The Young Guns

"The Young Guns", according to the prologue, is a western about juvenile delinquency...whatever the heck that's supposed to be! I guess Allied Artists wanted to combine two of the biggest genres of the mid-1950s (westerns and teen run amok films) into one!

The story centers around Tully Rice (Russ Tamblyn), the son of a long-dead bandit. Because of his father, some folks hate Tully and his life in town is awful because the jerk-face deputy keeps treating him like a pariah. But the sheriff supposedly sees some good in the young boy...though oddly he seems to do little to reign in his crazed deputy. Eventually, Tully gets sick of it and leaves town to live with bandits. After all, if folks think he's no good, he might as well be no good. But down deep it's obvious that this pretty boy is good at heart....and he'll make the right choice when the time comes to make important life choices.

While this film tried to be tough, I couldn't help but giggle a bit. Tamblyn's character is supposed to be tough and nasty...but he IS played by Russ Tamblyn who looks like the boy next door! In fact, all of his new gang is supposed to be tough but they all look a bit ridiculous in such roles. The studio thought they would come off as teens run amok but they came off more as kids play acting. Not a terrible film but one that is really, really hard to believe due to the cast.

Cheap combination of western and teenage rebel flick doesn't work in either genre. Lead Russ Tamblyn doesn't pull off the "troubled youth" bit at all, head bad guy Scott Marlowe's aping of James Dean works even less, and the "gang" of youthful miscreants is about as threatening as The Jets from Tamblyn's later "West Side Story". The producers were smart enough to get a good supporting cast--Walter Coy, Myron Healey, Rayford Barnes--of familiar faces who know their stuff, which is more than you can say for the rest of the cast. Hack writing, amateurish acting, poorly staged "action", sloppy direction--this low-rent programmer has it all. Nothing to write home about. You can do worse than watching this, but you can do a whole lot better, too.

In 1987 Wyoming, 1950s-styled young Russ Tamblyn (as Tully Rice) tries to be nice, hard-working and law-abiding. Still, local town-folk antagonize Mr. Tamblyn because his father was a notorious gunslinger. He gets into fights and is run out of town. Tamblyn drifts over to a nearby western community called "Black Crater". There, he re-encounters snuggly-attired Gloria Talbott (as Nora Bowdre), who is the daughter of a notorious gunslinger. They would like to kiss and be nice, law-abiding citizens, but Tamblyn keeps getting into fights with local juvenile delinquent types. This is a confusing mix of the western and rebellious youth genres. The supporting characters blend together, with Scott Marlowe (as Knox Cutler) arguably emerging as the main antagonist. More interesting are old gunslinger Chubby Johnson (as Tom "Ringo" Jones) and grandson Wright King (as Jonesy). The black-and-white photography, by Ellsworth Fredricks, is a plus.

**** The Young Guns (9/16/56) Albert Band ~ Russ Tamblyn, Gloria Talbott, Scott Marlowe, Wright King

"In 1897, just as today, many public spirited citizens were aroused by the problems of delinquency among the youth of various communities...This story of one such community is based on fact."

Intriguing opening salvo by the makers of The Young Guns, unfortunately the film never quite reaches the dramatic heights it aims for.

Russ Tamblyn plays a young fella who eventually gets fed up of being tarred with the bad seed family brush. Seeking solace in a community of like minded youngsters, he tries to keep the peace even as he rises to be the top man.

It's all very safe and unremarkable really. Some of the youthful cast are guilty of auto-cue acting and Tamblyn is barely convincing. On the plus side there's plenty of angst about the place, hormonal and machismo wise, some punch-ups are handled neatly by director Albert Band, the black and white photography (Ellsworth Fredricks) is textured nicely and the finale - whilst totally expected - is delivered in a none insulting fashion. 6/10

Tully Rice is a teenager trying to get a break in life but saddled with an image gained from his father being the infamous bank robber Mark Rice. With his father hanged, Tully is working in a local store but cracks under constant pushing from the local deputy. The sheriff tries to help him out by finding him another job, but Tully rides out of town after a girl he met.

He finds himself staying with her and her extended family – a group of teenagers who carry out minor robberies and such. As time passes Tully finds himself drawn into the gang and put in position where he must decide the path he will follow.

I watched this western because the title caught my eye in the TV guide and then the story sounded a bit modern for a western setting and my curiosity was raised. The plot is very much a case of 'Cowboy without a Cause' in that it mixes the 1950's 'disaffected youth' films with a traditional western feel. The film has the unmistakable feel of both genres and I was surprised by how well they seemed to mix – even if the 1950's youth element took away a little from the feel of the film as a western. At first I thought that the modern parallels would make for a bad film but they work pretty well and make for an interesting story. The western stuff is merely a twist rather than an integral part of the film and I'm not sure just how much fact this film actually has in it despite it's claim to be essentially a true story.

The cast are all OK and is mostly a load of sullen teenagers giving the performances they had seen in other films of the genre. Tamblyn is a little bit bland and never really convinced me that he had a really dark side that he was battling against throughout the film. Talbott is a bit better and works her emotional stuff to better effect while the support cast has reasonable turns from Marlowe, Lopez and Barnes.

Overall this is a rather strange mix of genres but it works better than I expected it to. Outside of the curiosity value of this mix, the film does work pretty well as both a western and an 'affected youth' B-movie – it is fun but trashy and I found it enjoyable despite acknowledging it's limitations. As another user commented, the cinematography is good and is responsible for making some bits feel like a western but making other bits feel like there's going to be a knife fight or a game of chicken at any moment! Not a great movie but interesting and quite fun.