Les pillards du Kansas

Lawrence, Kansas had to go undergo a seizure from both sides in the Civil War. The first time was John Brown who executed quite a few because they were of southern birth and sympathy. The next time was by William Quantrill who was fighting for the south in his own way of course.

The bloodthirsty Quantrill has been a hand movie villain, there's not too much you can say good about him. If there is anything true about this film it is strictly unintentional.

Leo Gordon plays Quantrill here and while there's more Gordon than the real Quantrill that all right by me because Leo Gordon is one of the best and meanest of villains and always fun to watch.

Our protagonist hero is Steve Cochran who is a Confederate army captain traveling as a spy behind Yankee lines. He's got orders for Quantrill from the Confederate command to destroy the Union arsenal at Lawrence, but don't do any of the looting and atrocities for which he is getting a bad rep for. Gordon has his own agenda for Lawrence and it has nothing to do with the issues of the Civil War.

Cochran indulges in a little romance with Gale Robbins. Also the very sexy Diane Brewster who is Gordon's woman makes a play for Cochran.

All in all and average B western under the Allied Artists banner.

The Butcher William Quantrill arose the imaginary of a whole generation on western genre, thousand pictures were done almost in large industrial scale, Quantrill's Riders besides to be inaccurate is also brazenly flimsy, for instance in one specific sequence Captain Alan Westcott (Steve Cochran) asking Quantrill (Leo Gordon) how many soldiers he already had, he answer around forty, then Alan advise him to gather at least sixty soldiers at upcoming Lawrence's arsenal raid, due it were surround by strong US Union forces on the city, nevertheless at final scenes when really Quantrill invaded Lawrence just fifteen of them appears there, I think that someone didn't knew check properly, also at jail when Westcott asking for talk with the boy, suddenly he put a dagger at his neck, a good man never could do such ruthlessness and be forgiven and finally Quantrill's death to crow it all the inaccurate facts, I know this is a merely dramatization, nonetheless the producers shouldn't try to re-write the history to doesn't fall at mass grave of the hypotriques!!

Resume:

First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 5.5

My God, I totally forgot that Steve Cochran played once in his career the good guy role. But the villain is Leo Gordon, so I hardly imagine the contrary, Leo Gordon playing the good undercover "agent" against the evil Quantrill. Stories concerning the latest were numerous in western history. Numerous One inaccurate more than the other. And I guess this one makes no exception, but it is pleasant to watch, though being so predictable, except, I repeat, Steve Cochran in the good role - I still CAN'T BELIEVE IT, really. In LBX and in color it is even more easy to appreciate from this director specialized in cheap - and also in LBX - science fiction films. But also westerns: ESCAPE FROM RED ROCK, STORM RIDER.

This bland and historically suspect western is made in Technicolor and Cinemascope with efficient action sequences in this otherwise bland western which has become a rather obscure film over the years.

Steve Cochrane plays a Confederate agent Alan Westcott organising Quantrill's gang on a raid of a federal arsenal in Kansas. Wescott realises that Quantrill (Leo Gordon in an effective performance) is a despicable and amoral villain interested only in murder and plunder. Westcott warns the town-folk of the impending danger and stand up to Quantrill and still has time to have romance with a local beauty.

Diane Brewster is spunky and easy on the eye. Gordon is the stand out as the rotter, Cochrane is staid and dull. The film is competent but will never be ranked along the better westerns of the period.

This film struck a chord because when I was a child in the 1950s the local newspaper billed it as "Quantrilla Raider". I tried to see as many Westerns as possible, but missed out because of school. Little did I know that decades later it, and many other 1950s films, would be shown on TV.

Leo Gordon is one of my favourite "character actors" and as Quantrill he adds a nervous edge to his usual tough-guy acting. Steve Cochran makes a bland hero, and it seems strange that in civilian clothes he wears distinctive striped trousers, almost military, even when he's masked his face for a hold-up.

The biggest letdown is the raid on Lawrence, which is depicted as an ineffectual charge or two. Even by Hollywood's usual standards when it comes to revising history, especially that of the West, the audacity in changing the facts is astonishing.