Représailles en Arizona

William Quantrell's raiders are cornered by Capt. Tom Andrews and Quantrell and a number of his men are killed. Two are captured whilst Montana Smith and the others escape to carry on their illegal operations. Clint Stewart and Willie Martin are the two captives, who much to their surprise, are spared a death sentence on account of Capt. Andrews vouching for them as soldiers of integrity and honour. Sentenced to 20 years hard labour, the guys are faced with an interesting proposition when Andrews offers to break them out so as they can join the Texas Rangers. The plan being for them to infiltrate the renegade Raiders and help to bring them down.

With few votes and even less reviews of substance written, one could be forgiven for thinking that Arizona Raiders is barely worth the time. Using elements of the Quantrell Raiders legacy and blending with the Texas Rangers plot lines, Arizona Raiders is not found wanting in the entertainment department. Directed by William Witney and starring Audie Murphy, Buster Crabbe (this film not to be confused with Crabbe's 1936 film, The Arizona Raiders) and Michael Dante, it's a film that has a number of notable issues within its plot. It would have been easy to just have it as a straight forward tale about bad guys turning good (something other reviewers claim it to be), but writers Frank Gruber and Richard Schayer add impetus to the good versus bad axis by cramming in other factors.

Murphy plays lead protagonist Clint Stewart, asked to basically switch sides and loyalties, his conflict is excellently portrayed by genre legend Murphy. His resolve is further tested by emotional pulls involving his brother and best friend, with Witney and his team seemingly happy to put Stewart through the mangler, with the result being a richly told character strand. Also into the equation comes the role of the Indians, so often seen as the nemesis and bad boys of the genre, here they get something slightly different as they become involved in this white man squabble. It's really rather refreshing the part they have to play. Though the score from Richard LaSalle is badly out of sorts, this is off set a touch by the visual treat on offer with the locale. Beautifully shot by Jacques R. Marquette, the Gold Canyon location is a sumptuous extra character, giving an added depth to the story unfolding. The story is nicely paced by Witney, who rightly gives us development of characters in the first half of the piece, while all the genre staples of shoot outs, villains and chases are nicely added to the already intriguing broth.

A little treasure as far as this viewer is concerned. So if you be a genre fan such as I? Well do catch this one if you get the chance. 7/10

When the Quantrell gang is almost destroyed, two of its members, Clint (Audie Murphy) and Willie Martin (Ben Cooper), are taken prisoner, but they later escape from prison thanks to a captain (Buster Crabbe) who assigns them a dangerous mission, to become Arizona Rangers and hunt down the murderous members of their former band. They are rumored to be hiding in a town "near the border", according to the words of a ballroom dancer. So our protagonists head off to pursue the thugs - Brady (Michael Dante) and Montana (George Keymas) - who are allegedly hiding on an Indian mission. After a massacre, there they find a beautiful young Indian woman (Gloria Talbott), but then things go wrong.

In the period when European westerns were in vogue, the sixties, with Sergio Leone as the main architect, this western film from th was released on screens with relative success . The film is full of whirlwinds of action, confrontations, emotions, fights, sustained energy and, often, praiseworthy results. The feature film has a raw elegance and vigor, although some scenes are a failure. A tense but already seen plot allowed director William Witney to maintain scenes with pedigree and at their own gallop, as well as exciting and moving moments. The Indian attacks, the shootouts, the pyrotechnics, the duels, the horse chases, all of them are briefly spectacular due to the condition of being a low-budget film, that is why the film is another passable Hollywood product, but B-series. It contains some vigorous and cleverly done action scenes, but others do not make much sense. There's a surprising description about the Yaqui Indians that are described as somewhat wild natives who subject their enemies to cruel torture, such as the execution of the "Cactus." The film stars Audie Murphy, one of the most decorated American soldiers of World War II, who, after the conflict, turned to film actor, playing a soldier in the war in the movie "Return to Hell," as well as developing a brief career as a country musician. Here Murphy plays in his ordinary style a former follower of the well-known Quantrell who is escaped from prison with his friend Ben Cooper to become an agent of the Arizona Rangers in order to hunt down the remnants of the gang. He is accompanied by an aging Buster Crabbe, a former Olympic swimmer who in his youth successfully played three of the most popular comic book heroes of the 1930s: Tarzan (Tarzan of the Beasts), Flash Gordon (Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe) and Buck Rogers (Buck Rogers).

