Yellowstone Kelly (1959) User Reviews

Colorful western is a hidden gem

[NewEnglandPat · 8/10 · 8 December 2003]

Warner Brothers came up with a winner in this film of a fur trader who finds himself caught in the middle of a cavalry-Indian just wants to run his trap lines in Montana high country but proposed treaty-breaking by the government poses the threat of an Indian uprising. The film dwells a bit on a sub plot that has Kelly saving an Indian maiden's life as well as playing wet nurse to a tenderfoot who seeks to win the trapper's friendship and respect. There is a fine battle scene between the soldiers and the Indians, one of the best of its type and is the film's high point. John Russell, Ray Danton and Claude Akins are among the cast names that contribute greatly to fine story. Andra Martin is striking as the Arapahoe girl and a point of contention between Kelly and the Sioux warriors. Edd Byrnes is okay as Kelly's young helper. Outstanding camera work and music score make this forgotten western one of the genre's best pictures.

Tough-Minded "B" western Transcends Its Budget' Well-Liked.

[silverscreen888 · 7/10 · 13 July 2005]

This unpretentious and well-paced film min my judgment almost redefines the 'B' movie. It uses the talents of solid-plot novelist Clay Fisher, action director Gordon Douglas's skills, script additions by Burt Kennedy, lucid cinematography by Carl Guthrie, costumes by Marjorie Best, set decorations by William Wallace and a good cast of supporting actors. The storyline is a very simple one. Luther Kelloey has saved the life of a Sioux chief, Gall. Because of this during the troubles in their country, he is still allowed to set his traplines. After some trouble with toughs at a fort, he enlists young tenderfoot Anse Harper as his helper--before discovering he is hopeless at everything; then Kelley heads upcountry. Once there, they save an Arapaho woman fleeing her enemies. Answe worships her; she falls in love with Kelley, but he fights the urge as he nurses her back to health. Then all discover that it is the Sioux chief who wants her back. Anse dies; and finally he has to lead soldiers against the Sioux to save the ill-led patrol; and he kills Gall's nephew, the real troublemaker in the situation, in battle. He then advises the Sioux chief to leave the Yellowstone country, telling him it no longer smiles on them; and they follow his advice. The film stars popular and very large Clint Walker, in the best of several western he was allowed to make in the 1950s, as who did not; Anse is well-done by Edd Byrnes, John Russell is the Sioux chief, Ray Danton the deadly nephew and Andra Martin the lovely Arapaho woman. Claude Akins as a skeptical sergeant, Rex Reason, Gary Vinson and Warren Oates are also featured. This is a very authentic western, physically-beautiful. The viewer learns a lot about what it takes to survive in the West through the very Eastern eyes of Anse; also, Kelley's very sound advice is doubted, not heeded or contradicted by soldiers, with the result that they need him to save their hides. This is not a great picture; but I suggest as a writer its authors gave it clear motivations, a solid story line for its under-budgeted producers to realize. The dialogue is above average, terse, never show; and Douglas's camera has quite a bit to work with in the way of interior dialogue exchanges, action scenes and angry confrontations. The highlight comes when Martin tells Walker, "You have LOOKED AT ME." From that moment, we know he likes her, she wants him--and all they have to do is fight a major battle against angry Sioux warriors to win their future...Many viewers have found this to be a very unpretentious and entertaining 'B' effort.

This actioner Western packs emotion , adventures, fights , crossfire and gorgeous outdoors

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 4 May 2018]

Set in 1870s , it deals with Yellowstone Kelly, Clint Walker , a mountain man and explorer , he lives in the Sioux territory South of Missouri . Kelly has a particular code of survival and lives in a brutal land of isolated woods and mountains and hostile Indians , he becomes part of the wilderness , eventually taking on responsability a boy and acting as a protector . He is hired by a Cavalry Major : Rhodes Reason from the army at Fort Butford .Kelly reluctantly takes on responsability as preceptor and helper an obstinate young : Edd Byrnes , but both of them run into problems with the Sioux led by two tough warriors : John Russell and Ray Danton . Troubles emerge when Kelly and the boy fall in love with the same woman, the beautiful Indian Arapahoe , Andre Martin , and the Sioux warriors arrive ro reclaim her.

