Sans foi ni loi

I just saw this on an Encore channel. The other reviews here are nice and useful. I want to make a few points.

I was hoping for a good Western. The early parts gave hope, and there were many well written lines.

The second half disappointed me with the implausible tactics against the Indians, and other implausible situations. One good example is when the hero and a few stragglers are left without guns and horses in the wastelands, and are surrounded by Indians. Their solution: create a barn fire and surround the fire with the dead white bodies. Thinking they are live whites, the Indians rush to the fire and shoot the dead bodies with arrows. Meanwhile the few live whites happened to be situated where they can jump down on and overpower (silently!) the few Indians guarding the Indian horses. The whites flee on some Indian horses and stampede away the other horses!

Everyone in the other reviews seems to be wondering why Fuller never reached anywhere near the top of his acting profession. To me it is very clear: his face and personality seemed very bland, ordinary. During the movie, it was not so easy to distinguish him from some other actors.

It's the closing days of the Civil War, and the army is mopping up the situation out west.. Among the matters to be cleared up is a million dollars in missing gold. They have cut a deal with one of the robbers: freedom in return for helping to return it. Robert Fuller gets the assignment of leading the troops out to dig it up. There are just two problems: the first is that it's buried on Indian territory, from which the army is barred. The other is the guy leading them there is Dan Duryea at his smarmiest.

Over at Paramount they were producing geezer westerns, with stars who had been popular when sound came in and were now cheap. Universal was trying to promote its TV western leads onto the big screen, and Fuller had been doing a good job for the company on Wagon Train and Laramie. He's young, he's attractive, his character is clever, but Duryea steals everything in sight, including, it looks like, gorgeous Jocelyn Lane. What is she doing on an army expedition into Indian territory? Shut up, he explained.

With Claude Akins, Paul Fix, Noah Beery Jr, and Denver Pyle.

Incident at Phantom Hill was released in 1966 as the western fad was fading- more's the pity as it's a cracking good western film. A great cast of western stalwarts lead by Robert Fuller from TV's Laramie as the hero and Dan Dureya as the ultimate villain. Any film featuring Dureya has class and here he chews up the scenery. Also along, the beautiful Joycelyn Lane and western heavies Claude Akins and Noah Beery jr. The plot involving a search for a lost horde of gold in remote Indian country moves along at a good pace.Directed by old hand Earl Bellamy , we are treated to some great location work and excellent character studies.I wish that all the actors had more time to display their talents but really it's a three way show with Fuller, Dureya and Lane to the fore.However Tom Simcox manages to register well as a survivor of the opening massacre of union soldiers . Dureya leads the confederacy on this attack and he has plans for this gold, just for himself. It is surprising that Fuller did not get more movie leading roles, he should have as he is the classic western hero.This film with it's excellent colour photography merits a DVD release and it has just received one in France, of course it's Pal but there is an English track. About time it was released in USA and U.K.

Incident at Phantom Hill stars one of my favourite western heroes, namely Robert Fuller of Laramie ( my favourite TV western) and he is here, gravelly voice and all, on a mission to retrieve a shipment of gold that an ex-confederate officer Barlow ( excellently played by Duryea) stashed in the staked plains after stealing it from the union. Along for the ride, there's an assortment of characters, and they are put under trial throughout the 85 mins with Comanches, greedy men and Dan Duryea. This is an underrated western adventure that has excellent performances, great suspense and the staked plains location adds to the tension. Not a boring moment. Jocelyn Lane is a hottie. I am surprised that Mr Fuller didn't make more western movies, he is tailor made for the western hero and fights quite athletically ( well he was a stuntman)

What a picture!!! A low budget that apart Dan Duryea were almost totally made by unknown actors, the premise are really interesting, nearly shot on location with a breathtaking landscape on the desert and rocky hillsides, the plot has many holes indeed, however it was slowly mitigated on the movie, a one million gold has been transported by a convoy in charge a unit of the Union Army thru the Comanche desert, it was attacked by the Confederates at threshold of the end the civil war, the gold simply disappears without a trace, just one had survived, a confederate soldier Barlow, the Captain Matt Martin (Fuller) has a hard assignment to find out the gold with a help of a killer Joe Barlow (Dan Duryea) in exchange a pardon of the his previous crime, then enter at scene a beauty women, Memphis (Jocelyn Lane) joint on the group, in the casting has many attractive actors as Claude Akins, Linden Chiles and Noah Beery Jr., also a versatile director Earl Bellamy, even a Duryea making an overacted acting on a disgusting scoundrel, this B-movie is solid and fully enjoyable!!!

Resume:

First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD-R / Rating: 7.25