Desperados

Highly enjoyable Western with better than average character twists. Columbia was never a big-budget studio like MGM or TCF. But they did like Westerns. So it's not surprising Columbia got into Technicolor with this scenic, well-produced horse opera. Looks like they were angling for the broadest possible audience with not one leading lady, but two (Keyes & Trevor). Ditto with the leading men (Scott & Ford). Add the great Edgar Buchanan in the kind of slippery role he did so well, plus the hulking Big Boy Williams and blowhard Raymond Walburn, and you've got an excellent supporting cast.

It's a really entertaining mix of action, shifting loyalties, humor, plus a dash of romance. The plot's a little shopworn—two old friends find themselves on opposite sides of the law, but the rivalry is well done. Several scenes are standouts—the wild horse stampede nicely framed against the dramatic Utah background, the judge's comical idea of frontier justice, and the tongue-in- cheek barroom brawl. All in all, director Vidor blends the many different elements into a pretty smooth package.

I may be wrong, but I don't think many A-budget Westerns were produced during WWII. Action films were generally war films promoting the Allies cause. This movie, I think, is one of the few elaborate oaters of the period. And a good one it still is.

The bank of Red Valley, a small town in Utah, is robbed by a gang and three residents are murdered during the heist. However the corrupt banker Stanley Clanton (Porter Hall) has plotted the heist with the owner of the local stable, Uncle Willie McLeod (Edgar Buchanan), and the rancher Jack Lester (Bernard Nedell) and his gang. Sheriff Steve Upton (Randolph Scott) is out of town investigating the holdup and is surprised by the wanted outlaw Cheyenne Rogers (Glenn Ford). The gunman that was hired by Stanley but arrived late for the heist, steals his horse and heads to Red Valley. In the stable, the daughter of Uncle Willie, Allison McLeod (Evelyn Keyes), recognizes the horse and rescues the sheriff from the wilderness. Meanwhile Cheyenne meets Countess Maletta (Claire Trevor) and his friend Nitro Rankin (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams). The Countess is the owner of the local saloon and suffers from unrequited love for him, and feels guilty for the crime life of Cheyenne that committed his first murder to protect her ranch. When Steve returns to Red Valley and sees Cheyenne, he feels happy to see his old friend and Allison falls in love with Cheyenne. But Sheriff Steve is getting close to Jack Lester and now Stanley Clanton masterminds a plan to incriminate Cheyenne for robbing the bank. Will he succeed?

"The Desperadoes" is a funny and entertaining western directed by Charles Vidor and with a great cast highlighting the names of Randolph Scott, Claire Trevor and a young Glenn Ford. The story combines western, comedy and action in right doses and there are amazing scenes like for example the stampede. There is also a great message of friendship. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Império da Desordem" ("Empire of Mayhem")

A good-natured, good-looking 'A' western set in 1863 with plush production values and a plot centring largely upon a brooding young Glenn Ford.

It boasts a lively barroom brawl - and later a shootout - played for laughs, a cameo from Raymond Walburn as a blowhard judge and the pleasure of savouring in Technicolor Claire Trevor as saloon-owner 'Countess', usually dressed in purple in gowns by Travilla, Evelyn Keyes in buckskin britches and the beguilingly horsey-faced Joan Woodbury as a floozy from Countess's establishment.

... and that's a rarity during this particular year, but perhaps more likely in a western such as this.

Although Randolph Scott and Claire Trevor get top billing, they are actually second leads. Top leads go to the second-billed couple, a young and startlingly luxuriously-pated Glenn Ford along with Evelyne Keyes in leather pants. Ford is not quite as noxious as he would later become on-screen; he makes an effective "good bad man", as Keyes refers to him.

Randolph Scott basically grins his way through the story of a sheriff, Ford, and Keyes busting the corrupt banker who has arranged for his own bank to be robbed. Trevor doesn't get much to do as the local madam. Guinn "Big Boy" Williams provides good comic relief as Ford's loyal sidekick, and Edgar Buchanan is wonderful as the morally wavering "town uncle" whose own corruption is incomplete because of his paternal worrying over daughter Keyes.

The story may be rote, but the script is excellent, the direction is efficient, and there are some scenery shots that are actually "new", such as from-above shots of a very narrow path cut through a rocky hill. This is a good film, not just a good Western.

Ladies and gentlemen, is the daily grind getting you down? Do you want a good, old-fashioned oater to fill in the early evening hours? Well, it's all here for you folks in Charles Vidor's 1943 production "The Desperadoes".

You've got your stalwart lawman (Randolph Scott), your good bad guy (Glenn Ford), the spunky romantic interest (Evelyn Keyes), the tough but tender saloon hostess (Claire Trevor) and the not-too-bright sidekick (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams). You've got gorgeous Technicolor, stampedes, bronco riding, shady businessmen and an explosion or two! So, pop that corn and melt that butter. What's that? You want more, folks? You want scene stealers? Well, seeing as it's you, we have two of the greatest. Mr. Edgar Buchanan and Mr. Raymond Walburn will commit grand larceny before your very eyes.

So, sit back and relax, ladies and gentlemen. It's all here!