Dallas, ville frontière

Just about every noted western city shows up sooner or later as the title to a western. This certainly isn't about the early days of Dallas which was founded right after Texas came into the union and was named for the current Vice President George Mifflin Dallas. Dallas was from Philadelphia, was once the Mayor there, and never visited the city named after him.

What this is is a nice Gary Cooper shoot 'em up with a nice post Civil War plot. Hollywood abounds in those, carpetbagger rule in Texas and the men who do something about it. Red River is the best example.

Gary Cooper is outlaw and former rebel Blayde Hollister who is "gunned down" by Wild Bill Hickok so he can operate undercover and get a particularly loathsome family named Marlow who burned his former plantation in Georgia. Aiding him is Leif Erickson who plays a tenderfoot marshal from the East (hey they weren't all Hickoks and Earps). Cooper takes Erickson's identity and Erickson goes along as his own brother.

Up and coming starlet Ruth Roman plays the love interest. She's Erickson's fiancé, but Cooper has caught her eye.

Two of the Marlows are Raymond Massey and Steve Cochran. Massey's villains are always shrewd and are usually done in by circumstances beyond their control. Steve Cochran fresh from his stint as Big Ed in White Heat is the vicious, but stupid underling brother.

It's a good plot and a lot's been edited out badly. For instance at one point you see Gary Cooper in hot pursuit of Massey to Fort Worth. Then it cuts straightaway to the Fort Worth jail and no explanation of how Cooper got in there.

Leif Erickson never made it to the top. He usually was the second lead who never got the girl. Television gave him the stardom that eluded him on the silver screen with High Chapparal.

Steve Cochran usually played villains with a kind of snake-oil charm, like Big Ed in White Heat or as Doris Day's KKK husband in Storm Warning. Same here although the twist is he's not the sharpest knife in the Marlow drawer.

Today's generation thinks of Dallas and they think of the Ewing family of the 80s. This is NOT the story of their early days, but its nice Saturday matinée fare.

I don't think I've ever watched a good cast work harder to make a bad script work. Which means the directing had to be good too. And, for the period, the production values are pretty high too. But the real candidate for lynching was the writer, not the bad guy in the movie.

I would have scored it lower but for the laughs I got out of the woefully bad dialog and virtually every cast member's heroic efforts to keep a straight face while delivering their bits. If you're a Gary Cooper fan, or just like to listen to Ruth Roman's sexy husky voice, the rest is worth a watch for just how funnily bad it is. Funnier than many an intentional western parody.

This stylized and well financed Western looks good but is light and flimsy for the genre. It can not hold a candle to other Gary Cooper vehicles like High Noon, however it is worth a view if you catch it like I did on a lazy afternoon on the Encore Western channel.

The film's setup seems contrived and the dialogue is uneven and sometimes even clumsy but it does include enough star power such as Raymond Massey, Ruth Roman, and Leif Erickson (who lend their considerable talents) to make it worthwhile.

Cooper is always a force to be seen and this is no less so in this forgettable Western but even his presence can not totally save this movie.

Watch if there is nothing else compelling on, but don't expect great Western fare like High Noon, Gunfight at the OK Corral or The Lawman. This just isn't it.

I understand why some might rate this rather mediocre film highly as it is difficult to downgrade any film in this (nowadays) under appreciated genre. But there are such amazing Western films out there that great ratings should only be reserved for the true crème de la crème so that those just dipping their toe into this wonderful pool of cinema are not mislead or unduly disappointed and consequently disenchanted with the whole Western genre.

After Confederate officer Blayde Hollister's (Gary Cooper) home and family are destroyed and massacred by the sociopathic Marlowe Brothers during the Civil War , he swears for vendetta , refusing to surrender and becoming a wanted man with a reward on his head , as posters captioning : Wanted alive or dead . In order to track down the three brothers into Texas, Hollister fakes his own death in a staged shootout with his friend Wild Bill Hickock (Reed Hadley) . He then befriends Martin Weatherby (Leif Ericson) , the newly appointed U. S. Marshal to Dallas, and both of them scheme a twisted caper by replacing personalities . Meanwhile , the eldest of the Marlowe brothers, Will (Raymond Massey) , masquerades as a law-abiding real estate dealer while feigning righteous indignation over the cruel acts of corruption and lawlessness against the honest citizens of Dallas carried out by his nasty brother Bryant (Steve Cochran) . When all of Texas was a powder keg...they lit the fuse! The fury of violence and vengeance echoes across the Texas Plains ¡.

A run-of-the-mill plot but plenty of diversions on the trail , as Coop pretending to be a dandified US marshall in frock coat and top hat , horse-back chases , impressive gunfight and furtive romance . The big star Gary Cooper sleepwalks though he is supposed to be the laconic outsider-type , this doesn't matter at all . It contains adequate production values , thrilling musical score by the classic composer Max Steiner and blazing , glimmering Technicolor camerawork by Ernest Haller , basically a B-Western though . Stars the great Gary Cooper giving an acceptable acting in his usual style , but he starred much better Westerns , such as : High Noon , The Virginian , Unconquered , The Westener , Along came Jones, Friendly Persuasion , Garden of Evil , Distant Drums , Vera Cruz , The Hanging Tree, They came to Cordura , among others. He's well accompanied by the beautiful Ruth Roman with whom two suitors have a triangular romance , developed between Cooper/Hollister and Weatherby/ Leif Ericson as an affable, but not very experienced lawman, who agrees to let Hollister assume his identity . And other notorious secondaries as Raymond Massey , Steve Cochran , Barbara Payton , Jerome Cowan , Reed Hadley , Monte Blue and Antonio Moreno .

The motion picture was regular but professionally directed by Stuart Heisler . Director Stuart Heisler began his film-industry career as a prop man in 1913, joining Mack Sennett at Keystone the following year. He worked as an editor for Samuel Goldwyn at United Artists from 1924-25 and again from 1929-34 and at Paramount from 1935-36. He graduated to second-unit director with John Ford's The Hurricane (1937). He started his directorial career at Paramount in 1940 and stayed there until 1942, turning out mostly "B"-grade films but was occasionally given an "A" picture. Heisler made various films with known actors and diverse genres , such as Gary Cooper (Along Came Jones ,Dallas) , Susan Hayward (Tulsa , Smash-up) , Linda Darnell (This is my love) , Jack Palance (Died a thousand times , a remake of High Sierra) and Tony Curtis (Beachhead) , among others . A cool cast , professional direction from Heisler with riveting climax and enhanced by energetic score make this a must , but only for Gary Cooper fans . Rating : 5.5/10 , worthwhile watching.

Former Confederate soldier Blayde Hollister (Gary Cooper) is looking for revenge against a group of crooked carpetbaggers. Wild Bill Hickok is the law and he shoots Hollister dead. It turns out that the two friends had faked the incident. They allow in the new Federal Marshal Martin Weatherby (Leif Erickson). Hollister and Weatherby head off together with Hollister taking Weatherby's identity.

Gary Cooper is doing his High Noon thing. I'm looking for something much more brutal. He should be laying waste to anyone remotely connected to the incident. This needs to get much darker considering it's for his family. I also don't like the loudmouth reb during the shoot-out. He is so clueless that it becomes annoying. Otherwise, this is fine.