Panhandle

Randolph Scott lookalike Rod Cameron is "Sands", a former lawman who travels to a Texas town to investigate the shooting of his newspaper-man brother. Upon arrival, he quickly discovers the town, indeed the territory, under the heel of "Matt Garson" (Reed Hadley). With the help of his secretary "Dusty" (Cathy Downs) he vows to avenge his brother's death. It's quite eerily shot - much of the action takes place at night, in torrential rain, but the story is all just a bit too well travelled, and neither the actors nor the script offer much by way of innovation. This is still a perfectly watchable B-feature that dawdles for the first half hour before finally picking up just enough speed to hold the attention. It's too long - but then films were frequently elongated to accommodate the paying public's appetite for cinema, rather than because the story justified it.

It is very rare western which is strangely aired on a French classic movies channel. What a surprise. I would have never expected such a film, a grade B western, but not a Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Johnny McBrown lousy craps produced by Poverty Row in Hollywood. Well, here you have Rod Cameron, the poor man's Randolph Scott for me and I guess many other folks. A western only destined to western hard boiled fans or Lesley Selander's filmography goers, but still entertaining enough to keep you awake for eighty minutes. A chain made western, very rare on French TV channel. But for me who have access to thousands of rare stuff from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, this is not a priceless gem.

Panhandle is directed by Leslie Selander and written by John C. Champion and Blake Edwards. It stars Rod Cameron, Cathy Downs, Reed Hadley, Anne Gwynne, Blake Edwards, Dick Crockett and Rory Mallinson. Music is by Rex Dunn and cinematography by Harry Neumann.

John Sands (Cameron) has to return to his gunfighter ways when news reaches him that his brother has been murdered...

Filmed in Sepiatone and a little more serious than many other 1940's Westerns, Panhandle is a satisfying experience for genre enthusiasts. Formula is rife as we would come to know it in Oaters, though, as picture ticks off the check list: badman turned good who is forced to turn bad again for revenge, romance tingling in the air, quick draw shoot-outs, punch-up, weasel villain and his hired cronies, poker games with the inevitable cheat called out and the "hooray" finale. All of which is nicely directed and performed by the cast. The location scenery doesn't get much chance to shine through, and in truth the Sepiatone does little to improve the picture, but this is easily recommended to the Western faithful. 7/10

Panhandle, B western for Allied Artists stars Rod Cameron as a fugitive in Mexico who when he finds out that his brother has been killed in the Panhandle area of Texas right on the Oklahoma line comes north to settle accounts. The bad guy here is Reed Hadley who is the town boss where the brother was a crusading newspaperman.

Cameron has two women vying for him as well, Cathy Downs and Anne Gwynne. Both aid him at crucial times in his quest.

Hadley is one slick article however and he's got a lot of gunslingers on his payroll. One of them is future producer/director Blake Edwards who plays a punk gunfighter working for Hadley. Edwards also co-wrote Panhandle

Another reviewer compared Cameron's character to some of Clint Eastwood's heroes. I certainly haven't seen that kind of speed with a gun outside of such Eastwood classics like High Plains Drifter. Edwards and Cameron seem to be decades ahead of their time.

This is a B western, but it's pretty grim stuff, not at all like a Gene Autry or Roy Rogers Republic western. No real production values and Rod's speed is a bit unreal, but the film is nicely acted and not for the Saturday matinée crowd.

I know nothing about Director Leslie Selander, but in PANHANDLE he gets a catchy film going on a constantly calm note, until the final deluge and shootout.

He is most calmly helped by the rather laid back and softly singing Rod Cameron, one of the tallest male actors to appear in B Westerns and this time out to avenge his brother's murder. Two beautiful females in Cathy Downs and Anne Gwynne do not hurt one bit.

Reed Hadley plays the master villain Garson rather convincingly, down to thinking that he is the sharpest knife in town and claiming that he makes no mistakes. Of course, such overconfidence seldom bodes well for one's safety, as Garson finds to his cost.

Cinematography in PANHANDLE is rather curious: it features some gorgeous sights as John Sands escapes a trio of killers early on, then it gets rather dark inside the villain's saloon, and finally it is shot in near complete blackness and under a deluge of rain. Sadly the quality of photography decreases as the screen gets darker and darker.

All right script by Blake Edwards (of later Pink Panther fame) and Champion.