La chevauchée de l'honneur

Of course it is a flawless western, but so predictable, despite this excellent cast, directing, performances.... For once, I appreciated a lot Macdonald Carey in a role where he doesn't appear as bland, wooden, as usual in other features. Here, his character is thicker than we could expect, whilst William Holden, on the other hand, brings no surprise at all. But, as I have always said, villains - or at least ambivalent or ambiguous characters- are far far more interesting than hte good ones, the white knights in their shining armors....fABULOUS Victor Young's score belongs to the qualIty of this movie directed by British actor Leslie Fenton, who also gave us WHISPERING SMITH.

Three outlaw friends find themselves on opposite sides of the law when two of them join the Texas Rangers to get themselves out of a tight corner.

Lively western basking in splendid technicolour and very good performances, especially by MacDonald Carey, who plays a smug outlaw with villainous ambitions. His character becomes more cold blooded towards the end. The film has enough drama, tension with the three friends splitting in different directions, and Mona Freeman - who had a crush on MacDonald's character at first - eventually changes her mind when seeing his true colours and prefers Holden, who does well in this well-directed western.

Streets of Laredo is directed by Leslie Fenton and adapted to screenplay by Charles Marquis Warren from a Louis Stevens and Elizabeth Hill story. It stars William Holden, Macdonald Carey, William Bendix and Mona Freeman. Music is by Victor Young and cinematography by Ray Rennahan.

For fans of traditional Westerns this is as solid as a Brick Adobe Structure. A remake of The Texas Rangers (1936) of sorts, plot finds Holden, Bendix and Carey as three bad boys who get divided by circumstance, love and conscious. Two of them wind up in the Texas Rangers - the famed frontier law enforcement battalion - the other stays on the wrong side of the law. All roads lead to the day of reckoning...

The production is the usual mixed bag of superlative location photography (Simi Valley/Gallup) and crude back projection so often seen in the 40s and 50s Oater releases, with Rennahan's Technicolor photography a treat for the eyes. Performances are assured because the three principal guy actors are given characterisations that suits them - Holden tough emotional anti-hero - Bendix a lovable and dopey toughie - Carey sly bad boy. Freeman is lovely but it's a dressage character, while Alfonso Bedoya is on hand for some stereotypical bandido villainy.

At 90 minutes in length it feels a bit padded out until the two guys actually join the Rangers, so some patience is required during the first half. However, there is plenty of Western movie action within the story, some turns in plotting to grab the heart strings and a pleasing array of costumes and musical accompaniments to keep the senses perky. All told, it's just a thoroughly enjoyable Oater regardless of if you have happened to have seen the original version. 7/10

Paramount's remake of their own 1936 western "The Texas Rangers" has three small-time stagecoach robbers separated after tangling with a sniveling extortionist and his cohorts in 1879 Texas; two of the men inadvertently join the Texas Rangers and find that working for the right side of the law really suits them, while the third man becomes a notorious outlaw. Despite some confusion in the character motivations and loyalties, this is an astute, absorbing drama with beautiful photography and solid performances. Who would've ever guessed Macdonald Carey could be a worthy opponent for William Holden? Dressed all in black, with a smug expression and heavy-lidded eyes, Carey is a surprisingly formidable villain. Holden, despite several sigh-heavy movie star close-ups, is very convincing with a gun and a horse; his character's playing both sides, while also falling for tomboyish Mona Freeman, provides the heart of the story, and Holden is never less than exciting to watch. Extremely well-directed by Leslie Fenton, with fine supporting work by William Bendix and a bouncy score by Victor Young. *** from ****

Holden, Carey and Bendix are three bandits holding up stagecoaches until a chase separates one from the other two. Those two eventually join up with the Texas Rangers and reform, while the one keeps to his old outlaw ways. Thus, the stage is set for the final showdown. Mona Freeman is the love interest who falls for one of the bandits but eventually catches on that the man of her dreams is really someone else. I saw this one when I was a kid and the scene of one of the characters being gunned down in cold blood from beneath the table blew me away. That still packs a wallop, but after having watched "Streets of Loredo" again, I realize it is all pretty routine as Westerns go. Even so, it's full of the clichés and values that made me love them when I was growing up. A young Macdonald Carey stands out as the dashing villain dressed, of course, in black.