the first outlaw that Calhoun does in, a gentlemen from Mexico named El Pescador played by Robert Carricart who has a trademark of Black Spurs. When Calhoun shoots Carricart down in a gun duel, he takes the spurs and wears them for himself now.

This A.C. Lyles western was the farewell film for Linda Darnell who is second billed though this is distinctly a supporting role. Darnell plays the head of a troupe of saloon girls imported to bring down the town's morals. They look like they know their business. Black Spurs was released posthumously after Darnell died in that tragic house fire.

Such A.C. Lyles regulars as Richard Arlen, Bruce Cabot, Scott Brady and DeForest Kelley are in the cast as well. Not the best or the worst of A.C. Lyles geezer westerns, but western fans should be pleased.