La horde sauvage

When Barbara Stanwyck's era of Hollywood superstardom came to an abrupt end in the early fifties, she refused to quit and became the star of a number of feminist westerns which cast her as a tough yet sensuous aging woman in tight pants and a cowboy hat, oftentimes the leader of an outlaw gang. She'd make one minor classic of this variety, Forty Guns for Sam Fuller. The Maverick Queen has a bigger budget (and was shot in color) but lacks the energy and magnetism of that later film - both, however, co-star he with Barry Sullivan, a highly underrated leading man who enjoyed far greater success on TV (including a two year stint as Pat Garrett on The Tall Man) than in the movies. Babs struts around in tight pants and we're not supposed to notice that she could easily pass for her boyfriend's mother. And as the badguy, her former boyfriend the Sundance Kid, there's Scott Brady - who played The Dancing Kid in JOHNNY GUITAR, the very best of the odd westerns that cast visibly aging former big name female stars in cowgirl roles. (Joan Crawford, in that film's case). This is handsomely produced by strictly minor stuff. We're supposed to cry when Babs "gets it" in the end, but I can still recall kids in the Rialto theatre in Patchogue, Long Island laughing out loud at the end way back when.

The Maverick Queen (1956)

Well Barbara Stanwyck made a lot of Westerns in the 1950s, and most of them are routine stuff, and in them she has often limited if still central roles. This is a great example. She's in the film much less than her co-stars, and the story is a patched together set of common problems--the cattle rancher faces trouble from the cattle rustlers and a hero has come to town, and a little love is going to cross the frontier.

The key difference in all these movies is that Stanwyck plays a strong, sometimes very very strong, woman. That alone makes them watchable. But don't expect "The Maverick Queen" to hold up critically or even hold your attention fully. The plot even has so many little confusions, on purpose. you have to pay close attention (and show some patience) to keep in on track.

For one example, without giving too much away, the main man, played well by Barry Sullivan, is new in town, and he says he's Jeff Younger, a famous gunslinger. This suite Stanwyck's character perfectly--she runs the tavern but also the general racketeering schemes for the province. But then another man arrives in town and says he's Jeff Younger. Hmmm. Along the same lines, the pretty young girl in town is another strong woman, clearly a good one, and her sidekick is a lazy loaf but a good guy, until you see him start telling people things he shouldn't. And so on. These are really great plot twists but they aren't handled with total clarity or given the impact you might expect so the movie totters a bit.

The director, it might be noted, is Joseph Kane, who pretty much only did Westerns, over a hundred of them, and he probably didn't distinguish one from another very well. He's not even trying to create a masterpiece on the small budget this small studio gave him. (It's a full color Republic Pictures production, and there are corners cut.)

The one other interesting side note is the presence of Sundance as a major character (and Butch Cassidy as a very minor one). Of course, history is thrown to the wind on what happens to Sundance, so never mind that . (Watch the Newman/Redford one for the classic outline.)

And Stanwyck? She's strong, and I mean physically tough, and she busts out with good acting in a few scenes. But she, too, seems to realize she's doing routine stuff.

A final note--I saw this on TCM, and for the first time in twenty years of watching movies there I saw one that was not shown full screen. Yes. A shame. It's a wide wide screen enterprise and it uses an unusual system called Naturama, and it was the first Republic movie to use it. It was really just a compatible anamorphic widescreen system like Panavision, but for some reason it was cropped (given the awful "pan and scan" treatment) for this release. That didn't help with the fluidity of the filming, or the appreciation of the big landscape of Colorado so proudly announced in the opening credits.

Should you see this? Not really. There are better Stanwyck Westerns, and better Westerns. And better movies.

Willful and attractive Kit Banion (Barbara Stanwick) is the Maverick Queen. She is a saloon owner and one of the chiefs of an outlaw gang nicknamed the Wild Bunch . As the story unfolds Kit proves she is tough and smart, and can ride and shoot as well as any man. But a Pinkerton agent , posing as Jeff Younger , nephew of the infamous outlaw Younger brothers , is sent to infiltrate the Wild Bunch and gather evidence against the band . There appears Jeff Younger (Barry Sullivan) who teams up with the gang led by Sundance Kid (Scott Brady) . But Kid is a very jealousy man and when he finds out his girlfriend Kit falls for Jeff he becomes into a nasty and vengeful gunslinger who seeks for vendetta against him . Then the gutsy saloon keeper gets in trouble while squabbling over two men . While the powerful Pinkerton is relentlessly dedicated to catching Butch Cassidy and the members of The Wild Bunch. Hear Joni James sing !. Photographed in the colorful state of Colorado in exquisite Trucolor by Consolidated Film Industries !.