It is a very nice film that could become another western worthy of any anthology . Interesting and moving screenplay by the notorious Burt Kennedy who wrote and directed several westerns .Being based on a true role , a historic figure who became a know scout and trapper in Wyoming territory. This agreeable and charming flick displays a colorful and brilliant cinematography by Carl Guthrie , adding an impressive production design by William Wallace .And pretty good musical score by Howard Jackson , full of thrilling and attractive sound . Enjoyable Indian western with adventures , thrills , noisy action , a love story , battles , and wonderful landscapes. Well developed story in leaps and bounds , strong energy , attractive roles , abundant action scenes , elegant camera movements , special dramatic pace and including a dialectic about racism .Stars Clint Walker as a trapper and Indian scout who saved the life of a Sioux chief and gives shelter to a runaway Arapahoe Indian played by the gorgeous Andre Martin and then problems emerge. The tall Clint does his own stunts and performed a lot of westerns and Tv series as Cheyenne , Yuma, White Buffalo , None but the brave, Pancho Villa, The bounty man, and Night of Grizzly also directed by Gordon Douglas .He is accompanied by the young tenderfoot Edd Byrnes who was a beefcake who made various Westerns and Spaghetti. Support cast is frankly excellent such as Claude Akins , Rhodes Reason , Warren Oates , Ray Danton and John Russell .

The motion picture was well directed by GordonDouglas, at his best , though It was supposed to be shot by the great John Ford , later on , he turned down the direction to film The horse riders , instead. Gordon was expert on adventure genre as Black arrow , Fortunes of captain Blood , both starred by Louis Hayward ; and Western , as he proved in the movies starred by Clint Walker as Fort Dobbs , Gold of Seven Saints , Yellowstone Kelly ; Gregory Peck as Only the valiant ; Rod Taylor in Chuka and Rio Conchos with Richard Boone deemed the best and upon legendary bandits as Doolins of Oklahoma , Great Missouri raid , among others.

Magnificent locations, pleasant adventure: a better way to make cinema

[pzanardo · 7/10 · 18 September 2001]

Magnificent locations, a pleasant adventure: "Yellowstone Kelly" is a typical nice western movie of the 1950s and, in my personal opinion, it is a relevant instance of a better way of making cinema (better than the current one, I mean).

The movie has merits and defects. Among the merits (apart the already quoted beauty of the photography): the fast-pace of the narration; a number of well-elaborated action scenes; the presence of Andra Martin as the Arapaho girl Wahleeah. In fact, beautiful Martin manages to create, with few but skillful touches, a soft erotic atmosphere rather unusual in western movies of that epoch. However, it should be noted that her (splendid) blue eyes are a relevant clumsiness of the movie. Clint Walker, in the role of the trapper Yellowstone Kelly, is a nice guy, though certainly not a great actor. As always in mature 1950's westerns, the war between whites and Indians is provoked by either hot-heads or rogues, in the present case a stupid ambitious cavalry officer: this remark is just intended to contradict the false common-place that in those years Indians were always represented as blood-thirsty savage assassins.

The story is placed around the Wyoming-Montana border: however the final part was evidently filmed in the wonderful area of Sedona, Arizona. I'm not able to decide whether this could be considered a defect of the movie: probably not. The worst flaw in the film is the fact that all Sioux perfectly understand and speak English (?). There are several other inaccuracies. For instance: I may be wrong, but I bet that the Blue Soldiers had never been equipped with Winchester carabines.

I saw "Yellowstone Kelly" at the theatre, when I was a kid: the pleasant impressions I retained have been confirmed by my recent new view at the TV. I recommend this movie, especially to people nostalgic of good old western flicks.

Only moderately acceptable to the Western lovers...

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 7/10 · 1 July 2001]

In 'Yellowstone Kelly,' Clint 'Cheyenne' Walker plays a muscular fur-trapper who prevents war between Indians and U.S. Cavalry, and who survives only to find true love in the arms of a beautiful and talented newcomer Andrea Martin...

Becoming a 'squaw man' and a devoted one, Clint Walker goes Western all the way in this standard action film with routine excitements and a cast of TV faces: John Russell as the tall, darkly chief prancing across the plains; Ray Danton as the Indian with conviction and authority; Claude Akins as the heavy tough sergeant; and Warren Oates making his debut as a proud soldier...

