Young Guns of Texas

Gary Conway is the real protagonist of this western, although the siblings of Joel McCrea, Robert Mitchum and Alan Ladd were given top credit. But James Mitchum had no charisma, and Alana Ladd was not a good actress, so the best parts of the film are carried out by Conway, Jody McCrea, and Chill Wills.The film starts well when Conway arrives in a town controlled by a nasty landowner. He is following a patrol of Southern rebels carrying stolen money. But then the attention turns to the romance of the landowner's daughter (Ladd) and a guy raised by Indians (Mitchum). As things get more complicated and the film demands higher production values, the budget betrays everybody's effort, making everything look really cheap.

The originality here is that you have several groups of characters. The robbers, the pursuers and the revengeful guys...I like this, because you'll wonder what will be the link, the antagonism element between those three? On which basis will they have to fight against each other, or on the contrary fight besides each other? That is very interesting to me. Of course the bland acting doesn't help much. And it is actually confusing, because you can confound the characters, but the intention to give something different, not the basic usual scheme must be considered. And the originality here is that you have in the cast Hollywood legends' children: Mitchum, Ladd and Mc Crea. Worth watching but a bit ankward.

I was surprised to see no comments on this movie, which has certainly been on TV fairly recently (at least in the UK). I also saw it in the cinema in the UK when it first came out. It is in many ways a typical Western of the early sixties, starring actors straight out of contemporary TV series, who looks as if they belong to a Beach Party movie rather than the real Wild West! This film is also famous for starring a string of children of more famous stars. It begins at a good pace, with Gary Conway arriving in town, having an extensive fist fight, and meeting Jody McCrea. After that it becomes increasingly boring & pedestrian, and I couldn't give away the ending, because I don't really remember it! So my advice is, make sure you watch the beginning, but don't bother too much if you miss the end!

I suppose just for the marquee value of the names of Mitchum, McCrea, and Ladd Young Guns Of Texas cast them in the leads. But it's not the people with those names you're familiar with. Young Guns Of Texas stars James Mitchum, Alana Ladd, and Jody McCrea and is set in post Civil War Texas where some former Confederates have robbed a payroll. What would have been an act of war now makes them outlaws.

Mitchum and McCrea team up with Gary Conway who is another young gun looking for the payroll. But Mitchum mixes some pleasure in it when he also runs off with Alana Ladd daughter of the local rancher Robert Lowery who really doesn't like Mitchum. He sics his foreman on Mitchum, but Mitchum kills him. Now Lowery gets a posse going after the young guns.

McCrea is the son of the local preacher Chill Wills who married the couple and Wills joins them.

Did I forget to mention that the payroll robbers, the young guns, and the posse are all riding into Apache territory? Some honeymoon Mitchum and Ladd are going to have.

No credit was reflected on those great movie names by their kids appearing in this western. Yes it's as dumb as I've described it.

Routine Western gains warmth from moving pursuits , Indian attacks , a discreetly elegiac tone and gently ironical humour thanks to Chill Wills who really steals the show . Twentieth Century Fox production with usual elements, such as noisy action , thrills, crossfire , drama, romance and some spectacular action scenes . Dealing with a cowboy called Tyler Duane (Gary Conway) searching for a stolen army payroll is joined by five others (James Mitchum , Alana Ladd , Barbara Mansell, Jody McCrea and Chill Wills) in order to retrieve a robbed loot and to receive the reward money . Concerning a merciless manhunt in which one of the pursuers called Morgan Coe (James Mitchum) , after killing a ranch foreman , elopes with the ranchers' daughter . Then a revengeful rancher is it out to kill one of the pursuers : Morgan Coe . Enraged at the death of his foreman and convinced that his daughter Lily Glendenning (Alana Ladd) was abducted , a land baron named Jesse Glendenning (Robert Lowery) leads a posse after his daughter . Thing go wrong when Indians Mescaleros suddenly attack . Blazing a New Trail of Courage!

Simple and plain Western paced in fits and starts about various young gunmen and two women who throughout dangerous ways are chased by the violent Mescaleros and pursued by the rancher's avengeful posse and being forced to side with his daughter's new husband and his friends . The first half is efficient but slow and predictable , at the intermediate period happens the relentless pursuit and in the end occurs the Indian assault . The picture contains frantic action , savage Indian hunting , breathtaking attacks and at the final a life and death battle ensues . The picture benefits itself of a good main and support cast formed by sons of notorious actors , such as : Jody McCrea/Joel McCrea , James Mitchum/Robert Mitchum and Alana Ladd/Alan Ladd , its is the real gimmick of the movie . Along the way is developed a love triangle in which implicates James Mitchum and Alana Ladd who is also in love with Gary Conway .

It is a regular , but acceptable and passable Western , that packs a colorful cinematography by John M. Nickolaus Jr . Being shot on location in Sonoran Desert , Arizona , Tucson, Sierrita Mountains , Santa Rita Mountains, Santa Catalina Mountains , Arizona, and Big Bend National Park , Texas . It displays an atmospheric musical score by Paul Sawtell and catching songs by Kenny Miller . The motion picture written by Harry Spalding , being produced in short-budget and middlingly directed by Maury Dexter . He was a prolific a director who worked hardly until finishing in shooting TV series . A clerical job at Robert L. Lippert's Regal Films eventually led to producing and directing gigs at that independent production company. He was head of production of Regal Films, a division of Lippert Pictures where many of the movies were shot in seven days on $100,000 budgets . He spent in Regal Films long time , making quickies for the low-budgeted financer Robert Lippert , his favorite producer . He directed over 20 features there, at American International Pictures and abroad before he became, for the first time in his career, an assistant director . Dexter directed all kinds of genres action , Youthful movies , thrillers , Adventures , Sci-Fi , Film Noir , Wartime , and Westerns such as : The Mini-Skirt Mob , Maryjane , Wild on the Beach , The Naked Brigade , Raiders from Beneath the Sea , Surf Party , The Young Swingers , Harbor Lights , Police Nurse , House of the Damned , The Day Mars Invaded Earth , The Firebrand , Air Patrol , Womanhunt , The Purple Hills , The High Powered Rifle , Django condemned , among others . At the end his days Dexter working mostly for Michael Landon on his TV series Little house on the prairie (1974) and Highway to Heaven (1984). Landon's 1991 death prompted Dexter to retire. Rating : 5.5/10 .