Rebel in Town

In postwar Civil War, a father and his four sons, all former Rebel soldiers, eke out a living robbing, always on the run. When three of the brothers ride into town to get water, tragedy occurs when one of them guns down a young boy who has fired at them with his cap pistol. Most of the focus is on five main characters: Bedloe Mason, his sons Gray and Wesley, John Willoughby and his wife, Nora.

Bedloe, the patriarch of the Mason clan, and his four sons were forced to leave their burned out home in Alabama after the Civil War. Bedloe's main concern is to keep his family together, so whenever the family faces trouble, they vote on what they should do. After the boy is killed, the vote is to keep on the run, leaving the trouble behind them.

Gray, the youngest Mason son, is uncomfortable with the idea of running away. After long introspection, he decides the only honorable thing to do is to return to the town, regardless of consequences. Gray's decision disturbs Wesley, the unrepentant killer who is afraid this will result in him being implicated.

After the killing, John Willoughby, father of the unfortunate youngster, loses grip with reality as he wrestles with grief and desire for revenge at any cost. Recognizing this and not wanting any further bloodshed, Nora struggles to keep her man rational and sane. For that reason she refuses to identify a wounded man John brings home as one of the Rebels she saw in town on that fateful day.

Though a "B" western, "Rebel in Town" benefits from good acting, competent direction and an intelligent, well-written script with lots of things for us to think about. Bedloe, a religious man, tries to comfort his troubled son with the thought that sometimes there is no answer so it is better just to let things be, further suggesting that since we are all the children of God, He is responsible for what we do, whether good or bad. Gray counters that he cannot consider his brother an agent for God. Such kind of writing is hardly the stuff of usual westerns.

I just watched this movie on Netflix. Although I am a big western fan, I had never seen this movie with its wonderful cast. The general story line is about a nervous confederate man shooting a boy and then becoming more cowardly than ever, allowing his brother to take the blame. That's not what this movie is truly about. It is about the psychological effects people had as the Civil War ended. On one side, we have the heroic Northern officer who can't resist always assisting the law and his perspective of the Confederacy that he has passed on to his son. On the other side, we have five war-weary confederate soldiers, four brothers and a father, having just robbed a bank in a nearby town, but having a need for water. Three of them ride into town and one is involved with a shooting. The youngest brother feels guilt and wants to do the right thing. The father of the shooting victim wants revenge against the soldiers, regardless of the fact it was an accident. The story hinges on the tug and pull of the emotions and feelings people had, due to the War. If there was something I would criticize, it would be the writer finding the easy out by making the shooter become cowardly and unconcerned about anyone but himself. What made this western stand out to me was the material it covered. It was not a simple plot. The emotional content is what makes this story special, the right and wrong perspective idea consistently flows throughout this movie with only Ruth Roman being the voice of reason and logic. All the actors did great jobs with their characters and it was refreshing watching actors, normally portrayed as stereotypical heroes playing people with huge flaws that pinpointed their humanity. I would like to have seen more of Ben Johnson (side bar complaint). Very worthy of watching more than once.

Rebel in Town is directed by Alfred Werker and written by Danny Arnold. It stars John Payne, Ruth Roman, J. Carrol Naish, Ben Johnson, Ben Cooper and John Smith. Music is by Les Baxter and cinematography by Gordon Avil.

The phrase a hidden gem gets used far too much, so much so I try my utmost to veer away from it if at all possibly. However, for fans of grown up Westerns then Rebel in Town is most assuredly a gem of a find for sure. Story is set just after the American Civil War in the town of Kittreck Wells. A family of Confederate soldiers (The Masons) have staged a robbery in a nearby town and need to go into Kittreck for water supplies. A turn of events will bring the family of outlaws into the life of ex Union soldier John Willoughby (Payne), a hard working family man, who still has a fierce commitment to rid the land of Confederate rebels.