With the absence of a strong story line in the screenplay, but displaying an outstanding Technicolor photography, 'Yellowstone Kelly' is

Yellowstone Kelly & 50s & early 60s TV Westerns.

[gl.nan · 10 April 2000]

I think that although Yellowstone Kelly was probably only made to accommodate Clint Walkers popularity as Cheyenne Bodie just before and around the release of the film it was exceptionally well done with a great supporting cast and a super story line, but as I was only 12 at the time and I still recall it today it just shows it has lasted the test of time. I can remember very well all the old TV westerns of the fifties even at such an early age.Bronco Layne, Tenderfoot, Gun Law, Lawman, Maverick, Wells Fargo, Have gun will travel, Wagon train, The restless gun with John Payne, and of course my favourite Cheyenne.I love nostalgia and all these all time greats bring back fond memories of a more innocent age than today, although as my wife is always telling me I am very old Fashioned. Graham Lenegan.

Yellowstone Kelly

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 10 September 2013]

A well-reputed fur-trapper, Apache-scout, and frontiersman, Luther "Yellowstone" Kelly, decides to "hire on" a teenaged Anse Harper (teen idol, Edd Byrnes) against his better judgment but grows fond of the boy. Always a loner, Kelly felt (up until he meets Anse, and later Arapaho beauty, Wahleeah (Andra Martin)) he was best on his own, but Anse is a gentle-voiced, non-combative, polite young man who does what he's told to the best of his abilities. Soon, Kelly and Anse run up on the Sioux (led by Gall (John Russell) and his fiery, antagonistic nephew, Sayapi (Ray Danton)), while journeying back to Kelly's cabin (traveling through "the snake" into the "high country" of Montana (where the "springs get quite green")). Saving Gall's "woman", Wahleeah (who wishes to return to her own people), from certain death, Kelly earns brownie points and is allowed to leave (along with Anse). The Calvary (with the likes of Claude Akins and debuting Warren Oates, as well as, Rhodes Reason and Gary Vinson) want to drive out the Sioux by taking an accompaniment of soldiers through "the snake", but Kelly warns against such foolishness. Kelly, though, understands that the White Man will eventually take the land due to strength in numbers.

Clint Walker is hired for his screen presence and build (the camera of director Gordon Douglas shoots Walker's Kelly as if he were a towering legend, with the expected close-ups of his non-violent, peace-desiring, conflict-weary face) more than any serious acting chops, but I never felt he wasn't adequate in the part. It isn't like Kelly needed the "method touch" or anything. Edd was probably casted to secure the teen-youth market; he is the moral compass that questions the choice of Kelly to allow Wahleeah to return to the Sioux as she clearly is held by them against her will. Kelly has that dilemma upon him…Wahleeah escapes from the Sioux, stealing one of their ponies in the night, successfully making it to Kelly's cabin. Kelly makes a stance towards Gall regarding Wahleeah; because she's still in bad health due to her past injuries, Kelly refuses to allow Gall to escort her away when Wahleeah is in no shape to travel. Sayapi is the main heavy of the film as the prideful, aggressive, hostile Sioux warrior questioning Gall's judgment and bravery, soon responsible for tragedy involving Anse (who intends to take Wahleeah to her people despite Kelly's orders to keep her in the cabin), earning Kelly's vengeance. Of course, there's the battle at the end (as expected by these kinds of western adventures) where the Sioux engage Kelly and the remaining survivors left of the Calvary with guns firing, dust kicked up, and bodies hitting the ground. "Yellowstone Kelly" is surprisingly violent, with plenty of knife and gun violence, especially when Kelly goes after Sayapi and the Sioux in his company. This wouldn't be complete without fisticuffs so Walker tolerates the heckling of Akins and Oates up to a point until he has no choice but to lay the smack to them (yep, a water trough and window are used to subdue the rude soldiers who mocked Kelly by calling him an Indian; Kelly respects Native American tribes, and he doesn't even make much of a fuss when the soldiers first rib him in a bar, but a stagecoach dust up pushes him too far).

