A Lei do Mais Valente

I finally got to see Yellowstone Kelly today and found it to be a decent enough western. Back in the day I was going to see it at the age of 12, but did not want to deal with the unbelievably long lines or the screaming teens who came to see Kookie.

This was not Edd Byrnes first feature film, but the first after his success on 77 Sunset Strip. The bobbysoxers were nuts about him back in the day and crowded out us connoisseurs of the western. I remember the long lines and the stories about how one could not hear the dialog with the adolescent females going gaga for Kookie.

The real star in the title role was another Warner Brothers TV veteran, Clint Walker. He plays a mountain man trapper and scout, the last of a breed. He's allowed to do his thing on Sioux land because he saved John Russell's life who is the chief.

After taking on Edd Byrnes as a young assistant, the two visit the Sioux where both of them catch the eye of Andra Martin who is an Arapahoe captive and Russell's personal squeeze. Another brave Ray Danton would like to replace Russell in her tepee. When she runs away and follows Walker and Byrnes to their cabin, Russell and Danton come calling with the tribe. These kind of things start wars as the Ancient Greeks would be the first to tell you.

As much as Kookie got all the publicity and was the reason for Yellowstone Kelly's box office, this film belongs to the stoic Clint Walker who if he had come along a decade earlier would have been a great cowboy hero. Walker is smart and stoic in the title role.

I have to say that Andra Martin as a blue eyed Arapahoe was most disconcerting. Just like Burt Lancaster in Apache.

Despite that Yellowstone Kelly was a well made action western that any fan of the horse opera will love.

I think that although Yellowstone Kelly was probably only made to accommodate Clint Walkers popularity as Cheyenne Bodie just before and around the release of the film it was exceptionally well done with a great supporting cast and a super story line, but as I was only 12 at the time and I still recall it today it just shows it has lasted the test of time. I can remember very well all the old TV westerns of the fifties even at such an early age.Bronco Layne, Tenderfoot, Gun Law, Lawman, Maverick, Wells Fargo, Have gun will travel, Wagon train, The restless gun with John Payne, and of course my favourite Cheyenne.I love nostalgia and all these all time greats bring back fond memories of a more innocent age than today, although as my wife is always telling me I am very old Fashioned. Graham Lenegan.

I can't believe that there is only one comment about Yellowstone Kelly, I know you couldn't really call it a classic or anything but I know films that are a lot worse that have been much better received in your lists. That is only my opinion and I don't wish to upset anyone but again as previously stated I think this film is a real cracker and has lasted the test of time! Graham Lenegan.

Warner Brothers came up with a winner in this film of a fur trader who finds himself caught in the middle of a cavalry-Indian just wants to run his trap lines in Montana high country but proposed treaty-breaking by the government poses the threat of an Indian uprising. The film dwells a bit on a sub plot that has Kelly saving an Indian maiden's life as well as playing wet nurse to a tenderfoot who seeks to win the trapper's friendship and respect. There is a fine battle scene between the soldiers and the Indians, one of the best of its type and is the film's high point. John Russell, Ray Danton and Claude Akins are among the cast names that contribute greatly to fine story. Andra Martin is striking as the Arapahoe girl and a point of contention between Kelly and the Sioux warriors. Edd Byrnes is okay as Kelly's young helper. Outstanding camera work and music score make this forgotten western one of the genre's best pictures.

Magnificent locations, a pleasant adventure: "Yellowstone Kelly" is a typical nice western movie of the 1950s and, in my personal opinion, it is a relevant instance of a better way of making cinema (better than the current one, I mean).

The movie has merits and defects. Among the merits (apart the already quoted beauty of the photography): the fast-pace of the narration; a number of well-elaborated action scenes; the presence of Andra Martin as the Arapaho girl Wahleeah. In fact, beautiful Martin manages to create, with few but skillful touches, a soft erotic atmosphere rather unusual in western movies of that epoch. However, it should be noted that her (splendid) blue eyes are a relevant clumsiness of the movie. Clint Walker, in the role of the trapper Yellowstone Kelly, is a nice guy, though certainly not a great actor. As always in mature 1950's westerns, the war between whites and Indians is provoked by either hot-heads or rogues, in the present case a stupid ambitious cavalry officer: this remark is just intended to contradict the false common-place that in those years Indians were always represented as blood-thirsty savage assassins.

The story is placed around the Wyoming-Montana border: however the final part was evidently filmed in the wonderful area of Sedona, Arizona. I'm not able to decide whether this could be considered a defect of the movie: probably not. The worst flaw in the film is the fact that all Sioux perfectly understand and speak English (?). There are several other inaccuracies. For instance: I may be wrong, but I bet that the Blue Soldiers had never been equipped with Winchester carabines.

I saw "Yellowstone Kelly" at the theatre, when I was a kid: the pleasant impressions I retained have been confirmed by my recent new view at the TV. I recommend this movie, especially to people nostalgic of good old western flicks.