L'Héritage de la colère

Jock Mahoney, TV's Range Rider, stars in this routine B-western involving gold, pretty gals and greed. Mahoney, who had also doubled for Charles Starrett in the Durango Kid movies, strikes an imposing figure in this routine oater.

Kim Hunter and the always reliable Gene Evans turn in decent performances as Jocko tracks down the heirs to a fortune in gold. The budget as well as the writing are barely adequate, but the cast makes the best of a familiar plot. Look also for the great Lon Chaney, Jr. in another post-Wolfman supporting role.

Recommended for B-western fans only .....

Some thieves want to take the gold of a humble prospector, as they arrive in his mine and one of them takes his life . But before dying the prospector arranges to scrabble his will and to murder two of his assailants and while the third flees. Later on, a detective bounty hunter Silver Hogan : Jock Mahoney , is assigned the mission to track down the legitimate heirs and to solve who is the murderer who killed the old prospector. Along the way, the famous gunfighter Silver Hogan joins forces a young man : Tim Hovey and meets a beautiful widow :Kim Hunter and her child.

Decent Western with intriguing premise to discover a real heir as well as the nasty killer who robbed a loot of gold. It is a mystery, intriguing Western with whodunit touches. It contains enjoyable performances from a decent main and support cast. However, too much conversation and too little action , at times, although fights, crossfire and suspense are nice. And at the end the subsequent plot twist in which truth comes out, including the killer's true identity. This is a suspenseful and twisted Westen in which Jock Mahoney playing a two-fisted detective looking for a killer with unexpected consequences. Not very known actor Jock Mahoney was an acceptable player who had a passable cinematic career. When WWII broke out, he drafted as a Marine fighter pilot and instructor. In Hollywood he was a noted stunt man, doubling for John Wayne, Errol Flynn and Gregory Peck. Gene Autry signed him for the lead in his 78-episode The Range Rider TV. He tested to replace Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan but lost out to Lex Barker. In 1960 he played the heavy in Tarzan the Magnificent with Gordon Scott and his part there led producer Sy Weintraub to hire him as Scott's replacement. Finally, he played the title role in Tarzan goes to India and Tarzan's 3 challenges, doing his own stunts. Eventually, he went on working in spite of dysentery, dengue fever and pneumonia. However, by this time producer Sy Weintraub was looking a younger Tarzan and envisioning a future TV star he found Ron Ely, then by mutual agreement , the contract between Jock Mahoney and Weintraub was dissolved. Here Jock Mahoney is well accompanied by good secondaries such as : Kim Hunter, Gene Evans, Lon Chaney Jr, Tom Drake Jeffrey Stone, William Campbell, Judi Emerich, William Campbell, among others .

It packs a colorful and brilliant cinematography by notorious cameraman Philip H. Lathrop. As well as atmospheric musical score by Herman Stein and Irving Gertz, Universal's regular. This motion picture was professionally directed by Richard Barlett. He was a Western expertise as TV as Cinema. As he directed a lot of westerns, such as : Two-gun lady, The lonesome trail, The silver star, Joe Dakota aso starred by Jock Mahoney, the sam as this Money, Women and Guns. Rating 6/10. Decent, but not notable oater that will appeal to Western enthusiasts.

The title itself just about sums up Hollywood film production. Kidding aside, this Western's got a number of nice touches, and with a more involved director (Bartlett) and dynamic lead (Mahoney), could have gelled into a genuine sleeper.

It's got an unusual mystery premise for a Western— detective Hogan has to figure out which beneficiary killed the wealthy old miner— as well as a cast of former A-players— Chaney, Drake, Evans, Gleason, and Terry. But especially, there's Kim Hunter who only a few years earlier picked up a heavyweight Oscar for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).

I suspect it's a better than the average B-production because of studio (Universal) backing. That backing leads to some scenic locations, fine color photography, and the supporting cast of familiar faces. Also, the unconventional script contains some nice ironies, along with a few surprises. In fact, calling this a pacifist Western may not be too much of a stretch.

Mahoney certainly looks the part of a Western hero, but unfortunately more or less walks through his part in a perfectly tailored outfit. Then too, director Bartlett does nothing to draw us further into the story-- as a result, we remain on the outside, looking in. Anyway, it remains a Western of fine visuals with an unusual storyline, despite the two central drawbacks.

A better than average western programmer with an excellent cast of character actor veterans, including Kim Hunter, Lon Chaney, William Campbell, James Gleason, Phillip Terry, and Don Megowan. Jock Mahoney gives a very natural performance as the lead character. The story and dialogue are also a step above for this type of film, as is the direction. If you think you have the plot figured out after the first 10 minutes of the film, well, keep watching. If you enjoy this type of B-movie western, with more brains than bullets, you'll have fun!

This was a fair western but Jock and Tim Hovey worked well together. He finally got his chance to show his stuff. Actually, my mom's favorite western was "Slim Carter" about a man changing his ways over a kid. Mr. Mahoney was in a lot of movies but for a long time you never saw his face, just his riding skill on a white horse. Eventually he was shown as a Texas Ranger chasing the Durango Kid over rooftops and finally jumping off a roof onto the white horse. Part of the time Jock was literally chasing himself. My favorite DK series was "Bandits of El Dorado". There were so many well known names..John Dehner,Fred Sears, Lewis, and of course...Clayton Moore, whose voice I recognized instantly as the future Lone Ranger. In the movie of this subject, Jock looked like a powerful man, large shoulders small waist, and could ride a horse like he was part of it. Thanks for letting me share.