The script doesn't actually bang the patriot drum, with some sympathy towards tribes affected by White Man's colonization of their land. Russell, as Gall, follows the lead of many Caucasian actors "dressed in red face" as he carries a "man-of-few-words, pillar of strength" approach to the Sioux leader not to be disrespected and not quick to rush into anything without thinking of the consequences. There's a great scene where Sayapi seems ready to approach Kelly (against Gall's wishes) when Gall grabs him by the throat in a clinch and makes the kid fall to the ground…this tells you that Gall is in charge for a reason. Gall's built for it while Sayapi goes too far and winds up just as he does by film's end. There's something that stayed with me regarding how Kelly tells Gall to take his men and go because the land no longer treats them well…the script has a lot of this (saying that the former occupants of a land that had been there's for ages is taken from them, with White Man telling them to find somewhere else to call home).

Kookie Goes West

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 10 December 2012]

I finally got to see Yellowstone Kelly today and found it to be a decent enough western. Back in the day I was going to see it at the age of 12, but did not want to deal with the unbelievably long lines or the screaming teens who came to see Kookie.

This was not Edd Byrnes first feature film, but the first after his success on 77 Sunset Strip. The bobbysoxers were nuts about him back in the day and crowded out us connoisseurs of the western. I remember the long lines and the stories about how one could not hear the dialog with the adolescent females going gaga for Kookie.

The real star in the title role was another Warner Brothers TV veteran, Clint Walker. He plays a mountain man trapper and scout, the last of a breed. He's allowed to do his thing on Sioux land because he saved John Russell's life who is the chief.

After taking on Edd Byrnes as a young assistant, the two visit the Sioux where both of them catch the eye of Andra Martin who is an Arapahoe captive and Russell's personal squeeze. Another brave Ray Danton would like to replace Russell in her tepee. When she runs away and follows Walker and Byrnes to their cabin, Russell and Danton come calling with the tribe. These kind of things start wars as the Ancient Greeks would be the first to tell you.

As much as Kookie got all the publicity and was the reason for Yellowstone Kelly's box office, this film belongs to the stoic Clint Walker who if he had come along a decade earlier would have been a great cowboy hero. Walker is smart and stoic in the title role.

I have to say that Andra Martin as a blue eyed Arapahoe was most disconcerting. Just like Burt Lancaster in Apache.

Despite that Yellowstone Kelly was a well made action western that any fan of the horse opera will love.

Rest in Peace "Clint" Norman Eugene Walker

[CaliopeCupcake · 10/10 · 4 July 2018]

Lived: May 30, 1927 - May 21, 2018 (age 90) Height: 6' 6" My favorite cowboy hero growing up in the '50s. Such a nice man. Thank you, God Bless...

It's a good one

[fredcdobbs5 · 6/10 · 10 August 2016]

I like Clint Walker, I'm a fan of Gordon Douglas' movies (e.g., "Them!", "Rio Conchos", "The Detective") and I can even tolerate Edd Byrnes--in small doses--but I really wasn't expecting much from "Yellowstone Kelly" when I first saw it a few days ago. Turned out that I got a lot more than I bargained for.

First off, Walker is a hell of a screen presence. I haven't seen "Cheyenne" in many, many years, and I kind of forgot just how much he can fill up the screen, and not just physically; he has the kind of commanding presence that John Wayne has, and although Wayne's a better actor, Walker's no slouch himself. He does a first-rate job here, and Burt Kennedy's script doesn't make him the kind of stock "hero" type that many "B" westerns tend to make of their stars.

Second off, the scenery--as pointed out by other reviewers--is spectacular. It has the kind of power that John Ford brought to the screen with his Monument Valley locations yet it doesn't overwhelm the overall film, as Monument Valley tended to do. In addition, Gordon Douglas' westerns are noted for their "balls to the wall" action scenes, as in "Rio Conchos", and this film doesn't disappoint in that department. There are several of them, from bar-room brawls to full-out Indian attacks, and they're all extremely well done.

Then there's Andra Martin. She's not given much to do, actually, but she is one of the most strikingly and exotically beautiful women to have ever graced the screen, and she does the most here with what she's given, and she's actually quite good.

A good supporting cast--Claude Akins and Warren Oates stand out, and even Edd Byrnes is far less annoying than he usually is--helps greatly. If there's any downside to this picture, it's the casting of white actors in Indian roles. John Russell and Ray Danton are good actors, but they don't even come close to being convincing as Indians and, as this practice usually does, actually hurt the picture.