The film was professionally directed by William Witney, one of Tarantino's favorite filmmakers. In fact, he was the one who began choreographing the action scenes in Westerns, following the pattern used in Busby Berkeley's musicals. A prolific filmmaker, Witney was a craftsman who worked extensively for Republic Pictures, the studio where he worked for many years producing a series of low-budget Westerns, many of them starring singing cowboys like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. Witney spent his entire career making serials and second-rate films, such as 40 Guns at Apache Pass as well as Apache Rifles. After World War II, William Witney continued acting in western films such as Shadows of Tombstone, Heart of Rockies, Bells of Coronado, The Painted Stallion, The Lone Ranger, Home in Oklahoma, On the Old Spanish Trail, High Time in Nevada, Gay Ranchero, Helldorado, Rex Ryder, Eyes of Texas, among others. In addition, his work in television included some quite interesting episodes of successful series, such as: High Chaparral, Bonanza, Laramie, Zorro, The Virginian, Wagon Train and he continued working in film and was able to make passable mid-budget films such as Santa Fe Passage, The Bonnie Parker story, Robur and Escaped from Devil Island. Score: 5.5/10. An acceptable and slightly decent western, at times, that Audie Murphy fans will love.

A remake of 1951 The Texas Rangers, Arizona Raiders faithfully follows its general plot,however, there's some differences. The conflicted persona of the lead character, as played Audie Murphy, who is asked to choose sides between the rangers and heading over the border, is better played and distinctive. The other characters are finely etched too, such as George Keymas, who plays the outlaw like a maniac. Sure there is that narration in the opening, and the fact Quantrill never travelled to Arizona, but it's not meant to be historically accurate ( which western is?), but it's a rousing, fast-paced western that marries the B-western with the elements that you would find in paella westerns. I.e. a little more blood, the cactus used as torture. There's an air of comic book style going on, especially with the action and the Native Americans fleeting in and carrying away the bad guys like wreaths. The cinematography and location is really eye catching. Buster Crabbe and Ben Cooper adds to the fun. This is a fun and an exciting western that I first saw on UK Television ( channel 4)in 1991 and i was really looking forward to watch it. I was corresponding with western writer J.T Edson, who based his character Dusty Fog on Audie, at the time, and he was looking forward in watching it, too

Despite an unnecessary prologue in which we are treated to a history of the life and career of William Quantrill, Arizona Raiders concerns us with the efforts of former Quantrill members Audie Murphy and Ben Cooper to capture a large band of former Quantrill men led by Michael Dante and George Keymas who are now operating in Arizona.

The man who captured Murphy and Cooper is Buster Crabbe former Army captain and now in charge of the new Arizona Rangers. He's offering Murphy and Cooper a Dirty Dozen like mission, get them and there will be a pardon awaiting. What Crabbe doesn't know is that Murphy is both one unreconstructed rebel and he's got a younger brother in the Rangers already played by Ray Stricklyn. That fact cuts several ways before the film is over.

Arizona Raiders is a decent enough western. Murphy was still going strong in doing these second feature B films. But it was certainly nothing you couldn't see on television where westerns ruled at that time on the small screen.

I saw this recently on cable and, admittedly, I'm a bit biased due to the fact that I have lived in Arizona for 33 years. Looks to me that special attention was paid to the scenery in this film and it's a terrific shoot-em-up. I also applaud the defensive use of cactus in this film, quite painful as I've experienced in person :)

Lots of great action and like a previous poster said, the Indians are on the side of the "good guys" this time out and are not the enemies. Looks like it was a great time while filming!

They've been showing it on cable recently and it's worth your time if you happen to stumble upon it.