Six Black Horses

The title is as misleading if you haven't seen this film as it is apt if you have, being concerned with character rather than horses, as you'd expect of a script by Burt Kennedy.

Presumably originally written for Randolph Scott, with Audie Murphy as Scott and Dan Duryea as Dan Duryea. Duryea plays a sympathetic role for once and he and Murphy work well together, the problem as usual being a woman; on this occasion Joan O'Brien as a cool blonde called Kelly with a knowing smile and an ulterior motive.

Six Black Horses is directed by Harry Keller and written by Burt Kennedy. It stars Audie Murphy, Dan Duryea and Joan O'Brien. Photography is by Maury Gertsman and the music scored by Joseph Gershenson. It's filmed in Eastmancolor and location for the shoot is St. George, Utah, USA. Plot sees Murphy and Duryea hired by O'Brien to take her across dangerous Indian country to her husband. But are ulterior motives at work?.

There's no getting away from it, this film has striking similarities to the far superior "Budd Boetticher/Randy Scott" movie, "Ride Lonesome". Also scripted by Burt Kennedy, the plot follows the same format and Kennedy even scripts some of the same dialogue. While the keen Western fan will note the name of Murphy's character, Ben Lane, was also used for a character in "Boetticher's Comanche Station". So far so regurgitated then, but although it goes without saying that to watch this piece in conjunction with "Ride Lonseome" is a futile exercise, this does have enough about it to warrant a viewing on its own terms one Sunday afternoon.

It's a professional and well put together movie, Murphy and Duryea (the latter owning the film from the second he turns up on his horse, shotgun in hands) aren't asked to extend themselves but still make an engaging duo (see also their pairing in "James Stewart" starrer "Night Passage 1957"). While O'Brien ("The Comancheros") is gorgeous and does a nice line in sultry devious. Editor turned director Keller does a competent job, his action construction solid if somewhat hamstrung by the odd daft moment involving the Coyoteros Indians. Stunt work is very good and Gershenson's ("No Name on the Bullet/Lonely Are the Brave") score is brisk and tonally correct. Bonus here is the location scenery, beautifully realised by Gertsman's ("Cattle Drive 1951") photography, the St. George craggy hills form an imposing backdrop as the protagonist's journey grows more perilous and their emotional states come under scrutiny.

Enjoyable with genuine moments of quality, even if it's ultimately the second cousin to a far better movie. 6.5/10

I gave it an 8 for what it represents... Audy Murphy in a Saturday night shoot em up. Reminds me of my youth. Just a fun movie all around.

A Prime Example of the Very End of the Western Cycle that Wore Out its Welcome simply because of a Production Overload in Cinemas and on TV. There was an Unwritten Necessity for something to Happen to Re-Energize and Re-Invent the Genre.

Enter Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone and the Rest is Film History.

This one had Burt Kennedy and Audie Murphy showing Signs of Laziness, Indifference, and Perhaps Burn-Out. Solid Western Screenplay Writer Kennedy Recycles His Own Work, as does Murph as Both Trot into the New Decade Mounted on Past Glories.

That's why an Aging Dan Duryea Steals the Show as a Gun for Hire, that still Senses Right from Wrong when He isn't Getting Paid. Murph does OK and allows Duryea to Stand in the Sunlight most of the Time.

Joan O'Brien is Gorgeous and Holds Her Own among the Gunslingers and Indians that all Desire Her Charms...Duryea's Frank Jesse (that name, come on Burt, seriously)..."What a Man would do to get His hands on a Woman like that".

Overall. Familiar, Slightly Above Average Western for the Time Period, but does Show Signs of Genre Atrophy and a Hope for Better Things to Come.

What I noticed first about this movie is the colors. I don't know whether it is because the Eastmancolor print aged in odd ways, whether the colors around St. George in Utah are actually those colors, or some combination of the two, but the distant hills that vary from periwinkle to lavender, the bright orange dirt and the varying blues of the sky (indicating to my mind that time passed between the two shots, despite the in-movie continuity) are startling.

It starts when Audie Murphy cuts out what he thinks is a wild horse; his own had died some time earlier. Soon enough, he is being hanged for horse rustling, only to be rescued by Dan Duryea, playing one of his quixotic gunfighters. The two of them are hired by Joan O'Brien to get them to her husband, through warring Apaches.

In other words, it's plot 2: the Anabasis, getting from point A to point B. It's also got a script by Burt Kennedy, filled with exciting situations, dark humor and homely phrases. Good pictures, good stories, good actors.