Cave of Outlaws

Cave of Outlaws is directed by William Castle. It stars MacDonald Carey, Alexis Smith, Edgar Buchanan, Victor Jory, and Hugh O'Brian (later the lead on The Legend of Wyatt Earp).

It is 1895 and Pete Carver (Carey) is released from Kansas State Prison, he is the only survivor of a gold robbery 15 years earlier that saw his father killed in caves near Cooper Bend, Arizona. The gold was never recovered, which is hard to believe. Once Carver gets out of prison, he immediately starts looking for the gold.

Following Carver around is a Wells Fargo agent played by Edgar Buchanan. Unlike many other roles were Buchanan plays a hard-drinking and gruff character, in this movie Buchanan is totally different. Buchanan does a very refreshing turn as a dedicated and honest agent looking for the missing gold. I had never seen Edgar Buchanan acting like a very professional good guy before. It was surprising, and it made the movie even better.

Carver meets the owner of the local newspaper, The Clarion. She is played by the gorgeous Alexis Smith, who also wears some really amazing outfits in nearly every scene. She is such a knockout that she looks very out of place in the town she lives in. She almost immediately falls in love with Carver, which is also hard to believe. Macdonald Carey is not very handsome, and he has the body of a 1940s store clerk. Some folks claim he vaguely looked like Gregory Peck, but I cannot see the resemblance.

Anyhow, Alexis is in love with Carver/Carey, but Victor Jory is in love with Alexis. Working as Jory's main thug is Hugh O'Brien (Wyatt Earp). Between Jory and O'Brien, they keep Carver/Carey dodging bullets and punches. It is not a classic Western, but it is a lot more entertaining than I expected it to be.

A lot of the action takes place in the Carlsbad Caverns, and the spooky Universal Studios horror movie music is used to a good effect in some scenes. The movie flows along at a solid pace, and it is not trying to be more than just a fun movie. Overall it is pretty good.

Cave of Outlaws is directed by William Castle and written by Elizabeth Wilson. It stars MacDonald Carey, Alexis Smith, Edgar Buchanan, Victor Jory, Hugh O'Brian and Houseley Stevenson. A Technicolor production out of Universal International Pictures, with music scored by Joseph Gershenson and cinematography by Irving Glassberg.

1895 and Pete Carver (Carey) is released from Kansas State Prison, he is the only survivor of a gold robbery 15 years earlier that saw his father killed in caves near Cooper Bend, Arizona. The gold was never recovered, and now Carver is back in Copper Bend, and this place, its inhabitants, are about to be privy to greed, treachery and murderous secrets of the past.

William Castle was 7 years away from making his lasting mark on cinema, where his scare tactic gimmicks used to accompany his horror movies ensured him a lasting reputation as a showman producer with tactical nous. Prior to this he was a jobbing director, churning out a number of low rank and file pictures that are rarely mentioned and mostly forgotten about. The odd one, mind, is worthy of spending time with on a Sunday afternoon. One such film is Cave of Outlaws, a Western that certainly doesn't shake the earth or raise the pulse considerably, but has enough interesting locales and quality of story to render it as watchable fodder for the B Western fan.

Standard formula applies here, man has mission to accomplish, gold is the route of all evil, pretty girl offers hope of romantic redemption, but villains and the law are spoiling the broth. There's no great stand out action sequences, but they are well handled by the director and stunt men, with a couple of good old fist fights to brighten the day. The Technicolor print is nice and with Glassberg and Castle making great use of the eerie Carlsbad Caverns and the lovely exteriors at Vasquez Rocks, picture is always pleasing on the eye. Cast are modest, but nothing to annoy or hinder, though it's unusual to see Buchanan turn in an average portrayal. 6/10

Universal had the good sense to boost this otherwise routine oater with Technicolor filming at Carlsbad Caverns. This results in some impressively eerie shots unusual for a Western. The screenplay has some promising ideas, but these tend to get muddled amid an overly complex narrative. Pete (Carey) returns to town after serving a jail term for robbing Wells Fargo and hiding the loot in a cave. Now townspeople cater to him, including owner of newspaper (Smith) and local kingpin (Jory), even as Wells Fargo agent (Buchanan) trails him. So when will Pete go for the loot.

It's hard to get at people's true motives because of the hidden gold. Then too where is Smith's missing husband—was he in on the robbery and now hovering out of sight. It seems no one can be trusted, including Buchanan. With better story development, a more interesting leading man, along with the spooky caverns, this could have been several cuts above the usual Western. I guess my biggest disappointment, however, is with the movie covering up the statuesque and shapely Alexis Smith in yards and yards of period clothing. Too bad since she was reputed to have the best legs in Hollywood. Hormones aside, those soaring rock columns and hanging stone icicles still remain the main reason to tune in.

I wasn't going to bother with this minor western but for the fact that it was being shown on a wet afternoon. In the event I'm glad that I did watch it as it was quite good. The caves provided a realistic and novel setting for many scenes, and the colour generally throughout the film was good. And when people got wounded they bled, unlike in many westerns of this period when a man is shot in the chest but continues to wear a spotless shirt! The spanking scene that has been mentioned in the trivia section was omitted from the version I saw, perhaps because what audiences in the 1950s thought was harmless fun has more in the way of sexual implications sixty years later.

Macdonald Carey (a cut-price Gregory Peck, with a slight facial resemblance to the more famous star) was just about adequate, and Edgar Buchanan wasn't as gruff as usual.

Cave of Outlaws (1951)

** (out of 4)

Technicolor Western set in 1880 finds a gang of outlaws robbing a train full of gold and hiding it in a cave. Before they can leave the cave all are killed with the exception of teenager Pete Carver. After fifteen years in prison, Pete (MacDonald Carey) is released and heads back to the territory where the cave is located only to learn that it's now a booming town due to copper being found in the mines. The good news is that the money was never discovered but now Pete must try and outsmart a few other bad guys who have their own plans for the money. It's amazing that someone like William Castle can remain so popular yet very few of his films are actually viewed by people. It seems most either never knew he had a career before his Horror pictures or perhaps they just don't care. As I slowly go through his Westerns it's clear that he was certainly a director-for-hire as his quick shooting and under budget reputation certainly got him hired to do this film. There's nothing overly horrible about this film but at the same time there's nothing good either. I think a lot of the problem is the screenplay, which gives us a fairly interesting idea but very little is ever done with it. Once Pete arrives back to town we get the typical bad guys following him and the typical women wanting him. There' some mild comic stuff dealing with every store owner giving him an unlimited line of credit because they think he knows where the money is but not enough is done with this. Castle handles the opening robbery pretty well but the rest of the film is rather lifeless. There's not too much energy in any of the scenes and the ending seems more fashioned for a comic book than an actual film. Carey isn't the most entertaining leading men and Alexis Smith doesn't get too much to do either. Edgar Buchanan, Hugh O'Brian and Hugh Sanders aren't too bad in their supporting roles but the screenplay does them no favors. There's some decent cinematography and fans of Universal's horror films will notice that a lot of the stock music is carried over here. If you close you eyes throughout the film you'll think you're watching ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN considering the scores. In the end, it's pretty hard to recommend this movie to anyone outside of someone like me who just wants to go through the director's entire career.