It could have ended up as just another trite "B" Western message movie, but this is so much more, the quality of the writing is such that the script demands full attention. The effects of the Civil War are of course central, where the characters from both sides of the fence are here painted in rich colours. John Willoughby had a tenuous grip on post war forgiveness before his family is shattered by the arrival in town of the Mason family, but soon enough his thirst for revenge begins to tip him over the edge. The Mason family are not merely outlaw fodder, they are a complex bunch, each of the four brothers different in their own values and approach to life, but it's with the patriarch Bedloe (Naish) where the screenplay finds real strength. A God fearing man, he hates what his family has become, and although he clearly rules the roost, he is given to complete democracy, his boys always are given the vote on the decisions the family must make. The juxtaposition between the two heads of family, from different sides of the war, is intelligently thought out by the makers.

Added bonus here as well is the characterisation afforded Ruth Roman as Nora Willoughby. So often in "B" Westerns female characters are given to being love interests or a cause for macho posturing, not so here. Nora Willoughby is arguably the key character, she fights throughout the play to not only overcome her grief, but also that of her husband. She is relentless in her attempts to stop John from become a crazed revenge fuelled mad man, for she can see the bigger picture that her man simply can't. The other key character of note is Ben Cooper's Gray Mason, the younger of the Mason family and the family's conscience, his interaction with - via a plot development to integrate him with the Willoughby's - is a priceless commodity for the picture's dramatic worth. With characters of great substance it only then needs good performances from the actors to make it all work, and we get that. Even the smaller supporting roles are well held by director Werker, such as Marshal Adam Russel (James Griffith) who is calm and measured and a mile away from the caricature type of law men we get in the genre.

The look of the piece is terrific, Avil's black and white photography comes from the film noir stlyed playbook, which is most befitting for the story's psychological axis. Werker had dabbled in film noir, notably with the excellent He Walked By Night, so his instruction to Avil for the look on show is astute and makes sense. Action scenes are well staged, but it's with certain scenes where the pic soars high. The catalyst scene that sets the wheels in motion is boosted by an authentic recoil, which is great to see. Also attention grabbing is a corporal punishment section that should make you wince, while the father and son axis between John and his son Peter at the film's beginning begs for deeper thought once film reaches its closure. With a lovely print being shown on TCM-HD rounding out the bonuses, this is a super treat for Western fans and therefore comes highly recommended. 8/10

Most Westerns use one of a limited number of standard plots, but it's hard to categorize this movie. Its setting -- a small frontier town -- merely serves as a background for a drama of revenge and reconciliation which could easily be recast as a Greek tragedy. Its central question certainly rises above the usual concerns of Westerns: can the sacrifice of one man's guilty son make up for the death of another man's innocent son?

Or, as J. Carroll Naish puts it in the last scene: "What the sons of some men do to the sons of others ... there's a tragedy of the world."

John Payne, (sporting a mustache), gets top billing here but his character is absent from many of the movie's key scenes. Ben Cooper actually plays the main character as his feelings of guilt over the death of an innocent boy propels most of the plot. Ruth Roman seems miscast as a frontier wife and mother. The less said about the two juvenile performers, (Bobby Clark and Mimi Gibson), the better.

There's a vivid flogging scene in the movie's second half in which J. Carroll Naish takes a whip to the back of his son, John Smith, who's tied shirtless to a tree. This may be the American cinema's only major whipping in which a father strikes his own son.

A mixture of Film Noir elements, a lot of psychological insight and scenes that are typical to the usual Western this makes for an unusual film. A child is killed and the man who caused it tries to evade responsibility for it, and many brutal scenes are shown before the final outcome. Filmed in black and white this accentuates the Noir feel, and the direction and casting is excellent. Ruth Roman is at her best as the child's mother, and so is Ben Cooper as one of the brothers of the killer, who tries to restore justice in his own way. John Payne gives a good performance as the father and I cannot fault the acting. In my opinion this film should be better known, and valued but if found it is well worth seeing. A deserved 10.