Buckskin

Buckskin (1968)

** (out of 4)

A strong cast keeps this by-the-numbers Western from falling completely off the track. Marshall Chaddock (Barry Sullivan) arrives in a small Montana town that has the land owners moving because of a crooked gambler named Marlowe (Wendell Corey). The Marshall makes the people stay on their land while he tries to defeat the greedy man at his own game. BUCKSKIN is an old fashioned Western that featured a story that would tire people in the 1930s let alone in 1968. This is a hard film to enjoy because of how boring it all it but at the same time there's no question that it features a strong cast of veteran actors. The biggest problem with the film is the fact that the story itself is just something we've seen hundreds of times in countless "B" Westerns and not a single new thing is done with it here. Even worse is that most "B" films got this story told in less than a hour but the story here is padded down with so much junk that the 97-minute running time seems twice that. There are so many simple scenes that get dragged out to the point where you'll be wanting to cry as well as ask the screenwriter what the point was. Sullivan is good in the lead as he delivers a strong performance and Corey is a downright delight as the snake who will stop at nothing to win. Joan Caulfield plays a former school teacher turned prostitute trying to win back some dignity. John Russell plays another snake with perfection and we also have Barbara Hale, Leo Gordon and Bill Williams turning in fine support. Lon Chaney, looking extremely bad from his personal issues and declining health, still manages to deliver a great performance as the disgraced Sheriff. Chaney appears to be having a blast getting to play the bad guy. BUCKSKIN is a film that most people will want to skip but if you're a fan of these names then you might want to check it out once.

BUCKSKIN (1968) is one of thirteen low-budget westerns churned out at Paramount Pictures in the 1960s by producer A.C. Lyles. The distinguishing feature of these westerns was the peppering of the casts with former Hollywood stars getting one last shot at cinematic glory. Here the cast is led by western stalwart Barry Sullivan and includes such former Paramount contract players as Joan Caulfield, Wendell Corey, and Richard Arlen, backed by such other veteran performers as John Russell, Lon Chaney Jr., Barbara Hale, Bill Williams, Leo Gordon, George Chandler and Barton MacLane.

The hackneyed plot features Sullivan as a marshal seeking to bring law and order to Glory Hole(!), Montana, by stopping the land-grabbing tactics of gambler Rep Marlowe (Corey), who's aided by an eye-patch-wearing hired gun (Russell) and a portly, corrupt sheriff (Chaney). The townsmen, including a kindly doctor (MacLane), are loath to help Sullivan because he seems to be outnumbered, but gradually Sullivan enlists such allies as a homesteader couple (played by husband-and-wife acting team Williams and Hale); the old storekeeper (Chandler) and his Chinese assistant (Aki Aleong); a drunk who lost all his savings to the gamblers (Gordon); and a schoolteacher-turned-saloon girl (Caulfield). Each of the cast gets their chance to emote, making this film much talkier than it needed to be, but also ensuring the participation of name performers who would have balked at mere cameo appearances. After the sturdy Sullivan (always a dependable western star), Russell comes off best as the conflicted hired gun with a complicated past.

There are a couple of interesting racial twists provided by Sung Lee, the Chinese worker who is a victim of prejudice and comes to respect Sullivan for standing up for him, and Sullivan's young half-Indian son (Gerald Michenaud), whose presence at the side of Sullivan causes a bit of controversy.

It's not the best of Lyles' westerns, nor is it the worst. It moves well and the cast always keeps it interesting, even during its slow and talky moments. There are a few shootouts, including one sprawling gun battle with Corey's henchmen at a dam that Sullivan is trying to open to get the homesteaders their necessary water. Western fans will find a few pleasures here and will no doubt wonder why more Lyles westerns are not available on home video.

