Bill Elliott (Tack Hamlin), Mary Ellen Kay (Lucy Taylor), Myron Healey (Brett), I. Stanford Jolley (Matt Taylor), Fuzzy Knight (Deputy Strummer), Henry Rowland (Winch), George Wallace (Brewer), Zon Murray (Bill), Richard Avonde (Artie), Michael Colgan (Jamison), Denver Pyle (Sperry), Robert Bray (Gene Smith), Al Haskell, Ed Cassidy, Stanley Price, Ray Jones (townsmen), John James (Jed Hamlin), Lee Roberts (Wells Fargo agent), Ted Mapes (Wells Fargo guard).
Director: LEWIS D. COLLINS. Original screenplay: Sid Theil. Photography: Ernest Miller. Film editor: Sam Fields. Music: Raoul Kraushaar. Art director: David Milton. Set continuity: Emilie Ehrlich. Set decorator: Thomas Offenbecker. Dialogue supervisor: Stanley Price. Special photographic effects: Ray Mercer. Assistant director: Melville Shyer. Sound recording engineer: Thomas Lambert. Producer: Vincent M. Fennelly. A Westwood Production for Allied Artists.
Copyright 18 October 1953 by Allied Artists, Monogram Pictures Corp. An Allied Artists production, released in the U.S.A. through Monogram Pictures: 15 November 1953. U.K. release through Associated British-Pathé: July 1955 (sic). Never theatrically released in Australia. 6,480 feet. 72 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: The town of Pinetop is terrorized both by a bandit gang and a group of ruthless vigilantes. The bandits are led by Brewer, the taking-the-law-into-their-own-hands vigilantes by Brett. What the rank-and-file vigilantes don't know is that their chief is actually in league with the bandits he is supposed to be hunting down.
COMMENT: Above average Bill Elliott western. There's plenty of action including a triple chase climax, and some of it is quite excitingly staged, especially the attempted lynching sequence with the camera dollying in front of the crowd, and the express office robbery with the camera drawing back from a coach departure table. However, the tight fist of producer Vincent Fennelly can be discerned in the scene where the jail break occurs off-camera and Fuzzy Knight rushes on, with one arm of his shirt a bit torn, and excitedly gives us the news. There is also a very obvious double with a bald patch yet (!) who takes over Elliott's chores in a fight scene.
Nonetheless, despite all these issues, the movie comes across well as a "B" action western. Acting is competent and Collins' direction a notch above his usual standard. The pace is fast and the dialogue quickly delivered, though the plot will not strain the prognosticating ability of a ten-year-old and much of the talk is concerned with needless explanations.
The sets are a bit drab, though the sheriff's cluttered office is an original touch. Some of the scenes are flatly lit but many of the night episodes have some photographic interest and the exteriors register well enough. The music is disappointingly nondescript, even under the rolling title with which the film commences. Film editing is smooth.
Altogether, the fans will find this one quite satisfying.
OTHER VIEWS: The story is not unfamiliar, but everything is on a slightly larger scale than usual, with signs that rather more trouble and care have been taken than in the customary "B" western. The action, of which there is a good deal, inclines towards violence, with cold-blooded killings, tough fist fights, lynch mobs, and any amount of gunfire. — Monthly Film Bulletin (quoted in an Allied Artists press release).
Director: LEWIS D. COLLINS. Original screenplay: Sid Theil. Photography: Ernest Miller. Film editor: Sam Fields. Music: Raoul Kraushaar. Art director: David Milton. Set continuity: Emilie Ehrlich. Set decorator: Thomas Offenbecker. Dialogue supervisor: Stanley Price. Special photographic effects: Ray Mercer. Assistant director: Melville Shyer. Sound recording engineer: Thomas Lambert. Producer: Vincent M. Fennelly. A Westwood Production for Allied Artists.
Copyright 18 October 1953 by Allied Artists, Monogram Pictures Corp. An Allied Artists production, released in the U.S.A. through Monogram Pictures: 15 November 1953. U.K. release through Associated British-Pathé: July 1955 (sic). Never theatrically released in Australia. 6,480 feet. 72 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: The town of Pinetop is terrorized both by a bandit gang and a group of ruthless vigilantes. The bandits are led by Brewer, the taking-the-law-into-their-own-hands vigilantes by Brett. What the rank-and-file vigilantes don't know is that their chief is actually in league with the bandits he is supposed to be hunting down.
COMMENT: Above average Bill Elliott western. There's plenty of action including a triple chase climax, and some of it is quite excitingly staged, especially the attempted lynching sequence with the camera dollying in front of the crowd, and the express office robbery with the camera drawing back from a coach departure table. However, the tight fist of producer Vincent Fennelly can be discerned in the scene where the jail break occurs off-camera and Fuzzy Knight rushes on, with one arm of his shirt a bit torn, and excitedly gives us the news. There is also a very obvious double with a bald patch yet (!) who takes over Elliott's chores in a fight scene.
Nonetheless, despite all these issues, the movie comes across well as a "B" action western. Acting is competent and Collins' direction a notch above his usual standard. The pace is fast and the dialogue quickly delivered, though the plot will not strain the prognosticating ability of a ten-year-old and much of the talk is concerned with needless explanations.
The sets are a bit drab, though the sheriff's cluttered office is an original touch. Some of the scenes are flatly lit but many of the night episodes have some photographic interest and the exteriors register well enough. The music is disappointingly nondescript, even under the rolling title with which the film commences. Film editing is smooth.
Altogether, the fans will find this one quite satisfying.
OTHER VIEWS: The story is not unfamiliar, but everything is on a slightly larger scale than usual, with signs that rather more trouble and care have been taken than in the customary "B" western. The action, of which there is a good deal, inclines towards violence, with cold-blooded killings, tough fist fights, lynch mobs, and any amount of gunfire. — Monthly Film Bulletin (quoted in an Allied Artists press release).
