Cast a Long Shadow

Maybe the most unknown picture that Audie Murphy offerings to us, a bad temper guy wanderer which is running from is rough father, his name is Matt, until be found by the loyal foreman (Dehner) that his father already has dead and surprisingly he left to him the big farm, the young drunkard don't want to be rancher again, The foreman has a fair proposition, many employers has 20.000 dollars to offer to all lands, Matt accept at once, but has to go back to sign the papers, there he was seen with sneering by so many people, just a useless booze, in such atmosphere he refused to sell their lands anymore, meanwhile his father left a bank's debit a large sum of money that must to pay in few days, the answer will be sell all cattle at Santa Fé, Matt becomes in few days likes his father, cruel, bossy and has no feelings concerning those employers, who work so hard for countless years, this picture has an contradiction, the sudden changing in just few days of a man, sounds weird in such behavior, the major fact will be reveal in the cattle's journey, a minor picture of Murphy, but still interesting due such greatness of this charismatic cowboy, pay attention on John Dehner, he was a key of the all things!!

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First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7

An Audie Murphy Western from 1959. Murphy is drunk, playing cards in a saloon when a man, played by John Dehner, comes a-calling. It turns out Murphy's father has passed & left his ranch to him but Murphy left home a while ago on the outs w/his father so Dehner proposes to purchase the estate from him (he's cobbled together a collection from all the other ranch hands), all Murphy has to do is come back, sign over the deed & go his merry way but once he's among the people he left behind, specifically the girl, now a young woman, who jilted him at the altar, all his past transgressions melt away emboldening him to propose marriage, which she accepts. The fearlessness continues when he announces he's not going to sell & herd 3000 head of cattle to New Mexico (to pay off the debt his father had saddled the farm with). At first his workers/investors aren't too pleased but his determination to get the job done does impress even though there are those among them who would be willing to bump him off if a stampede could happen at the right time. Offbeat to be sure, Murphy rises to the challenge in a role not unlike John Wayne's in Red River (where a megalomaniac pushes his men to their limits) but Dehner is his equal as an old herder who's too stubborn to admit his past regrets must now swallow his pride for the good of the ranch. Also starring a couple of Dukes of Hazzard vets, Denver Pyle & James Best, as Murphy's reluctant workmen.

I won't say the worst, because this is not that junk, garbage film, but it is easily forgettable, run of the mill western. It is outrageous to compare it with NO NAME ON THE BULLET, also with Audie Murphy, for instance. Only John Dehner, more than Murphy, brings some thing in this tepid film. It is only a bit touching because of the atmosphere and little music. I hardly watched it till the end of those eighty minutes. Yes, if you want to find something nearly worth the watch, search in the smooth, I would say oater, side of this film directed by a western maker. Don't lose you time with this one if you want to discover Audie Murphy in a good role.

Cast a Long Shadow is directed by Thomas Carr and adapted to screenplay by Martin M. Goldsmith and John McGreevey from the novel written by Wayne D. Overholser. It stars Audie Murphy, Terry Moore, John Dehner, James Best, Denver Pyle and Ann Doran. Music is by Gerald Fried and cinematography by Wilfred Cline.

Filmed in black and white and produced out of the company Murphy formed with Walter Mirisch, Cast a Long Shadow is a tired Oater on narrative terms. The look and feel is fine and the performances are more than up to scratch, but there's a thematic drive missing from the writing, a missed opportunity to really pump some psychologically distorted blood into its veins.

Murphy is a tough drinking loose cannon type who inherits a ranch and renounces his past and plans to marry his sweetheart. But the ranch is wanted by the townsfolk as a means of productivity salvation and it transpires it's in a whole bunch of debt - with the bank vultures circling. So Audie takes control of a crucial cattle drive and proves to be a very hard task master, so much so he just may kill off any hope of saving the ranch in the process.

In the background is the hovering question of Murphy's illegitimacy, something which bothers him so, and with him trying to go straight and sober - but in the process alienating everyone around him, the meat is there for a tasty stew. Sadly it's only averagely unfurled and culmination of story leaves loose ends dangling. Still, it's never dull, music and photography are in sync with the play, and Murphy fans get good value for their time. 6/10

Not his best but not his worst. He will always be one of my Western Heroes