Quand parle la poudre

Oh, I love this movie. For all the wrong reasons. It's a creaking, crawling mess of clichés, enlivened by a geriatric cast. Town Tamer is surprisingly bloody (without the actual blood, of course). It all looks like a mid-sixties (and I mean that in more than one way) TV western with Dana Andrews and crew appearing to be dying from dyspepsia.

And yet, you might pick up on the ease in which all these many veteran actors and actresses fall--or totter--into their respective parts. I guess I have a weakness for movies that beg the MST3000 treatment.

If you ever get to see it, I'd suggest cutting out a silhouette of the guy and the two robots and taping them to the bottom of your TV screen.

C'mon, it'll be fun.

Town Tamer can only get better.

1965's "Town Tamer" was the fifth of producer A. C. Lyles' run of 13 Paramount B-Westerns from the mid 60s, and one of the best, with a cast filled with more veteran performers than usual (Sonny Tufts?). Author Frank Gruber adapted from his own novel, starring Dana Andrews in the title role of Tom Rosser, whose wife (Coleen Gray) was accidentally shot by hired gun Les Ring (Lyle Bettger), on behalf of gambling house troublemaker Riley Condor (Bruce Cabot). Years later, Rosser is hired by businessman James Fenimore Fell (Barton MacLane) to take down Condor in a different town, where the corrupt judge (Pat O'Brien) and lawmen are in his pocket, leaving the citizens to hope that Rosser will succeed; if not, vigilantism will become the last dreaded resort. The most intriguing aspect is the town marshal, Les Parker, the very same gunman who murdered Rosser's wife, his unpredictable behavior keeping both sides guessing. Lon Chaney, now 5 for 5 for Lyles, enjoys a major role as Mayor Charlie Leach, who doubles as livery stable owner, Richard Arlen returns as town doctor, Richard Jaeckel makes for a despicable deputy, Bob Steele, Philip Carey, and Roger Torrey among Condor's men. In his second of four Lyles Westerns, DeForest Kelley often told the story of how he was doubled in an early fight scene opposite Dana Andrews, and how Michael Landon volunteered to do it without permission, and with his back to the camera remains easily recognizable taking the spills! (they just happened to be shooting on the same sets as his BONANZA series).

Dana Andrews stars in Town Tamer and in the title role of a man hired by railroad entrepreneur Barton MacLane to clean up a town. Usually Andrews operates within the law, but not here because town boss Bruce Cabot owns both sides of the law. That leaves Andrews little room to maneuver.

But Andrews doesn't care, he and Cabot have some bad history which is topped off by Cabot hiring someone to bushwhack Andrews, but instead kills his wife Coleen Gray. That makes it personal.

Cabot is really some piece of work, as John Wayne said to Ed Asner in El Dorado 'you don't wear a gun so I guess you hire it done'. Cabot has quite a few gunslingers on the payroll and a couple peace officers in sheriff Lyle Bettger and punk deputy Richard Jaeckel. Only Bettger has a habit of going off the reservation every so often. He's the wild card in this deck.

Town Tamer is a pretty violent AC Lyles 'geezer' western and this one is directed by western veteran Lesley Selander who must have a couple of hundred directorial credits. Besides those already mentioned you'll find such people as Philip Carey, Terry Moore, Jeanne Cagney, Lon Chaney, Jr., Richard Arlen, and Sonny Tufts. And least we not forget Pat O'Brien as a most corrupt town judge. O'Brien has only one scene and I wish we saw a bit more of him.

I saw Town Tamer as a kid in theaters as the back end of a double feature. I liked it then and I like it now.

This is far from being a high budget blockbuster with sweeping cinematography, high level production values and innovative writing. It has to rely on the actors working on sets that could have and probably were used in television westerns. Fortunately, the actors, most being solid character types, deliver the goods very professionally and carry the story and the viewer's interest. That acting even manages to overcome some dull and predictable directing.

Dana Andrews shows the effects of years of alcohol by this point and although that actually plays to the lead character, one suspects the movie would have been elevated with someone like Glenn Ford in that role but no doubt he would have needed a higher pay cheque as well. Terry Moore could have been given more to do as they downplayed romance in favour of the building confrontation. But she definitely looks good handles what she is given well.

Pat O'Brien, Lon Chaney Jr., Bruce Cabot, Lyle Bettger, Richard Arlen, Barton MacLane, Richard Jaeckel all show up like old friends who have done these roles a dozen times each but what could have been stale characterizations are instead well dished out from practised professionals still trying to earn their pay and their next job.

This is Selander's first film for Producer Lyles and his best Western for years. Like all of Lyles' Westerns, the main fault is the pedestrian screenplay which features Andrews as the hired killer seeking revenge for the death of his wife at the hands of Bettger and Cabot. He finds them ensconced as sheriff and saloon owner respectively, from which positions they're bleeding the town dry. Thus Andrews can liberate the town as well as secure his revenge in a corpse-strewn finale. Jaeckel has a marvellous part as Bettger's sadistic deputy.

Phil Hardy