Overall, though, I was more than pleasantly surprised with "Yellowstone Kelly". Walker turns in a first-rate performance, the scenery is beautiful, the action is well done, and on top of everything else there's Andra Martin. A very good combination. Walker made another western that I haven't seen, "Fort Dobbs", and if it's half as good as this one was, I'll have to check it out.

"Brokeback Mountain" 1959 style?

[MOscarbradley · 5/10 · 2 April 2017]

You might be forgiven for thinking you were about to watch a 1959 version of "Brokeback Mountain" as Edd Byrnes eyes up Clint Walker's trapper on a riverboat before delivering his chat-up line. Of course, I'm reading a subtext here that obviously doesn't exist. In this thoroughly innocent Boy's Own western from director Gordon Douglas, Walker,with a couple of barrels for a chest, is "Yellowstone Kelly" and Byrne is the boy who has taken a fancy to him, (a thoroughly innocent fancy,I might add). They team up, setting up house together in Indian territory, where they run up against John Russell's somewhat wooden, effete Indian chief and his hot-headed nephew, (a very unlikely Ray Danton).

This is a good old-fashioned film, if a little top-heavy in male bonding with too many actors who are fundamentally nothing but eye-candy and it's beautifully shot in some pretty spectacular scenery. There's not much in the way of plot and the script, by Burt Kennedy, no less, has every cliché in the book but it's never less than entertaining in a mindless sort of way.

"I have looked at you."

[faunafan · 10/10 · 18 June 2022]

Well, who hasn't? I mean, he's Clint Walker, possibly the most impressive figure of a man ever to grace the small or large screen. When the lovely Arapaho maiden Wahleeah finally makes that admission, we aren't surprised. Evidently, all the principal men in this excellent Old West movie have eyes for her, but once Luther Kelly enters the picture, there's no contest.

From the first reel of this Technicolor production, Clint Walker dominates the screen. Even as the beginning credits roll, when Kelly signals the riverboat with three rifle blasts, it's obvious where most of us will be looking. What proceeds is an engaging story, with some interesting tidbits of history here and there. Ambitious career soldier Major Towns (Rhodes Reason) wants Kelly to guide the Army to the Sioux, who are none too happy about the way their land is being systematically appropriated by the 'soldier coats.' Kelly adamantly refuses, though he recognizes that nothing can thwart the government's agenda. Because he saved the Sioux chief Gall's life seven years ago (a key plot element), Kelly has been allowed to conduct his fur trapping business in the land unhindered, and he and the tribe have a kind of uneasy rapprochement that he doesn't want to endanger; besides, he is sympathetic toward the Indians' viewpoint, even though as he later cautions Gall, the outcome is a foregone conclusion.

When beautiful Wahleeah (Andra Martin) enters the picture, the thaw in the relationship between the two men begins to chill again because Gall's hotheaded nephew Sayapi (Ray Danton) wants her, and so does Gall (John Russell). When she requires the kind of frontier surgery that Kelly had used to save Gall's life all those years ago, Kelly is forced to save her, or he and his newly acquired greenhorn companion Anse (Edd Byrnes) will die. Sometimes the choices in these Indian/white man interactions are really limited.

Anyway, Kelly saves her and is allowed to leave. But before long, a fragile Wahleeah shows up at his cabin, ostensibly because she wants him to return her to her own people. We already suspect that her real reason for following him is more personal, but he didn't save her life just to turn her away, so he gives her refuge until she's fully recovered. Of course, young Anse Harper is smitten with her, the "best all-over good-lookin' woman" he's ever seen. In his terse way, Kelly agrees ("She ain't ugly") but senses that trouble is brewing. The trouble that follows is not only action-packed and captivating, but at the same time poignant and emotionally charged, with bits of humor in the mix ("Dove eggs").

All the supporting players are good, it's a tight script, and the production values are excellent. Plus, much as I prefer the romantic over the violent, there's a fight scene toward the beginning when Kelly takes on a half dozen of the prejudiced, taunting enlisted men that is quite as exciting as any fist fight in any Western that's ever been; because of Clint Walker's fluid athleticism, it's almost balletic. The scenery is breathtaking. Except for the setting, this would have been an entirely different movie, not nearly as appealing, if the proposed 1956 production with John Wayne had happened. Clint Walker owned the part and only he could have endowed the character with the raw appeal and simple honesty that he did. On a side note, whoever was responsible for outfitting the massive Luther Kelly in a red shirt and knee-high fringed suede boots is a genius.

