Backtrack! (1969) User Reviews

Amusing Western adventure in which Trampas/Doug McClure joins three Texas Rangers on a risked assignment into Mexico.

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 21 September 2018]

They Lived, Loved, and Battled Across the Face of Texas .This Backtrack introduces us to the Trampas character from "The Virginian" as well as the trio of Texas Rangers from "Laredo." This shoot'em up film deals with Medicine Bow, Wyoming-born , cowpoke Trampas (Doug McClure) wants to make some quick money and joins up a ranch called ¨Shilo¨ run by foreman Ramdod (James Drury) . Then the cowhand is sent to Mexico to buy a bull for his employer. The ranch foreman warns him to watch out for himself in Laredo, a tough town on the Texas/Mexican border. Trampas arranges to get himself engaged to fight three separate Texas Rangers (Neville Brand , Peter Brown , William Smith ) . As 3 Rangers have been sent by their Texas Ranger Capt. Edward A. Parmalee (Philip Carey) to investigate a train that was robbed and everyone aboard killed, except for one infant covered by his mother's body. The quartet go across the Rio Grande to the nearest town, where they meet a cantina owner Mama Dolores (Ida Lupino) with innumerable children . After that , Trampas leads a posse against the marauding Yaqui Indians . Things go wrong when Trampas must take a hard decission . Gunfighting Was Their Business .

The plot is plain and simple , it concerns about Trampas who is sent by his employer to Mexico to buy a bull but in Laredo he unwillingly joins three Texas Rangers on a perilous mission into Mexico. It is added by a particular version of the Dumas classic, "The Three Musketeers". In the film appears some usual roles in Virginian series such as Doug McClure as Trampas , James Drury ,Gary Clarke , Randy Boone , L.Q Jones , but isn't Lee J Cobb as Judge Henry Garth . The Virginian is set in the Shiloh Ranch in Wyoming Territory of the 1890s is owned in sequence by Judge Garth, the Grainger brothers, and Colonel MacKenzie. It is the setting for a variety of stories, many more based on character and relationships than the usual western. The first 12 minutes is season 2 episode 1 of The Virginian 'Ride a Dark Trail'.From the scene where Trampas, Belden and Randy ride into Shiloh ranch it is season 3 episode 30 'We've Lost a Train' . Being a crossover between The Virginian and Laredo series to forge a feature-length, 95-minute, Technicolor Western . Laredo being formed by 56 episodes during 1965-1967 , it stars Neville Brand as Reese Bennett , Peter Brown as Chad Cooper , William Smith as Joe Riley and Philip Carey as captain . Laredo series is formed Rustlers, bank robbers, and their own wild schemes: a band of Texas Rangers keeps getting in and out of trouble, under the jaundiced eye of Captain Parmalee. Backtrack is starred by Doug McClure who runs into the three Rangers--who turn out to be partners--, Doug gives a sympathetic acting as the famous Wyoming cowhand and gambler Trampas . He is accompanied by a large and prestigious support cast such as Ida Lupino , Rhonda Fleming , Fernando Lamas , Royal Dano , George Savalas , L.Q Jones , among others



The Virginian is based on the 1902 classic novel by Owen Lister about a ranch-hand defeating the local bad guys .There are several adaptation about this novel : First silent retelling The Virginian 1914 by Cecil B DeMille with Dustin Farnum , Jack Johnston . Classic early talkie 1929 by Victor Fleming with Gary Cooper , Walter Huston , Mary Brian , Richard Arlen . 1962 popular TV series mostly directed by Earl Bellamy with James Drury , Doug McClure , Lee J Cobb , John McIntire , Stewart Granger . TV rendition with Bill Pullman , John Savage , Harris Yulin , Colm Feore , Diane Lane . 2014 by Thomas McKowsky with Trace Adkins , Steve Bacic, Victoria Pratt.

The motion picture was well directed by Earl Bellamy . He was a good professional who served in the US Navy's photographic unit in the WWII and directed more than 1600 episodes of television and catastrophe films such as : Fire! and Flood! and a sequel titled Walking tall II . Rating : acceptable and entertaining .

All for one and one for all!

[hitchcockthelegend · 6/10 · 13 April 2019]

As evidenced by those who have bothered to write a review for this pic, this is a combination filmic blending of Western TV shows Laredo and The Virginian. Directed by Earl Bellamy and scripted by Borden Chase, it stars Neville Brand, Dough McClure, James Drury, Peter Brown, William Smith, Phillip Carey, Rhonda Fleming, Ida Lupino and Fernando Lamas. Plot has Wyoming cowhand and gambler Trampas (McClure) sent by his employer to Mexico to collect a bull. But during a stopover in Laredo he unwillingly joins up with three Texas Rangers on a dangerous mission into Mexico.

