Les cow-boys

Period piece. It's the 1870s, and the market for cattle prices is dropping like crazy. The people of garnet basin meet to come up with a plan. Unfortunately, everyone is still looking out for their own best interest. The banker, the shipper, the farmer, the cattle men. When things escalate, people start turning up dead. Someone is rustling cattle and selling the hides on the sly. Ed o'brien is ben, who's willing to take on the rustlers. If only someone will help him stand up to the thugs. We know there's going to be a big showdown at some point. The sound and picture quality are quite excellent. After the big grand start, this ends up as just another western. It's good, with no hokey, drunk sheriff that never goes after the bad guys. From allied artists. It's your typical western, but a little better. Story by curtis bishop. Directed by les selander, king of the westerns. O'brien was part of some pretty big films.. liberty valence, barefoot contessa, white heat. He won the oscar for contessa!

As Monogram Pictures morphed into Allied Artists, they tried to raise the quality of their projects. As the demand for their B westerns disappeared, they hired some good actors -- among them the incomparable Edmond O'Brien -- and produced this western, directed by long-time Western director Lesley Selander.

I wasn't expecting O'Brien to be convincing as a cowboy, but he is astonishingly good as an ex-cowpoke who is building an express business -- and given a huge oversupply of cattle, he's shipping an awful lot of tallow and hide, all the scrubs are good for. There's a lot more history intelligently explained here than is usual for a B western, the photography is crisp and clean and there are fine supporting actors carrying the roles -- John Millicam is particularly affecting in, for him, a large role.

Selander directs very efficiently -- you can tell that villain Barton Maclane shot his interiors in a block and the action sequences near Lone Pine, where Selander spent most of his professional career are handled to advantage.

The net effect is that everything is much better than a B western, yet the obvious economies make it at best a shaky A. Still, overall it is a superior effort and worthwhile for western fans and a surprisingly unexpected sidetrack for Edmond O'Brien.

Though it's ingrained in me to love tiny westerns that ably coast on tropes and cliches, the more the better, this one just didn't get there. The novel idea of cattle men fighting amongst themselves was fascinating and held my interest to a degree, but it started to drag in subplots and one dimensional characters. Normally a real fave of mine, I found Edmond O'Brien uncharacteristically low key in this and absent for long stretches of the story. The three Roberts, Barrat, Lowery and especially Wilke steal the picture right out from under him. Barrat plays a wealthy entitled cattle baron and though he's supposed to be one of the ostensible good guys when all is said and done, he's nearly as reprehensible in his actions as Wilke's character who is typically cast as evil incarnate. Plus I was really bothered by a scene of our hero shooting someone in the back. Had this been an Anthony Mann western or a later Spaghetti or New Hollywood western, that could work, but in a 1953 low budget oater, it seemed out of place. Not that I don't mind defying genre conventions, but it just didn't sit well with me this time. Normally these films pass the clocks with ease on a lazy weekend afternoon, but I got antsy watching this one and felt encouraged to nitpick.

Yes, it's pretty hackneyed themes but it's well done with a couple of twists. The villains were real villains and the goodies real heroes.

Edmund O'Brian has never struck me as a handsome leading man who gets the girl eventually and, for me, is out of place here. Others play there parts well and the story line is good enough to keep you watching. I particularly enjoyed the obligatory fist fight sequence although there were some obvious stunt men substitutions.

Am surprised it, like others have been, was not remade in color to enhance the scenery and the action. Would seem ready made for the likes of George Montgomery etc.

Sit back, relax and enjoy- if you like westerns you won't be disappointed.

It Takes Imaginative Flourishes to Make a B-Movie Different from the Overwhelming Herd of "Oaters" from the '50's...God Knows there were so Many.

Here the Plot, at its Center, is a Black-Hole Hardly Mentioned in the Genre.

Instead of the "Cow-Pokes" Job of Herding and Working as Their Moniker Implies, the "Business" is in an Arena of Angst as the Demand for "Beef-On-The Hoof" is No-Longer Lucrative, with $$$$ Value Plummeting.

That's the "Some-Thing Different" Offered Here...

Along with the Recognizable, Prolific B-Movie Actors Riding the Range, which was a Main-Stay at the Bijou and its Saturday Matinee Throughout the 1950's. Flip-Flopping with its Popular Rival Alternative...the Sci-Fi Movie.

Leslie Selander was a B-Movie Specialist with a Proclivity for the Western and Crime Flicks, Compiling a Filmography of Near 150 Credits.

The Aforementioned Twist of the Recession in "Cow Country" (a memorable Title), also had an "Ace" Up its Sleeve...

Gorgeous Peggy Castle is Done-Wrong by the Overly-Handsome Robert Lowery (a Clark Gable look-alike), and Peggy's Vengeful Wrath-Whipping is a Sight-to-Behold as She makes Her Mark All Over His Face. An Extended-Scene that is Hard to Forget, especially circa 1953.

That Particular Piece of Business, Alone, Makes This...

Worth a Watch.