À l'Ouest du Montana

Retired lawman Will Lane (Buddy Ebsen) promised his dead friend to look after his irresponsible son Lee Carey (Keir Dullea). He is given the deed until he deems Lee responsible enough to take over... if ever. He has an idea from the mail order catalog. Annie Boley (Lois Nettleton) is a widow with a young son. Jace (Warren Oates) is a crooked ranch hand.

This is a situational comedy western. Times change. I don't find much of this that funny. Mostly, I don't like Lee for a comedy. He has too much anger and Keir has a coldness about him. Luckily, I don't need him for laughs in 2001. He probably would be fine if this wasn't a comedy. On the other hand, Buddy Ebsen has proven his comedy creds.

Old fashioned western comedy with an interesting cast. Keir "2001" Dullea plays a wild young man and Buddy "Barnaby Jones" Ebsen plays a friend of his dead father who should learn him how to behave. Warren Oates and a very young William Smith play his bad friends.

This movie was on TCM so I tried it out. Its the story of Will Lane, an older man who travels to Montana to seek Lee Carey, the son of an old friend. The reason Lane does this is to try to make Carey into a responsible man, apparently a promise he made to Carey's deceased father. Carey turns out to be fond of drinking, women and gambling, so in order for Lane to calm him down he travels to find him a mail order bride. From there, we'll see whether Carey is tamed. This is a basic western, with drama and light comedy. Buddy Ebsen as Lane is fine, and the film is easy to watch. Its nothing special but I still didn't mind it. I'm not particularly fond of Westerns, and this does not rank anywhere near John Wayne's best but its not bad. I was never a big fan of Mr. Ebsen's TV work, but this is a decent film. A curious bit of casting is Jimmy Mathers, Jerry's brother, as the bride's son. He is in a very small role but it was interesting anyway (I didn't know he had a brother). So, if you like westerns or are just looking to pass the time, I think its watchable. Go ahead, its worth it.

Many movies deserve their obscurity, and none more than this formula Western. Direction, editing, writing-- all are uninspired, especially the occasional attempts at humor.

But the casting is atrocious. Desperately bad. So clean-cut he almost squeaks, Keir Dullea is at no point convincing as a gambling, carousing womanizer. Buddy Ebsen adds nothing new-not one glance, not one inflection-- to the tiresomely familiar role of the wise, slow-spoken, solitary old-timer.

In the eponymous role, Lois Nettleton stares soulfully toward Ebsen, Dullea, or the near distance. That's about it. Refreshing though it is to see a rather plain actress as a star, she finds no way to redeem-with humor, with spirit-- a woman who has almost no curiosity about her sight-unseen future mate and his home. In fact, objectively, her non-reaction is almost criminally irresponsible for a widow with a child.

Minor, but fast-paced, innocuous western lark from director and writer Burt Kennedy, adapting a short story by Van Cort. Rural newlyweds--a hot-tempered rebel and a widow with a young son--forced together into matrimony, but attempting to make the union work if only to spite the town's naysayers. Buddy Ebsen's role as a potential troublemaker isn't well-defined (he keeps popping in and out of scenes without any character motivation); however, Keir Dullea and Lois Nettleton fare better as the married twosome, and Jimmy Mathers (brother of Jerry) is a cute youngster. Nettleton in particular looks very much at home in these rugged settings; she's a warm, reassuring presence on the screen, like a younger version of Deborah Kerr. Not bad! The scenery is attractive and the pacing is lively, though perhaps a bit more action or excitement in the narrative might've helped. **1/2 from ****