"Yellowstone Kelly" is a solid winner for Western aficionados and, of course, a must-see for Clint Walker fans.

I'll tell you what happened. It either got sick, ran away or died. It's the same way with an Indian. You go trying to tame them, make them live white... it just won't work.

[hitchcockthelegend · 6/10 · 12 December 2012]

Yellowstone Kelly is directed by Gordon Douglas and adapted to screenplay by Burt Kennedy from the Clay Fisher (AKA: Heck Allen) book of the same name. It stars Clint Walker, Edd Byrnes, John Russell, Ray Danton, Claude Akins, Andra Martin and Rhodes Reason. A Technicolor production filmed out of Sedona and Coconino National Forest in Arizona, with music by Howard Jackson and cinematography by Carl Guthrie.

"The West was opened by courageous trail-blazing pioneers like Lewis and Clark and Luther "Yellowstone" Kelly - - trapper, surveyor, and Indian scout who was the first frontiersman to cross the mighty Yellowstone Valley."

A very well made Western, one that features some quite breath taking scenery captured by Carl Guthrie (Fort Massacre/Gunfight At Dodge City), Yellowstone Kelly falls into the category of straight conventional Oaters.

Story concerns fabled fur trapper Luther Kelly (Walker), who having saved the life of a Sioux chief (Russell) is allowed to move freely in the Sioux territories. However, he finds himself piggy in the middle when the oafish US Cavalry move in to shake their might at the Native Americans. Things are further complicated when he is forced to save the life of an Arapaho woman (Martin), who subsequently runs away from the Sioux's to seek shelter with Kelly and his newly acquired companion, greenhorn Anse Harper (Byrnes). With potential love in the air putting another problem into the equation, Kelly has much to carry on his mightily broad shoulders.

Originally slated to be a John Ford/John Wayne production (they decided to make The Horse Soldiers instead), Yellowstone Kelly is pretty much what it appears to be, that of a vehicle built around Walker as a device to push him forward as a lead actor. Unfortunately, in spite of his massive screen presence, Walker just didn't have the acting chops to be a grade "A" lead off man in film. Yet he was always watchable and engaging, such is the case here. The character of Kelly is interesting and around Walker are a number of TV stars and contract players to ensure there's a professional polish to the production.

There's no surprises in store or deep psychological stirrings, though one extended sequence of Walker and Byrnes shacked up in a log cabin is open to homo-erotic interpretation, and the host of white actors playing Native Americans will irritate some, but this moves along at a good clip and makes for a fun afternoon viewing experience. 6.5/10

Implausible and unpleasantly dated

[thedavidovitch · 4/10 · 21 September 2013]

A real B movie Western that's showing its age. Of course it wasn't unusual during the genre's heyday to find white actors playing Native Americans or to find story lines that portrayed them as duplicitous savages, but the breathtaking racism of this script, coupled with some hilarious casting, with a quite obviously blue-eyed white guy as the Sioux chief, makes it a pretty challenging watch for a modern audience.

Some nice cinematography and decent enough fight scenes are mildly diverting, but it's certainly not a classic of the genre. More, it's a reminder of how, at worst, the Western was a pretty ruthless exercise in historical revisionism.

Lack of comments about Yellowstone Kelly.

[gl.nan · 19 April 2000]

I can't believe that there is only one comment about Yellowstone Kelly, I know you couldn't really call it a classic or anything but I know films that are a lot worse that have been much better received in your lists. That is only my opinion and I don't wish to upset anyone but again as previously stated I think this film is a real cracker and has lasted the test of time! Graham Lenegan.

