Cole Younger, Gunfighter

"Cole Younger, Gunfighter" is a remake of "The Desperado"...which is odd since the first film was made only four years earlier. Also, despite the title mentioning the real-life criminal, Cole Younger, it is a fictional movie.

The story begins in the South just after the Civil War. In this Hollywood version of history, the South was being cruelly run by evil Carpetbaggers and Bluebellies. Carpetbaggers was a nickname for Northerners who moved to the South following the war in order to exploit the Southerners. Bluebellies were Union soldiers stationed in the South. The problem is that although MANY films of the 20th century talk about the scourge of these two groups, this really isn't very accurate. Although surely SOME of the troops and Carpetbaggers exploited the people and were jerks, this is NOT the norm. What WAS the norm is that many Southern men felt disenfranchised...and joined the KKK in order to retake power and keep black citizens from power. I don't want to talk much more about this, but it is a common myth in movies.

In this story, two Southern men are randomly picked out during a peaceful meeting which had nothing to do with politics or hate. The two men are cruelly beaten in order to get them to confess to crimes against the Reconstruction government (i.e., the military leaders appointed to run the various ex-Confederate states). The pair are beaten badly...but one manages to stop his attacker and he ends up beating the Bluebelly. Now Kit and Frank (James Best and Jan Merlin) are on the run from the law and eventually meet up with the bandit, Cole Younger (Frank Lovejoy). Frank tries to capture Younger for the reward money....and Kit beats the snot out of him. As Frank runs off, he threatens to 'get you both'! Younger is worried that not killing Frank will come back to haunt him. And, because Kit stays with Younger, he finds that he is now a wanted man. What's next? Well, apart from a lot of shooting, you should just see the movie.

If you realize it's almost all fiction and you don't mind its historical inaccuracies, then you are left with a pretty good film with some very good acting.

Sadly, this was Frank Lovejoy's last film....as he had a fatal heart attack at age 50. He's quite good in the film...even if he lacks any sort of Southern accent.

In 1873 the proud citizens of Texas were humiliated and oppressed under the carpet-bagger administration of Governor E.J. Davis and his especially created state police, the corrupt and tyrannical "Bluebellies". Natuarlly they didn't take it lying down - - -

R.G. Springsteen directs and Daniel Mainwaring adapts from Clifton Adams' novel, The Desperado.

This is pretty much a like for like remake of Thomas Carr's 1954 version which took the title of the novel. Only difference here is that it is in De Luxe Color and filmed through the CinemaScope process. Main character change is with the outlaw Cole Younger (Frank Lovejoy), where in the 54 film it was an outlaw named Sam Garrett played by Wayne Morris.

In short the pic finds James Best having to leave town due to a violent confrontation with the Bluebellie captain. On the run and having left behind the love of his life (Abby Dalton), he hooks up with outlaw Cole Younger, forms a friendship and is thankful of that friendship when treacherous Frank Wittrock (Jan Merlin) fits him up for a murder.

It looks absolutely gorgeous, the colour, the Simi Valley locations, costumes and set design, but it rarely raises the pulses. It sort of plods through the story and fails to utilise what is a decent cast (it was Lovejoy's last feature length film). There's some value in the themes at work, such as refusing to bow to tyranny and that some gunmen were honourable and kept to gentlemen codes of conduct, but really it's lazy and you are strongly urged to seek out the far superior 54 film instead. 5/10

This movie's totally awesome with excellence all around. There's no way this should be 6 out of ten. Watch it and see. Love it!

"Cole Younger, Gunfighter" is an okay western. There is not much else to say. There's nothing glaringly bad about it but there isn't much to praise either. There are a few nice moments here and there but mostly it's kind of dull. I think a little star power would have helped this one out quite a bit. On the plus side, "Cole Younger, Gunfighter" did help me get through a sleepless night. Honorable mention: a dreamy Abby Dalton.

Two young men, fleeing from carpetbagger justice in the 1870s, come upon a scary, bitter Frank Lovejoy. Is this guy really COLE YOUNGER, GUNFIGHTER, or just some other guy framed up on phony charges who has a skin of iron, and a heart of cornmush?

By the time 1958 rolled around, the B-Western had shuffled off to television, and had been replaced by the serious "adult western". This shuffling allowed serious actors approaching a career hiatus -- like Frank Lovejoy -- a chance to work for studios like Monogram (er, "Allied Artists") and retain some shred of reputation. This is good -- because Lovejoy, not a Western actor by any stretch, gives a good performance of the character called "Cole Younger" here. Younger, alas, is pretty much an old softie as portrayed here, and consistently puts his neck on the line for the young hero, in ways that are implausible for any historically accurate outlaw. But Lovejoy (who has a great voice for urban and gangster parts) brings some bite to the role, and at least projects a sense that this guy might have held up a stage or two, because mean people drove him to it.

The rest of the film is standard fare -- reminiscent of an episode of the "adult" TV westerns of the day (Not as good as Gunsmoke...more like Bonanza or the Big Valley). If you like westerns, you won't waste your life by watching this.