Exciting classic Western with a love triangle , crosses , double-crosses , gun-play and rousing action . Weird and hysterical Western with peculiar touches , dreamlike emotionalism and magnificent dialogue in which is blended domination , jealous , humiliation and a deadly confrontation ; resulting to be a fascinating and melodramatic film . This Western has acquired something of cult following along the lines of the magical and mythic ¨Joan Crawford's Johnny Guitar¨ , perhaps because it comes from the same studios : Republic . It has another Hollywood legend , Barbara Stanwick who gives a stunningly dominating acting in a similar role and Scott Brady as Sundance Kid who bears remarkable resemblace to his character in the Crawford picture . This isn't as excellent as Johnny Guitar , but notable enough , altough it does have some impressive shootouts , and more action than the vintage film . Love and hate are woven into three protagonists : Barbara Stanwick , Barry Sullivan and Scott Brady ; the fabulous trio sharing a mythical confrontation . Exceptional performances by all casting as top-notch Barbara Stanwick as a feisty lady saloonkeeper , Barry Sullivan as the mysterious , stubborn drifter and Scott Brady as saddle-tramp bandit who turns a psychopathic temper caused by jealous while taking up his pistols . Sensational plethora of secondaries , such as : gorgeous Mary Murphy at an important role as Lucy Lee , Wallace Ford , Howard Petrie , Jim Davis, Emile Meyer , Walter Sande , George Keymas , Taylor Holmes and John Doucette.

It contains colorful and brilliant cinematography in Trucolor by director of photography Jack A. Marta . As well as sensitive and atmospheric musical score by the classic composer Victor Young . This vintage as well as traditional movie was produced by Herbert J Yates from Republic Pictures and professionally directed by Joseph , ¨Joe¨ , Kane , containing some vigorous scenes , though virtually the Republic studio's last major production before it lurched towards extinction. Kane was a good craftsman who made around 100 titles from the 30s . This motion picture The Maverick Queen (1956) was well directed , though with no much enthusiasm . Kane directed a great number of films and several episodes of notorious TV episodes . Kane started directing career started with co-directing serials for Mascot and Republic, and he soon became Republic's top western director . He handled many of John Wayne's Republic westerns of the 1940s , and piloted numerous Roy Rogers and Gene Autry films . Unlike most Republic house directors, Kane was credited as associate producer on many of his films. He stayed at Republic until the studio's demise in 1959, and after freelancing for mostly independent production companies, he turned to directing TV series as Bonanza . Kane usually worked with Vera Ralston, whom husband Herbert J. Yates, president of Republic Pictures and Kane's boss, attempted without success to make a star . He made a lot of westerns , such as : King of the Cowboys 1943 , Idaho 1942 , Ridin' Down the Canyon 1942, Heart of the Golden West 1942 , Sunset Serenade 1942, Sons of the Pioneers 1942 Romance on the Range 1942 , Sunset on the Desert 1942 , South of Santa Fe 1942 ,Man from Cheyenne 1941 , Red River Valley 1941 , Jesse James at Bay 1941, Bad Man of Deadwood 1941, Rags to Riches 1941 , Nevada City 1941 ,Sheriff of Tombstone 1941, In Old Cheyenne 1941, The Great Train Robbery 1941 , Robin Hood of the Pecos 1940 , The Border Legion 1940 , Young Bill Hickok 1940 Colorado 1940 ,The Ranger and the Lady 1940 ,The Carson City Kid 1940 ,Young Buffalo Bill 1939, Days of Jesse James 1939 , Saga of Death Valley 1939 , The Arizona Kid 1939 , In Old Monterey 1939 , Wall Street Cowboy 1939 , and many others . The flick will appeal to Western/adventure buffs ; it's an agreeable popcorn story plenty of breathtaking scenes , emotion , adventures , colorful exteriors and anything else . It's a wonderful enjoyable story for kids , teens and old people . Rating : Decent Western 6.5/10 .

The best, worth seeing, in this film is Barbara Stanwyck, she is by far the best actress in the entire cast. Everyone else, including Barry Sullivan, Scott Brady, Mary Murphy, etc., is good, but only functional around her. I try to imagine what it would have been like if Barbara Stanwyck had worked with Sergio Leone.

Tough gal Kit Banlon opens a hotel and saloon out in frontier Colorado that soon becomes a haven of gamblers and gunfighters. With notable patrons being none other than Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. Fighting off the romantic advances of Sundance, Kit's life gets more interesting when she becomes attracted to a relative of the Younger Brothers' outlaw posse. Or is he? Whispers in the shadows point to the handsome stranger perhaps being a law man on the trail of the infamous Wild Bunch. Kit could very well be jeopardising much more than a unfulfilled romance if she falls in with the stranger?

Directed by the genre prolific Joe Kane and based upon on the novel written by Zane Grey, The Maverick Queen is something of a wasted premise, with all the elements are in place for a twisty psychological Western. The story is a sound one, with the characters at first glance looking to have potential for gusto and intrigue, but it just doesn't come together as a whole, either through one dimensional male characters or through lazy writing, it ultimately ends up being a damp squib. A squib briefly sparked by Barbara Stanwyk (Kit) in one of her later career tough feminine roles, and a pretty as a picture Mary Murphy who also gets to show a bit of spunk. But the girls can't carry the picture alone...

Barry Sullivan was a safe and amiable actor, he however was far from being a leading man who was able to carry a picture up front, thus here as the leading protagonist he struggles badly as he tries to make the tepid Kenneth Gamet screenplay work. It's a surprisingly weak adaptation from the man who wrote The Flying Leathernecks and the hugely enjoyable Coroner Creek, while Kane himself has to take some of the blame for letting the film plod when it should be zippy. There's a nice kicker in the finale - something that saves the piece from rotting at the bottom of the "B" Western barrel, but sadly it's just not decent enough to warrant a second glance - rendering as fact that both Stanwyck and the audience deserved better. 4/10