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Circa 1900, an Oklahoma gambler-casino dealer called Clint Saunders (Rock Hudson) teams up with a saloon girl named Tacey Cromwell (Anne Baxter). Clint is late and the owner 'Mac' MacBain (William Hopper), threatens to fire him. Then Clint's younger brother Nugget (Barry Curtis) runs away in search of his older brother and shows up at the White Palace gambling parlor. He meets Tacey Cromwell, Clint's girlfriend, and falls asleep in her room. When Clint finally arrives, he excitedly tells Tacey about a new opportunity. He is moving to Ransberg, Colorado, to take advantage of a recent silver strike .Clint heads to a booming Colorado town and Tacey drops everything to follow her boyfriend. Tacey will not only take care of Nugget, but also an orfamed girl, Seely (Natalie Wood). In the new town, Judith Watrous (Julie Adams), the daughter of the senator and local banker Kenneth Watrous (Carl Benton Reid), falls in love with Clint and tries to keep him away from Tacey. Judith is a manipulative woman who will stop at nothing to get Clint to stay with her. Nobody ever paid me for being a Lady!. Men gave her everything but a good name!. That woman Tacey and Clint the gambling man...he was her only weakness...and she was his greatest strength!

A decent movie full of incidents, love conflicts and bordering on the "Soap Opera" genre. Expensive melodrama-as-high-art dissection of the American Dream with dramatic events, love stories and twisted intrigues. Based on a novel titled "Tacey Cromwell" by Conrad Richer, with a script by Robert Blees and Lawrence Roman . A twisted melodrama with enough double-dealing and scandal, including criticism of the upper class, social gossip and the unjust marginalization of a woman -in this case Anne Baxter- for having a dark past. Complemented it in a vibrant and luxurious Technicolor photography by cameraman Maury Gertsman and giving the mixture a good stir. The acting is acceptable, the melodrama is compulsive, as well as the excellent cinematography by Russell Metty, evocative musical score by Frank Skinner, brilliant lighting, and the colorful production design from Carroll Clark and Alexander Golitzen share a bold disregard for realism. Interpretations are pretty good, Rock Hudson as the ambitious and upright man who seek respectability , Anne Baxter as the loving woman who follows her beloved wherever he goes and Julie Adams as the manipulative girl who's as nasty as a cornered rattlesnake. Adding other notorious secondaries also providing decent interpretations, such as: veteran Carl Benton Reid, William Hopper, Betty Garde, Barry Curtis, and a very young Natalie Wood previously his hit in Rebel without a cause .

The motion picture financed by famed Ross Hunter was professionally directed by Jerry Hooper, but nothing special. Hooper was a good artisan who first worked for Paramount as an editor , then he passed to Universal and immediately proved himself on more intimate subjects, especially those dealing with sentimental or comedian elements . During World War II he joined the Army and worked as a combat photographer where he was awarded a Purple Heart. After the war, Hopper returned to Hollywood where he graduated to directing. After working prolifically in film during the Fifties, Hopper switched to television where he went on to direct over 600 episodes before effectively retiring in the early 1970s. Jerry directed all kinds of genres , such Western : Madron , Pony Express , The Bull of the West . And Thriller as Naked Alibi , The Atomic City , The Square Jungle . And particularly adventures as Alaska Seas , The Sharkfighters, Secret of the Incas and The Missouri traveler , it was the best of Hooper last movies before he became entrenched un Television. As he filmed a great quantity of episodes of notorious series as Voyage to the Bottom of the sea , The Fugitive , Perry Mason , Shenandoah , Adams Family , Caravans and Gunsmoke. Rating 5.5/10 . Decent and acceptable drama .

Anne Baxter really delivers as a dance hall queen who gives everything up to pursue boyfriend Clint Saunders to a booming Colorado town.

On the way, she not only raises Clint's kid brother, she rears Ceilie, beautifully played by Natalie Wood. How is her kindness rewarded? She loses both children and ultimately Clint to the senator's daughter, who is viciously played by Julie Adams, the former Mrs. Ray Danton. Adams steals the picture as a conniving woman who will stop at nothing to get and keep Saunders.

The exciting ending with the underlying message of evil to him (her) who does evil is wonderful. A **** film in every sense of the word.

In thinking over the title One Desire I've concluded it refers to the One Desire that Anne Baxter and Julie Adams have for Rock Hudson. Each wants the whole Rock and not just a piece of it.

Baxter and Hudson play a pair of saloon denizens. She's a house madam and he's a gambler by trade. Both decide they can do much better, especially after Hudson's little brother Barry Curtis arrives with nowhere else to go. Later on the two take in Natalie Wood an orphan girl whose father is killed in a mining accident.

This nice jerry built family is interrupted when Adams who is the spoiled daughter of a Senator and bank president Carl Benton Reid sets her cap for Hudson. She connives to get the kids taken from Baxter as an unfit parent and Hudson being no match for her wiles marries her and Baxter goes back to her old trade.

The surprise here is Julie Adams who usually plays nice women. This was a bit of offbeat casting for her, but she pulls it off. She's as manipulative as Eve Harrington.

An interesting tale, the women are fine, I could not quite grasp Hudson's character as so naive especially with his background as a gambler. You're supposed to learn to read people in that trade.

Look at Eve Harrington now! Oscar-winner Anne Baxter is marvelous in this movie, in which she plays Tacey, a gambling hall hostess who tries to go straight. She falls in love with gambler Clint Saunders (nicely played by Rock Hudson), and starts life anew with him and his brother. Julie Adams plays the bad girl who steals Clint away to the hilt. Natalie Wood gives an endearing performance as Seely, an orphan who also lives with Clint and Tacey. This is a sadly underrated film which showcases the talents of some of Hollywood's most cherished stars.

This is the worst example of what the Universal "living room beefcake" Rock Hudson could make in those years. Not the best of the best, as you can guess, and nor the best of Jerry Hopper. Anne Baxter, poor Ann Baxter did her best at least to save the whole, but for my taste could not make it. But if you crave for the atmosphere of this fifties era, so you can spend a couple of hours watching it.