Jory

Good tale of the old west in which a young boy becomes a man after his family is wiped out. Old story line, yes, but it still made for a fine film. B.J. Thomas was effective as the expert gun handler who was unable to fire at another human, even in his own defense. One of Robby Benson's best performances.

Fifteen-year-old Robby Benson (as Jory Walden) rides into a western town with his father, looking for a place to settle down. Dropping by the local saloon, young Benson witnesses a murder. Consequently, Benson needs to leave town. He joins cattle driver John Marley (as Roy Starr) and his quick-drawing sidekick B.J. Thomas (as Jocko). After being taught to handle a gun by Mr. Thomas, Benson and the company attract trigger-happy outlaws. Quickly becoming one of the fastest guns in the west, Benson is hired to look after nubile blonde teenager Linda Purl (as Amy Barron)...

The person who hires Benson to guard Ms. Purl's body is her own father. Given the kids' mutual attraction, the man has to be the most permissive Dad in the west. He sends them off riding together; then Purl, who has been eying Benson from the start, decides to go skinny-dipping. Benson sees it all. We don't. This strange film features some warmly lighted and photographed (by George Stahl) location scenes. Popular singer B.J. Thomas has a good screen presence and is most appealing in his rare acting role. Surprisingly, Curtis Young sings the moody ending song "Jory" instead of Thomas.

***** Jory (2/17/73) Jorge Fons ~ Robby Benson, John Marley, B.J. Thomas, Linda Purl

The story here - orphaned boy learning to become a man in the wild west - shouldn't be unfamiliar with any viewer, and the various turns in the story will be equally anticipated. Still, it's fairly well done for what it is, with a good performance by Benson (though his character is made to recover from his father's death surprisingly quick.) One interesting thing about the movie is that while it was aimed at a young audience at the time (and was rated PG), some of its content (violent and bloody killings, skinny dipping, etc.) may surprise certain parents. However, none of this is presented in an exploitive way, and gives the movie a good degree of honesty.

Robby Benton had the looks to become a star and in this his first outing he is lovingly filmed, especially facial closeups, from beginning to end.

That is about the most consistent aspect about this B Western in color. Other than that, it requires considerable suspension of disbelief as this 15 year old called Jory is given two guns as if they grew on trees, ices three grown men, and goes on cattle drives but is too shy to get close to a girl his age who dives naked into the water and who he clearly fancies.

Rather mixed up kid going through the pangs of his age, but lightning fast and accurate with the Colt .45s, even though he had never taken a shot at anything before.

Shoddy photography interspersed with great sequence of a herd of wild horses running. Stodgy script often makes no sense, especially when the girl's father decides to entrust her safety to 15 year old Jory while a formidably armed and seconded enemy tries to take over his land and cattle.

Plenty of killing. Main saving graces: superb performance from John Marley as the cattle drive's wise leading elder and great song at the end by Curtis Young.