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Although Orson Welles is prominently featured on the VHS box cover, Forrest Tucker and Margaret Lockwood are the leads here, together again after LAUGHING ANNE. Republic leading man Tucker headlined several solid westerns and war films throughout the 1950's, but this is far from his best. Definitely a poor man's THE QUIET MAN, as noted earlier, this film pales in comparison, only competently directed by Herbert Wilcox and featuring very little action---the 'climactic' fight leaves a lot to be desired, and the story moves along at a snail's pace. Welles hams it up delightfully, but he's barely on screen for ten minutes.

Forgettable film; there's really not much going on here. Fans of THE QUIET MAN may be interested in this lesser work by the same author, but if you're looking for lots of comedy OR action, you'll be disappointed. To see Tucker and Lockwood in a more interesting film, check out LAUGHING ANNE (1954).

Forrest Tucker had numerous leading-man opportunities following his breakthrough role in SANDS OF IWO JIMA. This was his first and arguably best. As Reed Loomis, he is persuasive as he attempts to raise money for his railroad expansion but is a worthy man of action as well, great with a gun, his fists and, as he demonstrates in a memorable scene with Bruce Cabot, even a mop dipped in boiling soup (you have to see it). Adele Mara makes an appealing leading lady as always, Bruce Cabot is a sturdy villain, and there's great support from erstwhile Republic leading lady Adrian Booth and perennial sidekick Chill Wills.

As action-packed as just about any Republic western, with one of the studio's strongest overall casts. Fast-paced and well handled by Joseph Kane. Turns up frequently these days on Encore's Western Channel. Recommended.

I had no idea that men were wearing their hair long in 1949, or that a Texas Catholic family would still have enough southern pride to hang a confederate flag in the den, or that William Demarest still thought that stupid red wig was fooling people in 1975.

Inconsistencies and anachronisms aside, Max Baer's debut as director (he was screenwriter/producer/star only on MACON COUNTY LINE) is a fun little low-budget flick, a family melodrama with the same pacifist leanings he expressed in MACON COUNTY LINE.

Forrest Tucker is at his blustery best as a two-fisted Texas millionaire, a self-made man who began as a trucker but fought his way to the top, eventually owning his own trucking company and putting his name on everything in the county. Max Baer plays his employee and nemesis, for he is dating Tucker's teenage daughter.

Baer's hairstyle is the single most glaring anachronism. The odd mix of 1950s and 1970s fashions is straight out of middle-year HAPPY DAYS.

The best sequence is the terrific fight that closes the film, as Tucker and Baer duke it out in a long sequence that apparently the entire town has been expecting for quite some time!

The primary joy is the opportunity to watch a lot of old pros really put on a show: in addition to Tucker and Demarest, we get Vito Scotti, Harold J. Stone, Don Grady, Julie Adams, Billy Curtis and Mike Mazurki rounding out a great cast. Easy to watch and easy to forget. 6/10.