The completion of "Buckskin" in Dec 1967 marked the end of the trail for Paramount producer A.C. Lyles, the last of his 13 B-Westerns over a four year period that provided employment for many veteran performers. No better or worse than any of the others, immeasurably aided by a solid cast assembled from previous entries: Barry Sullivan (second), Joan Caulfield (second), Wendell Corey (third), Lon Chaney (eighth), John Russell (fourth), Barton MacLane (fourth), Bill Williams (second, here joined by his wife Barbara Hale), Richard Arlen (eleventh!), Leo Gordon (second), and George Chandler (third). Top billed is Barry Sullivan, the buckskin-clad Marshal Chaddock, who arrives with his young son to Gloryhole, Montana, to rescue the homesteaders from evil land baron Rep Marlowe (Wendell Corey), who has nearly succeeded in driving them all off by damming up the water supply. The townspeople aren't exactly grateful for the marshal's help, while Marlowe has in his pocket the local miners, the corrupt Sheriff Langley (Lon Chaney), and mysterious hired gun Patch (John Russell), who has a history with Chaddock. The final film for Barton MacLane, hereafter confined to I DREAM OF JEANNIE, and nearly the last for an ailing Wendell Corey, while Lyles' most frequent veteran, Richard Arlen, only appears in one short scene. Most shocking of all is the sight of grizzled, 61 year old Lon Chaney, his deteriorating voice affected by the same throat cancer that killed his father. The role of Sheriff Tangley is a major one, larger than any of the other villains, and the actor even performs all his own stunts, a remarkably effective performance considering he was still grieving his mother's recent passing, which is how he lost out on another Western, "Day of the Evil Gun," Paul Fix replacing him as Sheriff Kelso (unfortunately, only four more roles lay ahead for Chaney). Lyles still had a few more features to come, most notably the notorious 1972 "Night of the Lepus," but his successful run of old fashioned oaters came to its inevitable conclusion, only so many story lines to go around after TV Westerns got through with them all.

A.C. Lyles made a career out of cheap westerns during the 1960s which starred actors well past their glory days. My assumption is that these folks would work cheaply and needed the money. Most of these films are what you might refer to as 'Geriatric Westerns'. Some are pretty good despite the low budgets (such as "Fort Utah" and "Johnny Reno") and some are a bit sad, as some of the actors were not only well past their primes but also sad alcoholics. In this film, Lon Chaney Jr. looks pretty bad due to his drinking problems (though this fits the character he's playing as well) but even worse was Wendell Corey. Corey died that same year at only 54--and he looked 65 or 70. And, you can see that he sometimes was reading lines from cue cards because he could no longer remember lines and you can see his hand shake if you watch carefully. It's very, very sad to see these two. As for the rest of the old-timers, you get a chance to see Barry Sullivan (in the lead), Barton MacLane (in his last role), Richard Arlen (who seemed to be in every Lyles western) and Joan Caulfield.

As for the plot, it's #3. I say that because in most westerns, there are about 3 or 4 plots that are used and re-used again and again. This one is the clichéd 'evil boss-man'--the guy who wants to use his hired stooges in order to drive out the ranchers in order to own EVERYTHING. It is a very tired plot--and it made it harder for the actors to do their jobs. Unfortunately, the writer stuck with convention. When the evil boss-man (Corey) approached the Marshall (Sullivan) and threatened to kill him (as often happened in such films)...why didn't Sullivan either arrest him or just shoot him in the face?! This would have ended the problem 10 minutes into the film!! I sure would have shot him! It all limps to a predictable finale but along the way there are some silly scenes (such as when Sullivan was bitten by a rattlesnake and seemed amazingly well soon after--in reality, his arm would have swollen up and he would have been lucky if he'd only lost it!). Another odd problem was the hired gun played very well by John Russell. He only has one eye--so how can he be an expert shot?! What about his depth perception? And what about the very invasive background music?! The film also has some 1960s sensibilities--with the Marshall having a son who is half-Indian and the Marshall protects a poor Chinese guy who is being attacked by the town's thugs)--which isn't bad, but is also a bit anachronistic. Sadly, back in the 1880s (or so), I can't imagine anyone like the Marshall.

So is the clichéd film worth seeing? Well, for Barry Sullivan fans, yes. Although he was NOT a western star, he did very well here. I also liked that he wasn't the usual ultra-good looking or macho hero. But despite this, the film never was able to rise above mediocrity. Not terrible...but it could have been a lot better.

Not all bad for a late (1968) version of a familiar theme, with an interesting cast - not least the normally aggressive Leo Gordon playing one of the world's losers (though he does toughen up later on).

The only real fault was the way that several characters' attitudes changed rather too quickly from being antagonistic towards the marshal to supporting him. And didn't Sullivan recover quickly from his night of fever after his rattlesnake bite; apparently he nearly died twice, but the next morning he was fit and ready for his concluding heroics.

Wendell Corey does very well as the town boss, and I wish we had seen more of John Russell in Westerns; he has the longest speech in the film when explaining his "history" with Sullivan, and he puts it over well.