A very bright young lawyer with a very quick temper travels to Mission, a small Texas border town to even the score for the murder of his father, a secret service operator, at the hands of g... Read allA very bright young lawyer with a very quick temper travels to Mission, a small Texas border town to even the score for the murder of his father, a secret service operator, at the hands of gun runners.A very bright young lawyer with a very quick temper travels to Mission, a small Texas border town to even the score for the murder of his father, a secret service operator, at the hands of gun runners.
- Tohna
- (as Marty Cariosa)
- Barfly
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
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Compelling tale of a secret service drifter hired by government authority to protect townspeople from revenge-seeking outlaws and avoid arms contraband . This classic western is plenty of suspense as the dreaded final showdown approaches and the protagonist realizes he must stand alone against impossible odds as the sheriffs are shot , as his fellow town people for help , nobody is willing to help him ; meanwhile he attempts to clear the killing his father who was wrongfully murdered . This is a tremendously exciting story of a sheriff-for-hire who had only one more killing to go. It begins as a slow-moving Western but follows to surprise us with dark characters and acceptable plot. This short runtime tale is almost ordinary , a pacifier comes to a town just in time to make sure its citizenry but later the events get worse . Although made in low budget by the producer Charles B Fitzsimons , who financed Batman TV series, is a quite efficient film and entertaining . The highlights are the showdown at Saloon and the climatic gun-play at the ending. Phenomenal and great role for Scott Brady as avenger angel and impulsive gunfighter, he's the whole show. Vivid and lively musical score with wonderful songs and spectacular dancing by Anne Bancroft . Atmospheric and colorful cinematography in Technicolor , though is necessary a remastering.
This quickie is middling directed by Allan Dwan , a craftsman working from the silent cinema . Dwan directed over 1400 films, including one-reels, between his arrival in the industry (circa 1909) and his final film in 1961. Among them some good Western as ¨ Restless breed, The rivers edge,Cattle Queen of Montana,and Montana Belle¨ , being ¨Silver Lode¨ is his unqualified masterpiece. Watchable results for this offbeat Western.
An attorney and a marshal are baffled as to how a marshal was killed in a border town densely populated by bandits. The attorney whose father it was vows revenge.
He repays the kindness of a missionary by sexually assaulting his adopted daughter.
What looks like Epstein from "Welcome Back Kotter" is the town sneak who peeps through windows but is too cowardly to shoot, but this potentially interesting subplot is not really developed.
The attorney wins through a clumsy and obvious subterfuge.
1865 and Mitch Baker travels to Mission in Texas to find out who murdered his father who was working for the Secret Service. His father was investigating the operations of "Newton's Raiders", a gang of gun runners fronted by Ed Newton (Davis) who are supplying arms to Emperor Maximillian in Mexico. Mitch has no intention of upholding the law, he has only one thing on his mind; revenge!
"Yer a wild eyed hooligan looking for a cheap revenge, not to satisfy the ghost of your father, but your own hurt - warped - disturbed ego".
Another of Allan Dwan's vastly under valued Westerns, it's also the last of his genre offerings. Production value is not high end, the Pathe Color is poor, the sets sometimes wobble and it features one of the most frustratingly awful music compositions laid down for a 1957 Oater, but Dwan could quite often craft a silk purse out of a sow's ear. So it be the case here.
The Haunted Room.
It's a standard revenge tale at its core as angry young Mitch Baker arrives in town and promptly sets about dismantling all the scumbags who cross his path. He's quick on the draw, he bristles with machismo and he's catching the eye of the ladies. Giving this simplest of formula extra weight is a religious angle, and no it's not eye rollingly preachy. Mitch finds lodgings with Reverend Simmons (Williams great) and his adopted brood of half-breed children, the eldest of which is a sexually awakened Angelita (Bancroft).
Mitch is quickly seen as some sort of Religio Revenger, the younger members of the Simmons gathering thinking he's an Archangel. Thus Mitch, his revenge fuelled objective at the forefront of his mind, finds a number of other emotions battling to take control of his soul. The arrival of Marshal Evans (Flippen under used but a welcome and telling addition late in the play) cranks up the story considerably and Dwan builds it skillfully in readiness for the big showdown, where we are not sure exactly how it will pan out.
Along the way there's plenty of action, with Dwan not concerned with over-kill sequences, plenty of sexual tension, and there's devilish nods towards the perils of temptation. No masterpiece here, but for Western lovers this has so much to recommend. Sadly it's under seen and the only existing print available doesn't do it any favours. 7/10
Did you know
- Quotes
Angelita: Where do you come from? Where did you learn how to use a
[gun]
Angelita: ?
Mitch Baker: Now there you go, just like a woman, askin' questions.
- Crazy creditsOpening credits prologue: A LEGEND OF THE EARLY WEST . . .
- SoundtracksThe Restless Breed
Lyrics by Dickson Hughes (as Dick Hughes) and Richard Stapley (as Richard Stapley), music by Edward L. Alperson Jr.
Details
- Runtime
- 1h 26m(86 min)
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1