A flawless blend of film noir and western, Station West serves up an entertaining tale. The plot itself is fairly mundane but the style in which it is told, employing crackling dialogue and a catchy title tune that runs throughout, allows it to stand out from the standard programmer fare. The film's best attribute is the terrific cast that is chock full of familiar noir faces. While credited with a 97 minute run time on IMDB Station West runs closer to 79 minutes as it was recut for rerelease in the late fifties; unfortunately this is the only version that exists today. As it stands the film is lean and tight with a few editing blips and some abbreviated performances likely the result of the snipping.
A stranger going by the mysterious name Haven (Dick Powell) arrives in a post-Civil War mining town and immediately begins antagonizing everyone except sexy saloon dame Charlie (Jane Greer) whom he begins to romance. Soon it is revealed Haven is actually an undercover army intelligence officer tasked with finding out who murdered two Union soldiers. In the course of his sleuthing he discovers Charlie runs the town and her goons are up to some nefarious activities including plotting to steal a cache of gold from the nearby army post and, ultimately, the killing of the soldiers. While unraveling the yarn Haven has a quip for every occasion and is determined to investigate his own way which puts him at odds with everyone.
Dick Powell is fantastic as Haven, flawlessly delivering noir dialogue and looking like an expert on a horse. For my money he is the best film noir hero that ever existed: dogged, determined, laconic, and equally adept at both slugging bad guys and romancing ladies. He is matched by Jane Greer, fresh off her triumph in the noir classic Out of the Past. While clearly up to no good as the queen bee of the town Charlie is basically decent; she needs to project a hard exterior to survive in a man's world.
The supporting cast is a veritable who's who of 1940's noir cinema. Agnes Moorehead unfortunately isn't given much to do (probably lost some of her footage in the rerelease cut) and is one-dimensionally good (another disappointment) as the mine owner from which the gold comes from. Steve Brodie appears to be another victim of the tighter editing; his role as Haven's contact man amounts to a bit. A third genre regular who is underutilized is the great Regis Toomey as an undercover agent posing as a shotgun rider; his scenes with Powell are among the best and lead one to believe they could've costarred in a superior detective yarn. Two guys cast against type are Raymond Burr and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams. Burr is a sniveling, milquetoast lawyer batted back and forth between Haven and Charlie like an unloved beach ball; he's a coward looking for a way out but fatally ensnared in the noir web. Big Boy is the malevolent enforcer for Charlie; forever squinting and saying precious little while intimidating everyone through silence. His brawl with Powell is a highlight although it strains credulity that Big Boy couldn't easily dispatch him. The one actor who initially seems out of place is the unbilled Burl Ives as the laconic hotel keeper warbling endless variations of the theme tune; Ives is one of the best parts of the story and neatly binds the film together with his ditty.
Station West stands out by doing a superb job marrying the film noir and western genres together. There is some beautiful western scenery and plenty of dusty, sun-soaked action along with the noir trope of dirty dealings at night. The dialogue is slick and could exist in 1948 LA or 1870 Tombstone. Most importantly star Dick Powell looks like he was born in the saddle while able to deliver terse noir dialogue like a champ. This film should appeal to fans of both genres in classic Hollywood cinema.
A stranger going by the mysterious name Haven (Dick Powell) arrives in a post-Civil War mining town and immediately begins antagonizing everyone except sexy saloon dame Charlie (Jane Greer) whom he begins to romance. Soon it is revealed Haven is actually an undercover army intelligence officer tasked with finding out who murdered two Union soldiers. In the course of his sleuthing he discovers Charlie runs the town and her goons are up to some nefarious activities including plotting to steal a cache of gold from the nearby army post and, ultimately, the killing of the soldiers. While unraveling the yarn Haven has a quip for every occasion and is determined to investigate his own way which puts him at odds with everyone.
Dick Powell is fantastic as Haven, flawlessly delivering noir dialogue and looking like an expert on a horse. For my money he is the best film noir hero that ever existed: dogged, determined, laconic, and equally adept at both slugging bad guys and romancing ladies. He is matched by Jane Greer, fresh off her triumph in the noir classic Out of the Past. While clearly up to no good as the queen bee of the town Charlie is basically decent; she needs to project a hard exterior to survive in a man's world.
The supporting cast is a veritable who's who of 1940's noir cinema. Agnes Moorehead unfortunately isn't given much to do (probably lost some of her footage in the rerelease cut) and is one-dimensionally good (another disappointment) as the mine owner from which the gold comes from. Steve Brodie appears to be another victim of the tighter editing; his role as Haven's contact man amounts to a bit. A third genre regular who is underutilized is the great Regis Toomey as an undercover agent posing as a shotgun rider; his scenes with Powell are among the best and lead one to believe they could've costarred in a superior detective yarn. Two guys cast against type are Raymond Burr and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams. Burr is a sniveling, milquetoast lawyer batted back and forth between Haven and Charlie like an unloved beach ball; he's a coward looking for a way out but fatally ensnared in the noir web. Big Boy is the malevolent enforcer for Charlie; forever squinting and saying precious little while intimidating everyone through silence. His brawl with Powell is a highlight although it strains credulity that Big Boy couldn't easily dispatch him. The one actor who initially seems out of place is the unbilled Burl Ives as the laconic hotel keeper warbling endless variations of the theme tune; Ives is one of the best parts of the story and neatly binds the film together with his ditty.
Station West stands out by doing a superb job marrying the film noir and western genres together. There is some beautiful western scenery and plenty of dusty, sun-soaked action along with the noir trope of dirty dealings at night. The dialogue is slick and could exist in 1948 LA or 1870 Tombstone. Most importantly star Dick Powell looks like he was born in the saddle while able to deliver terse noir dialogue like a champ. This film should appeal to fans of both genres in classic Hollywood cinema.