"I'm scorching!" a dizzy saloon girl tells stranger Rod Cameron upon his entrance into the bar to which he responds, "I don't care if you're on fire!", causing a brawl which saloon owner Yvonne deCarlo breaks up with the help of a whiskey bottle. Business goes on however as fists fly with other customers paying little mind to the fight as if it were an every day occurrence. This is a western "Taming of the Shrew" where sexy Rod kisses Yvonne passionately, gets a slap across the face, and simply just kisses her again. He then compares her kissing her to taming a colt, but even then that doesn't mean he wants to keep it, causing the now enamored De Carlo to insist on a wedding. But Cameron is wanted by the law and must serve a six year prison term. Will his feisty bride wait for him or move onto the many waiting admirers or will she drop another bombshell on him?
De Carlo speaks with a strange accent which is never identified even though her dubbed singing has absolutely no trace of an accent. Considering that she was a talented singer in her own right (listen to her legendary recording of "I'm Still Here" from "Follies"), dubbing her now seems a mistake, but MGM also did that with future Broadway musical legend Angela Lansbury as well! De Carlo's songs (three of them!) are pretty mediocre ("Set em' up, Joe. We gotta make dough!") although she still looks great, especially in Technicolor. If you want to see De Carlo sing on screen with her own voice, check out the adventure "Flame of the Islands" where she sings a very campy song called "Bahama Mama". She's also pretty handy with a gun, but will it prevent her from being brought down to earth by the very determined Rod Cameron? A scene of her waking up with an empty but worn looking spot in bed gives a definite impression of the marriage being consummated, pretty daring stuff considering the power of the production code.
Comic relief by Andy Devine and Fuzzy Knight helps make the unbelievable plot more tolerable. It never rings true that Cameron and De Carlo whose initial meetings are hot but far from loving would just decide to marry out of nowhere. Sheldon Leonard adds the villainy as the man who threatens to come between De Carlo and Cameron, and also the man who killed somebody that Cameron was blamed for. Beverly Simmons is cloying as an annoying little girl who keeps following Cameron all over. The plot moves forward when Cameron's former fiancée (the lady-like Jan Wiley) shows up with aunt Clara Blandick to claim him, making this much more convoluted and complicated than it need to be. So while this is often pleasant, it can be also a bit irritating when the story moves from feisty to family.
Fortunately, there is an exciting climax, complete with chase scene, a confrontation between hero and villain near the edge of a cliff, and a riveting scene with the little girl being held captive on a tree trunk that covers a ravine that appears to be on the verge of falling the gorge, and a final great line from Wiley that sums up the difference between the type of relationship which Cameron would have with her than the one he already has with De Carlo.
De Carlo speaks with a strange accent which is never identified even though her dubbed singing has absolutely no trace of an accent. Considering that she was a talented singer in her own right (listen to her legendary recording of "I'm Still Here" from "Follies"), dubbing her now seems a mistake, but MGM also did that with future Broadway musical legend Angela Lansbury as well! De Carlo's songs (three of them!) are pretty mediocre ("Set em' up, Joe. We gotta make dough!") although she still looks great, especially in Technicolor. If you want to see De Carlo sing on screen with her own voice, check out the adventure "Flame of the Islands" where she sings a very campy song called "Bahama Mama". She's also pretty handy with a gun, but will it prevent her from being brought down to earth by the very determined Rod Cameron? A scene of her waking up with an empty but worn looking spot in bed gives a definite impression of the marriage being consummated, pretty daring stuff considering the power of the production code.
Comic relief by Andy Devine and Fuzzy Knight helps make the unbelievable plot more tolerable. It never rings true that Cameron and De Carlo whose initial meetings are hot but far from loving would just decide to marry out of nowhere. Sheldon Leonard adds the villainy as the man who threatens to come between De Carlo and Cameron, and also the man who killed somebody that Cameron was blamed for. Beverly Simmons is cloying as an annoying little girl who keeps following Cameron all over. The plot moves forward when Cameron's former fiancée (the lady-like Jan Wiley) shows up with aunt Clara Blandick to claim him, making this much more convoluted and complicated than it need to be. So while this is often pleasant, it can be also a bit irritating when the story moves from feisty to family.
Fortunately, there is an exciting climax, complete with chase scene, a confrontation between hero and villain near the edge of a cliff, and a riveting scene with the little girl being held captive on a tree trunk that covers a ravine that appears to be on the verge of falling the gorge, and a final great line from Wiley that sums up the difference between the type of relationship which Cameron would have with her than the one he already has with De Carlo.