Quincannon, Frontier Scout

The only reason I can think that Tony Martin did this film was to add a western to his film credit list. Maybe a nice cowboy ballad for him to sing would have improved Quincannon, Frontier Scout, but I doubt it. The film is collection of about every B western cliché under the sun.

The old some bad white people are selling guns to the Indian cliché is the plot premise here. Martin plays former officer now Indian scout Quincannon who quit the army because he was against killing Indians. Since that was their business that didn't leave him much room for career advancement.

But he's knowledgeable in frontier ways so Colonel Morris Ankrum hires him for a special assignment. As part of that assignment Peggie Castle comes along so Martin is interested.

Functioning as his Lucky and California to Martin's Hopalong Cassidy are John Bromfield and John Doucette. This probably could have been sold as a Hopalong Cassidy western. Also someone like Rory Calhoun or Robert Mitchum might have done something with the part. But Tony Martin looks like he wants to be back at the Copacabana opening night so much it's painful to watch.

Martin also rather stupidly confronts the villain after the villain gave himself away. That sets up all the action for the last third of the film.

I do love Tony Martin's singing, but this is one man who never should have tried to transition from musicals.

Most of the objections seem to be that singer and somewhat actor Tony Martin was miscast as the hero of this, and he does seem sleekly cosmopolitan for such a role

It is true the plotline is standard fare - the fort looks VERY familiar :-) - but it is not often that the US Cavalry - Army - itself is accused of corruption, even if it is trying to stop it.

(I myself stopped a battery stealing supply section ring when I was a GI in Ft. Bliss back in 1967, but that was enlisted men, possibly including our sergeant. The GI thieves made a delivery right in front of me and then told me - Presbyterian and for 1 semester a Duty Honor Country West Point plebe - to keep silent about it, which I did NOT :-) , and it was stopped by our warrant officer.

And Tony Martin actually had a similar experience during World War 2. He was kicked out of the Navy, accused of trying to buy an officer's commission.

He denied that and then joined the Army. My USAAF master sergeant dad knew him in East India in the China-Burma-India command, where he sang at bases. He actually got a Bronze Star, maybe for risking his life flying to one of our remote airstrips or over The Hump/Himalayas - very possibly in a transport plane jumped by the Myitkyina Japanese Zeroes.

(Dad also made friends with a kid GI clerk who couldn't type much but played a piano - even missing keys at some airstrips - see Jungle Virtuoso - like nobody had ever heard. After the war, *Leonard Pennario* was welcomed to stay in our house, which he used as his central base for his Midwest concert tours.

Like Leonard, Tony Martin had a very loyal and grateful following of CBI veterans, after the war.)

The single shot carbines vs. Henry repeaters is authentically done, with period-looking pieces.

There were interesting details: an arrow shot with its blade vertical to kill buffalo vs shot horizontal to enter human ribs ... and other things.

Peggie Castle's character seemed to warm up a little too quickly to our hero. At least her brother was confirmed dead instead of being "miraculously" found alive and rescued, but he might have complicated the ending.

After a lot if action, the final outcome is a fascinating legal authority showdown reflecting well on command.

I saw this movie late one night and early the next morning, and was impressed with the sympathetic viewpoint of the complex Indian tribal situation.

This sure beats many movies which use "red men" as cannon-fodder, treating them as unique individuals with their own culture and reasons for doing things.

Linus Quincannon left the army to protest against the massacre of the Indian populations. He becomes a scout along the border and is sent on a mission to find clues to the disappearance of a convoy of weapons. He is joined by a young woman, Maylene, who is trying to find out if her brother was killed in the attack on a Fort ...

Firstly, I do sort of agree with Tony Martin being miscast as a frontier scout. He's ok, I suppose, but he looks more at home in a Las Vegas club singing Tony Bennett songs. He appears to be reading from a cue card and tends to talk loud, and is a little bit arrogant. Dale Robertson or Rory Calhoun would have been a better fit. However, Martin is ably assisted by western regulars Peggie castle, John Doucette, Morris Ankrum etc., and they do really well.

The western itself is fairly entertaining with the usual cliches, but the balanced treatment of Native Americans is well depicted and I liked the ransom demand angle regarding Peggie Castle's brother. Adds a little intrigue. There's some lively action towards the end. Plenty of nice scenery, too.

What was going on the production of this Lesley Selander western? Why the hell did they hire Tony Martin to play the lead? Why not Jerry Lewis? Or Lou Costello? The western itself is OK, not worse than another one, but Tony Martin in the lead.... Peggy Castle, John Doucette are helping a lot to compensate this huge midcast issue, and the settings of Utah are also responsible of the fact that I did not switch my TV set after the beginning of the film. Good western. The topic is used, and overused, a shipment of rifles and machine gun on the loose, with the dangerous proximity of Indians on rampage....