One of My Favorite B-Movie Westerns

[Uriah43 · 6/10 · 6 January 2013]

This is one of my favorite B-Movie westerns. I have always liked Clint Walker and he puts on a pretty good performance as a mountain man named "Yellowstone Kelly" who just wants to set his traps in the Yellowstone Valley area and to be left alone. For seven years the Sioux haven't bothered him but when a beautiful Arapaho maiden named "Wahleeah" (Andra Martin) is injured the Sioux forcibly take him and his young apprentice "Anse Harper" (Edward Byrnes) to their village and give him the ultimatum to either heal her or be killed. Fortunately, he is able to extract the bullet lodged in her back and they are allowed to go on their way. But things don't go as planned for him as forces beyond his control bring the Arapaho maiden, the Sioux and the cavalry to his doorstep. At any rate, while this film doesn't have a good script and some of the acting could definitely use some improvement, it does have some beautiful scenery and a nice story to draw upon. So while it may not be quite realistic it's still entertaining enough to overlook some of the obvious flaws.

Very bland

[r96sk · 6/10 · 28 November 2020]

The definition of lacklustre. Needed more action to make up for the slowness.

I'm not saying 'Yellowstone Kelly' is anything all that bad, as it isn't. However, it simply fails to make for an entertaining Western. Clint Walker (Kelly) and Edd Byrnes (Harper) don't have the necessary chemistry, though are likeable. None of the other characters, including the inappropriately cast Native Americans, are all that developed.

It has recognisable Western themes, so fits in under those requirements I guess. It's just simply not exciting or enjoyable, it's very bland in truth. Doubt I'll remember this one.

A fine cast, good story and action make this a great western

[bux · 10/10 · 13 August 2000]

The location scenery help make this a fine picture, with TV's Cheyenne, Clint Walker as the title character. Edd (Kooky) Byrnes shows signs that he could have been a good actor in a supporting role. Only real problem is the typical Warner Brothers Indian Maiden...complete with full make-up and blue eyes. The script moves along at a fast pace, the action scenes are great, and Walker appears HUGE on the screen today. This is a fun western to watch.

Women are trouble...

[paulclaassen · 5/10 · 27 March 2024]

I enjoy Clint Walker in Westerns. With his big physique and deep, clear voice this man was born to be a cowboy! Unfortunately, I did not enjoy 'Yellowstone Kelly' as much.

The film had so much potential and was going so well - and then the woman showed up, romance interfered and the film became an 'all about the woman' farce. Clint Walker stars as trapper Yellowstone Kelly, who is also a fur trader. Upon meeting him, young Anse Harper offers his services to Kelly, and so the two travel together.

Along the way they are pursued and eventually captured by the Sioux Indians. Many years ago, Kelly saved chief Gall's life. Gall asks Kelly to remove a bullet from a Sioux girl's spine. With the Sioux being such a wise tribe, I found it unbelievable that they couldn't do it themselves - or at least had a medicine man among them as they always do - and needed Kelly's help, who was a trapper and not a doctor. The girl in question is Wahleeh, who later manages to ride alone by horse to Kelly's home.

Chief Gall agrees for Wahleeh to stay at Kelly's place so him and Harper can look after her until she is well enough to return to the tribe. Harper, however, starts having feelings for Wahleeh. Although Kelly warns Harper it will never work between a Sioux and a white man, he, too, starts having feelings for her. And this is where the film started losing my interest. I also found the film slow paced - slowed down significantly by the romance element. It became too much about the woman. In fact, it became all about the woman...

As a result there is little in the form of cowboy action (yet it started off so well!), so if its a classic cowboys and Indians movie you're after, this is not it. Clint Walker did still manage to make the movie watchable.

An underrated western

[mime.de · 10/10 · 20 July 2001]

Sure, Gordon Douglas directed some pictures they are not worth watching - like all of (star)directors including Ford, Hawks, Lang or Hitchcock too. For me is Douglas one of the most underrated US-filmmakers of the fifties and sixties, because he did great jobs in very different genres. "Formicula" for example is a thrilling horror- stuff, "The Detective" a fine police-movie with Frank Sinatra. His best pictures did Douglas in the western-genre, and I think, "Rio Conchos", "Barquero" and "Fort Dobbs" should have a place in the hall of fame of western. His best picture at all for me is "Yellowstone Kelly" from Warner Bros., an also underrated western, which tells the story of mountain man Luther Kelly, who has a romance with a young Sioux maid on dangerous ground. A long time he don't accept the voice of his heart, and so his young sidekick, a greenhorn impressive portrayed by Edward Byrnes, must die. Big Clint Walker, also appears in "Fort Dobbs", is wonderful in the role of Kelly, and in the supporting cast you may find excellent actors like Claude Akins, Ray Danton and Warren Oates at the beginning of their career. The action scenes are well-made, the Technicolor-photographed landscape is so beautiful like Max Steiners score. If you like western, this picture for sure will become one of your all-time-favorites.

