La diligence partira à l'aube

AC Lyle' productions did not provide only masterpieces, far from that. There were some better than others though, and this one belongs to the top of the basket, as we say in France. Good, sensitive character study, with Scott Brady in an interesting role, I would say ambivalent, in this role of a hired gun, a very tired gunman searching some extra dol to help his blind daughter. It is a rather good Lyles productions western, I repeat, rather downbeat but in the same time in search for some unlikely hope. Director Bill Claxton was not particularely known for his ambition, and this one may sound slightly better than usual. Good little western gem; don't get scared by this AC Lyles' stuff better than usual.

I saw this film quite a few years back on one of the cable movie channels, and thought of it because I saw another film recently that also starred Barry Sullivan, The Gangster. In this film, Sullivan was trying to get some reward money for a prisoner.

I looked the film up at a film reference website, and saw that this type of film was a dime-a-dozen when it came out in 1964...I guess that's why I can't remember much else about it...

The last gasp of the theatrically released B western was in the Sixties and the last theaters showing double bills probably had some feature like Stage To Thunder Rock on the bottom of the bill. A.C. Lyles made many of these films, some of the best of them. This isn't one of them though.

Sheriff Barry Sullivan has the task to bring in some outlaws, the catch is that the outlaw father Keenan Wynn took Sullivan in as a lad and raised him as a foster son. At the beginning though Sullivan shoots one son and apprehends the other Ralph Taeger. You know Wynn will be gunning for Sullivan and trying to free his boy.

At the same time bounty hunter Scott Brady needing money for his blind daughter Suzanne Cupito leaves her with her mother Wanda Hendrix and at the behest of city fathers Allan Jones and Robert Strauss goes after a bounty on Taeger and Wynn. And if Sullivan gets in the way too bad because they're not crazy about him either.

And still a third family mother Anne Seymour, father Lon Chaney, Jr., and daughters Marilyn Maxwell and Laurel Goodwin who run the station on the Thunder Rock line are having to pull up stakes, they owe some back taxes. Maxwell's home for a visit, but she's led a sordid life. Goodwin wants to lead any kind of life away from her parents. Chaney is henpecked and Seymour just wants the money to save the home.

A whole lot of these folks meet up at the stageline station and a lot gets thrashed out. Sad to say you do lose quite a bit of interest in how this all turns out. And in fact the climax showdown between Sullivan and Wynn is poorly, almost routinely staged.

And needless to say this whole cast as seen better days.

Just don't make 'em any more. Will be appreciated more as time passes, these low budget classics will be really loved a hundred years from now. Well written and acted, authentic 'Western' feel and dealing with timeless issues.

In the 1960s, producer A.C. Lyles made a long string of low-budget westerns featuring stars well past their peak. Because these folks and the supporting actors were so old, the films were sometimes a bit silly and I've heard a couple folks (including me) referring to them as 'Geezer westerns'. Compared to many of his film, "Stage to Thunder Rock" isn't all that old--as the leading man (Barry Sullivan) is only 52--making him practically a teenager in A.C. Lyles' world! As for the rest of the cast, several Lyles veterans appear in this one including Lon Chaney Junior (who is in just about every Lyles film from the 60s), John Agar, Robert Strauss, Allan Jones, Scott Brady, Marilyn Maxwell and Keenan Wynn--all folks were had seen better days in their careers. The average age of these folks...probably about 55 or more! Despite the budget and advanced ages, however, most of these Lyles films are better than you'd expect. Would "Stage to Thunder Rock" also manage to be a decent film?

Sullivan plays an aging (what else?) sheriff whose final job involves bringing two robbers to justice. The catch--their father raised Sullivan (which is funny considering that Keenan Wynn played the father and he was about Sullivan's age). Along the way, he meets up with two different groups of folks who want to take his prisoner and collect the reward--maybe even if it involves killing the sheriff. For the most part, this is a very slow and meandering plot--one that seldom is involving or very interesting. The best of the characters is probably the one played by Chaney--the rest seem a bit more like caricatures than real people (such as Maxwell who plays the clichéd prostitute who wants to reform). All in all, not a terrible movie but certainly among Lyles' least successful westerns.

By the way, Mr. and Mrs. Swope's daughter, Sandy, was played by Morgan Brittany--and it's interesting to see this very pretty lady when she was just a kid.