Les Téméraires

In the tension-filled post-Civil War years, a former Confederate General-turned-Texas rancher is desperate for the Army and the railroad to lay their tracks south to help his economically-bedraggled state, aided and abetted in his mission by old friend 'Wild Bill' Hickok, a sympathetic 'Buffalo Bill' Cody, and a whip-wiedling, flame-haired Calamity Jane. Universal western mixes outdoor locations and backlot scenes with stock shots and a multitude of close-ups (which often don't match the long-shots), not unlike the popular television westerns of the era. Too-modern overall, with laughable scenes such as when Cody advises Jane to wear some makeup once in a while to attract men (she's already sporting more makeup--including lipstick and false eyelashes--than most saloon girls). Brian Keith has to play the lead as both goodhearted family man and guerrilla fighter on horseback, which is an intriguing combination that the filmmakers just fritter away. *1/2 from ****

I hope you'll not get bored with this predictable and over used scheme of cattle owners and drivers fighting against cattle rustlers and Indians. It is boring, without any surprise, and the second part ridiculous at the most possible, with real Old West characters such as William Buffalo Bill Cody, Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok. I don't know history that much, but I am not sure those characters met in real life, and all this mess spoils all the pleasure that I could take from this western. I know, there were plenty like this one, tons of them, but that's not a reason to make efforst to bear this. Directing is OK, from a TV episode maker, Brian Keith convincing but that's all. Robert Culp ridiculous as Wld Bill Hickock.

Holly-molly!!! I wouldn't write a review for this flop of a movie except that I noticed that 12 people actually rated this a 10. A 10! What caliber of people write these things?

I turned in on have way through (thank goodness I didn't waste any more time on it) took one look at the costuming and couldn't believe some director thought this depicted the old west. Oh my gosh, how bad can you get. There would be more realistic costumes at my daughter's 6th grade school play. Who ever made this movie should be so embarrassed. And shame on the actors who agreed to "act" in this turkey. I rated it as a 1 because I didn't see a 0 as an option. The only thing this this film did for me was give me the opportunity to rate this the lowest I have ever rated an movie. It's just so bad.

Ex-Confederate Texan Brian Keith and some fellow ranchers, fed up with the low prices offered by carpetbaggers, drive their cattle up north to sell to the Army. They encounter a sympathetic Buffalo Bill Cody (Robert Culp) and Calamity Jane (Judi Meredith) and obstacles.

It's a theatrical movie, but it's lit and has a score like a TV western: bright colors like a 1960s Louis Lamour paperback, and intrusive music that tells you precisely how you're supposed to feel at any moment. The script by Gene L. Coon is sympathetic to the Texans; Coon is, of course, best remembered as one of the producers of the Original STAR TREK, which was pitched as "WAGON TRAIN in space"; Coon also wrote several episodes of the Western series.

Keith mumbles a lot of his line. He did that a lot.

The Raiders was one of the last films you will see made taking what was standard historical interpretation at the time point of view that the Reconstruction period was when the sadistic and moneygrubbing carpetbag governments squeezed the last ounce of pride from the fallen Confederacy. The Civil Rights revolution put an end to all of that.

The Raiders starts out as a cut down version of The Texans or Red River with Brian Keith trying with his fellow cattlemen to get that big herd to Missouri. Only they have far less success than Randolph Scott or John Wayne in those other classics. Beaten and beat Keith and his comrades go to Fort Hays and see temporary commander Alfred Ryder and railroad man Addison Richard. They veto a southern route and Keith says no southern route, no railroad at all.

At this point the film switches to something like Cecil B. DeMille's The Plainsman where Robert Culp, James McMullan, and Judi Meredith play Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Calamity Jane Canary respectively. Culp takes the lead in trying to avoid some big trouble, but Keith is proud and angry and Ryder is a tin soldier martinet who carries a Texas Minie Ball in his leg from the late Civil War. In fact Ryder has the juiciest role in the film.

I'm guessing this was a pilot for a possible TV series that Culp, McMullan and Meredith would have starred in. The Civil Rights Revolution and changing attitudes would make this kind of film unacceptable. You rarely saw southern heroes after The Raiders came out.

As it is it's no different than a lot of what was on television because it was meant for television. It might worked in 1953 even, but not in the Sixties.