La rançon de la peur

Juvenile delinquency was a very hot topic in the late fifties and early sixties. The new scourge of civilization, rock and roll, had transformed the younger generation into rebels who wanted to cast off the repressive rules by which they were expected to conduct themselves. The burgeoning post-war economy was removing the fear that had formed so much of the older generation's embracement of responsibility and the ever-quickening pace of materialistic progress was making any prospect of boredom anathema to the young.

This certainly didn't go unnoticed by the establishment who were understandably alarmed by what appeared to be a rise in youthful disrespect and hedonism and the war of the generations was taken fairly seriously for a while. Hollywood quickly realized that this was a very sexy and saleable topic for entertaining the masses and began churning out dramas of rebellious youth by the boatload. By 1960 (the year this film was released) these rebellious youth movies were becoming pretty repetitive as far as contemporary settings went, so it was a darned good idea to take the issue and transfer it to a different time - the old west.

It worked rather well, I think. Westerns tend to be fairly simple story lines for the most part anyway, so bringing an aspect of modern juvenile delinquency into the western was novel enough to spice up both tired genres a little. I watched it on the late show when I was on a baby-sitting gig and it made my night. Held my interest all the way and I enjoyed repeated viewings of it over the next couple of years.

It's well acted by all. John Saxon has a great time playing the quietest but most dangerous gang member and Jeff Chandler gets to be a bad-tempered hero. As a small and relatively simple movie with a social message geared to the time of its release it's not really an 8 now, but I think it deserves a little better rating than it has here so I've given an extra point or two to help raise the average and I don't think that's the wrong thing to do at all. It's a decent piece of entertainment.

Typical Western of tough guys bullying a town, yet the acting and dialogue make it very entertaining. John Saxon steals the film even though he sometimes overplays his Mexican accent. Veteran character actor Flippen is also a standout. Pretty good overall.

Four young armed cowboys ride into town. Jeb, Rondo (John Saxon), Mule and Davy have been driven out of Dodge City. They don't pay for Whiskey and ask for the Sheriff. Sheriff McCauley decides not to wear his guns and all they want are warm beds in jail for the night. Once released, they start taking stuff and refusing to leave. Ellie Walters (Dolores Hart) is the beautiful store owner's daughter. One armed war veteran Sam Christy (Jeff Chandler) seem to avoid trouble.

This is obviously calling out the youth of its day. These four could be rock-n-rollers or greasers or bikers or general delinquents during its time. The town is full of old folks and helpless youngsters. Westerns are the films of older folks and younger kids. This is black-and-white moral delineation.

This topic has been made at least one billion times in Hollywood history, western or crime genre. One man against several evil ones, so nothing new here. But the directing, castig, acting, every second of this pure awesome movie contributes to keep you glued, stuck to this story, a masterpiece of psychological character study, as NO NAME ON THE BULLET is for instance; though the story was not exactly the same. Jeff Chandler was purely outstanding and makes his death a couple of years later even more painful to accept, to digest. I will never get tired of this movie. Never.

1960's "The Plunderers" was a relatively overlooked Allied Artists release that at first glance might pass for "Rebel Without a Cause" out West. Trail City TX is a quiet, unassuming town where four weary youths decide to hang out after getting fleeced in Dodge City: Ray Stricklyn is their nominal leader Jeb, Roger Torrey his massive sidekick Mule, Dee Pollock's Davy the youngest and least experienced, John Saxon's Mexican Rondo pegged as the most dangerous. Sizing up the townsfolk with newfound bravado, the foursome spend one night in the prison cell of Jay C. Flippen's aging Sheriff, after refusing to pay saloon owner James Westerfield for a bottle of whiskey. Rather than ride out in the morning as they promised, they turn to robbing shopkeeper Jess Walters (Vaughn Taylor) out of $73 worth of clothes, then hold up at widow Marsha Hunt's hotel. All this is witnessed by Jeff Chandler's crippled Civil War veteran Captain Sam, the town's only chance to fight back despite a useless right arm, trying hard to keep out of the fray until he finds his courage restored by the love of Dolores Hart's Ellie Walters, daughter of Jess, whose virginal appearance proves most alluring for Saxon's lustful Latino. A nice change to find two beautiful women vying for Chandler's affection, one an experienced widow, the other little more than a child, yet both displaying more courage than their male counterparts. An early character role for former teen heartthrob John Saxon, well cast in villainous mode, his wanton assault on Ellie resulting in claw marks on his once handsome cheek (note the swinging lamp reflected in the mirror during this attack). The lone feature from Jeff Chandler's own August Productions (he would die a year later at age 42), he chose his favorite Universal director Joseph Pevney, soon to make a smooth transition to television, helming a record 14 episodes of Gene Roddenberry's STAR TREK.