Considering the cobbled nature of the beast, this surprisingly is rather fun, certainly a worthwhile time investment for Western fans who are looking for some lighter genre time filling fare. There's a strong cast assembled, and they all turn in fun and lively performances, while there's enough action, japery and yee-haw peril to ensure the pic never falls flat. It's hardly a must see piece, and in fact overstays its welcome at an hour and half in length, but this Western version of The Three Musketeers is no dead loss. 6/10

delightful combination of "Laredo" and "The Virginian"

[yortsnave · 8/10 · 14 March 2000]

This movie combines the characters from my favorite TV Western series, "Laredo", with the characters from another excellent 1960s TV Western series, "The Virginian". If you are a fan of either, but especially of "Laredo", check this movie out. In my opinion, the best part of the movie is the relationship between the three Texas Rangers, who are fast friends but also give each other a good deal of grief.

Dumas's "Three Musketeers" Go West in this synthesis of "Laredo" and "The Virginian"

[zardoz-13 · 8/10 · 21 June 2008]

"Toughest Gun in Tombstone" director Earl Bellamy's "Backtrack" synthesizes episodes from the NBC-TV series "The Virginian" and "Laredo" to forge a feature-length, 95-minute, Technicolor shoot'em up that introduces us to the Trampas character from "The Virginian" as well as the trio of Texas Rangers from "Laredo." In fact, Borden Chase's teleplay for the last episode of season three "We've Lost A Train" (21 April 1965) served as the pilot for "Laredo." Universal Studios later went back in and tweaked the Texas Ranger protagonists, but this cobbled together movie from the television series will give some viewers their first look at Reese Bennett (Neville Brand of "D.O.A."), Chad Cooper (Peter Brown of "The Lawman"), and Joe Riley (William Smith of "Red Dawn") along with their superior, Captain Edward A. Parmalee (Phil Carey). I saw this movie first when it came out in 1969 at the Columbus Air Force Base Theatre in Columbus, Mississippi, but all Universal Studios did was recycle elements of both shows.

Indeed, you can tell that everything has been cobbled together because the first time that we meet Reese, Chad, and Joe they round up whiskey peddlers in a scene from the first season "Laredo" episode "Three's Company." The tip-off is that our heroes are dressed as they appeared later in "Laredo," while in "The Virginian" episode they are dressed like generic cowboys with the same hats. Ironically, Universal released "Backtrack" after they had released another compilation "Laredo" movie "Three Guns for Texas" the previous year.

"Backtrack" affords us our first glimpse of Trampas before he became the beloved cowhand on "The Virginian." Indeed, actor Doug McClure's Trampas is a far cry from the cinematic interpretations of the Owen Wister villain. Trampas has been made over into an amiable but roguish fellow. He spends time inside and outside of jails for his gambling habits and necessity compels him to go to work for Shiloh Ranch. The Virginian (James Drury) hires him and then later gives him an assignment to cross the Rio Grande and pick up a prize bull for Judge Garth (Lee J. Cobb who isn't in the movie) from Don Alvarez (Alberto Morin) in Mexico.

Everything goes well enough until Trampas arrives in Laredo where he comes between jealous Reese Bennett and his girlfriend. During a saloon brawl, Trampas gets in Reese's way when Reese's spoken-for girl, dancehall gal Carmelita Flanagan (Rhoda Fleming of "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral") wraps her arms around Trampas and keeps him between Reese and her. Later, she steals Trampas' gun so that green-eyed Reese cannot slap leather with him. Afterward, Trampas runs afoul of Chad who is also one of Reese's rivals for the beautiful red-haired dancer. Finally, he crosses trails with Joe, but Captain Parmalee preempts a showdown. Parmalee dispatches the Rangers pronto find a lost train. Essentially, all Borden Chase has done is recycle Dumas' classic French adventure novel "The Three Musketeers" so that Trampas becomes the D'Artagnan and the King Louis' flamboyant swordsmen become three Texas Rangers.

Trampas rides along with Reese, Chad, and Joe. They find the train, with everybody dead on it except for a baby, and a fortune in gold missing. The baby needs food so our heroes cross the border to visit Mama Dolores (Ida Lupino of "High Sierra"), and they run afoul of a corrupt Mexican Rurale, Captain Estrada (hammy Fernando Lamas), who doesn't want them in Texas. Our heroes find the gun runners, spike their repeating rifles, and then the Yaquis capture them. Estrada is only to happy to oblige our heroes when they ask for a military style firing squad, knowing full well that the spiked rifles will wipe out the firing squad. Trampas gets his bull and delivers it safely back to Wyoming.

Neither the camaraderie nor the characters of Reese, Chad, and Joe is developed to the extent that both would be later in "Laredo." In fact, Reese is rather pugnacious, and Chad and Joe aren't as congenial. They are dressed in dark clothing like villains. For example, Joe doesn't wear his casual Native American outfit that accentuated his mesomorphic physique. The way that Reese dresses himself in a black vest, dark shirt, and bandana knotted at the throat makes him look more intimidating than friendly. Chad doesn't carry his six-gun backwards with the handle forward on his left hip. Captain Parmalee is still the stern, imposing authority figure who interprets everything that these three Rangers accomplish with considerable skepticism. Nevertheless, "Backtrack" is superficial, lightweight fun.