Les ranchers du Wyoming

This western uses plot #5 out of the usual 5 or 6 plots in practically every film of the genre. And because of this, it's not exactly a must-see film--even if there is an appearance by President Chester Arthur a couple times during the film.

So what is plot #5? It's the big boss who insists on keeping the range free for cattle--even if this means pitting ranchers and sheep herders and practically everyone against each other. What makes this a bit difference is that one of the cattle men (Robert Taylor) is actually set up by another cattle men--mostly because Taylor thinks everyone CAN peacefully coexist. The bottom line is that the entire film seems very, very , very familiar. The acting isn't bad but the overall effort is imminently skip-worthy.

Oh, and the guy who played Arthur really looked very little like the real Chester Arthur.

Robert Taylor, Robert Middleton, Richard Devon, William Windom, and Ray Teal are just some of the actors who quite obviously had some say in the roles and films they were in during this period, and picked an action Western with actual credible motivation in the characters. This old fashioned "my kind of range will be corrupted if we allow..." is something that might not be recognized by people in the information age of computers, but it's something quite obvious for people in the nineteenth century, whose information came from telegraphs and newspapers and rumors and what they saw first hand. The fears of losing livelihood was quite real. The unusual part of this film is how the characters aren't treated as stereotypes, aside from the sadistic one played by Devon. They have credible motivations, and the one unmotivated sadist is par for a realistic course in human events. The somewhat sadistic character played by Middleton pairs up with Devon to form an evil alliance. In comparison to the evil alliance of Shane's Stark and Wilson, this one doesn't come out nearly as well. Stark and Wilson made one of the most credible evil alliances in Western film history. This one is in the next tier. The brother character played by Windom is a pivotal one, as are many others. It is the supporting characters that make a film great, and this one has great supporting characters.

Cattle King was the last film that Robert Taylor made under the MGM banner. He set a record unlikely to be broken of having the longest studio contract in the history of film. When he left MGM officially in 1959 he had an option for two more films. Cattle King was the last of those films.

This was hardly the grand send off MGM gave him, but it's an entertaining B western. It played the bottom half of double features in 1963. Taylor had been off the screen for three years doing his The Detectives Television series. He no longer had the box office clout he once had.

The plot involves Taylor, a Wyoming cattle rancher pitted against a big time operator played by Robert Middleton who wants to have a National Cattle Trail which means unfenced open country. Middleton wants to bring cattle from Texas, more than the range will support, make a quick profit and leave. Plot is very similar to Kirk Douglas's Man Without a Star. Middleton's hired a gunman played by Richard Devon.

Middleton is also using William Windom against Taylor. Taylor is wooing Windom's sister played by Joan Caulfield.

What makes this western a bit unusual is that in addition to settling things in the traditional western way, Taylor and Middleton are busy lobbying the President of the United States who's in Wyoming for a visit.

In fact that part of the story is true. President Chester A. Arthur made a publicized trip to the Yellowstone National Park, the first visit by a sitting president to the western territories. Probably the only time Chet Arthur was ever portrayed on screen and here he's played by Larry Gates.

The cast is made up of people who've done westerns before and a veteran director in Tay Garnett. He got the film done on location in less than two weeks. Good if you have seasoned players who know exactly what to do.

I would also point out that Robert Loggia played Taylor's Mexican ranch hand and turned in a memorable performance right at the start of his distinguished career.

Nice B western with a plot centered around a little known true story of the west.

"Cattle King" is the last film Robert Taylor made under his MGM contract. His full-time contract had ended in 1959 but he agreed to do three more pictures. "Cattle King" is the third. Mr. Taylor plays a large scale cattle rancher whose living is being threatened by a Texas cartel who want to build a cattle highway from Texas to Canada. This would bring thousands of undesirable cattle to Mr. Taylor's Wyoming home. It's a nice twist on the old cattle ranchers vs. sheep herders story. Instead of wanting to leave the range free for cattle to roam, Sam Brassfield (Mr. Taylor) wants to fence in land for the controlled breeding of high quality bovines. The only sheep herder in the picture ends up siding with Brassfield. The cinematography is outstanding with a palette that brings out the beauty of the area near Yellowstone Park. There are numerous scenes of groups of people riding which must have looked wonderful on the big screen.

The acting is done by seasoned professionals like Robert Middleton, Ray Teal and William Windom and a newcomer, Robert Loggia. They are all excellent. As usual in westerns, Joan Caulfield as the love interest for Sam isn't given enough to do. President Chester A. Arthur (Larry Gates) plays a pivotal role. In many ways Robert Taylor's colleagues at MGM made this a warm farewell. The name Robert Taylor fills the screen from top to bottom in the credits. He is photographed lovingly with numerous close-ups. There's a wonderful scene where Mr. Taylor stands proudly, legs apart in the western stance facing his enemy when the camera slides into a screen filling close-up. Robert Taylor was very good at playing characters who were larger than life, people who made a difference without losing their integrity. There's even a bit of humor as he spends a fair amount of time fussing with his various ties. "Cattle King" is a solid, well-acted, beautifully photographed western.

Well-armed backers of an interstate cattle trail running from Texas to the Canadian border run into resistance from Wyoming rancher Sam Brassfield (Robert Taylor) who has accepted and adapted to the reality that what was once an open range has now (1880's) become increasingly fenced off. His fences are blocking the plan for the cattle super-highway, the main backer of which is burly Clay Matthews (Robert Middleton) and his hired Texas gunman Vince Bodine (Richard Devon) who leads a ruthless band out to bring to reality the cattle trail by killing and scaring off any potential resistors. Matthews uses alcoholic rancher Harry Travers (William Windom) to spread rumors that Brassfield is the one cutting everyone's barbed wire fences in order to become the cattle king of the Wyoming range. Windom's part isn't half bad as the weak brother of the woman Brassfield becomes engaged to (Joan Caulfield). The whole idea of the cattle trail is interestingly brought out when the then President of the United States Chester Arthur (Larry Gates) visits Wyoming and finds out for himself that the rules of the range have changed for good. The film stumbles along at times, but for an early to mid 60's western it has some tough moments.