Kentucky Rifle

Modest low-budget Western in which a wagon is separated from its train when it breaks an axle deep in Comanche country. The unusual cast - Chill Will leads, Jimmy Cagney's sister provides support, Henry Hull plays a preacher, and the voice of Winnie the Pooh (Sheldon Leonard) provides what is presumably supposed to be comic relief - compensate for the bland but inoffensive material.

Hmmm. As B Westerns go, this has to be more of a C+ as Chill Wills really struggles to hold this together. He is "Taylor" who is in charge of repairing a busted wagon that's been left behind by the train - exposing it to a gang of marauding Comanches who want it's not-so-secret cargo of Winchesters. He's not helped by the fact that his colleagues are all a bit self-obsessed with each having their own agenda and who are all just a bit selfish. Can he get them all through safely without surrendering their lives and/or their weapons? I didn't really care, to be honest. The production is basic, the dialogue far too wordy and the characterisations, led by Wills but hardly augmented by the wooden as as spoon Cathy Downs ("Amy") and Lance Fuller's "Clay" do little to liven this rather procedural mix either. Henry Hull tries his best as the preacher, but by the mid-point I was the one praying: for the Comanches to do us all favour and put us out of our misery. One for list completists, I'd say - though quite what list this'd ever be on. Poor, sorry!

This is an awful western. The plot reminds me of "The Last Wagon", but it is far from having the polish of that film. The cast includes Cathy Downs and veteran character actor Chill Wills and is largely wasted. Chill Wills' performance is particularly annoying. He spends much of his time spewing almost unintelligible praise for the Kentucky rifle. While the Kentucky rifle was surely a fine weapon, it is not exactly the gun that won the West.

The premise for this film is dumb. A wagon loaded with Kentucky rifles belonging to star Lance Fuller breaks down. The Comanches want the rifles. The Indians offer a deal. The guns for their lives. Surprisingly, those in the wagon are willing to make a deal. The Indians waste no time betraying the foolish Whites, but they don't get the rifles. After a battle in which many of the Indians are killed by the sure firing Kentucky rifles the Indians promise to allow the wagons to proceed in safety. This time they keep their promise.

Technically, this film has serious problems. Much of it was filmed indoors, and the sets have a cheap look to them. The artificial rocks have a particularly phony look about them. The lighting is confused. Daytime scenes turn to shadows without warning. This aspect of the film reminds me of "Plan Nine from Outer Space".

I rented this film twice. I wanted to see if it was as awful as I remembered it from the first time. It was.

Everyone in this film is sooo clean and smelling of roses even though they are in the middle of nowhere, and BO is never a problem in the hot sun ! Cheap Western, shot mostly in a studio with a few external shots somewhere just outside ... Oh, and the bad guys are the Red Indians as usual .

Director Carl J. Hittelman's idea of staging is usually just to line up his cast of veterans talking at each other as if on a proscenium. Visual interest is however supplied by the contrast between the attractive locations and studio sets straight out of 'Star Trek'.