just pathetic

[sandcrab277 · 2/10 · 9 December 2019]

One only has to watch the reruns of cheyenne on tv to understand this film ... clint walker was used as a chick magnet,. making sure he took off his shirt and exposed his hairy chest to make the women swoon ... the other thing is about using white men to portray indians .. its shallow and stupid and demeaning to indigenous people like most genre films of the time

One of the best Westerns with great acting.

[JanetIacolino · 10/10 · 18 December 2020]

Scenery is beautiful. Clint Walker is outstanding in the role. Pairing him and Ed Burns together was a good choice. Very enjoyable to watch a good story.

Yellowstone Silly, though a good-looking cast holds interest.

[Poseidon-3 · 10 July 2008]

The second of three western films Walker made with director Douglas during the down time of his tenure on "Cheyenne", this is the only one in color. He plays a scout and trapper who shares a tenuous relationship with the Sioux which is placed in jeopardy when Martin, an Arapaho held captive by the Sioux, decides to run away and seek sanctuary with him in his cabin. Things are complicated further by the presence of Byrnes, a greenhorn kid who has come to stay with Walker and learn how to live in the stark wilderness. Meanwhile, cavalry Major Reason wants Walker's help and resists taking no for an answer. Walker, a towering hunk who dwarfs everyone around him and sometimes even the landscape, lends a solid performance. He has one rough-and-tumble fight sequence in which he clearly performed his own stunt work. Clad in a red shirt and with a long shock of black hair, he is quite a sight to behold. In what must be one of his most alluring and sexy appearances in film, he has a nighttime sequence in which he reclines in bed, shirtless, with his hair deliberately tousled as he chitchats with young Byrnes. Byrnes enjoys an engaging role, lightly comedic, but with more serious elements than he would tend to be given elsewhere. His character displays an obvious respect for Walker (try counting how many times he says, "Mr. Kelly"!) and, like Walker, sleeps presumably in the raw despite allusions to the harsh weather! Russell plays the Sioux chief and provides dramatic weight and a dose of dignity that helps him to overcome his anachronistic hairstyle. Danton plays his nephew (with a similarly goofy, parted on the side, wig) and poses a nice threat as he obsesses over Martin. Martin, with gleaming grey-blue eyes and covered in buckets of body make-up, is unlikely as an Indian maiden, though this was the rule of the day then. She comes off as more of a Caucasian captive than a fellow Indian, so quickly does she adjust to washing plates in a bucket and keeping house! Like the two gentlemen, she also prefers to sleep in the altogether, which had to have seemed a tad daring in 1959! She undergoes a brief, but pretty harrowing, medical procedure in her first scene. However, some of her dialogue is a hoot ("You have looked at me…") Reason adds just that much more handsomeness to the film, though his role isn't anything special. He has two soldiers in his outfit who would go on to greater fame, Akins and Oates. Director Douglas liked to populate his films with good-looking men and here he had quite a bonanza, which does make viewing easier for those inclined. Additionally, he had quite an eye for location scenery and it is nicely exploited here as well. It's not a milestone film, but Walker in his prime is always worth watching and the rest of the able cast, along with the location work, helps make this a pleasure to watch.

Common B Western movie

[bojandojcinovski · 4/10 · 28 February 2020]

Let's be honest, scenography is breath-taking, costumes are good too, but those are only two things that deserve commendation here. Plot is poor, screenplay is poor, acting is poor and all other things are poor.

4 from me.

The End Of A Way Of Life

[januszlvii · 9/10 · 11 June 2019]

I really love the scenery and the underlining story involved with Yellowstone Kelly. In my opinion, those are why it should be a must for Western fans. Spoilers Ahead: There is a scene at the end of Yellowstone Kelly, where Kelly ( Clint Walker) tells Sioux Chief Gall ( John Russell) "This place no longer smiles on your people, take your warriors and leave." It sums up the movie perfectly. Basically, the story is how the old way of life for everyone ( Kelly included who trapped for 7 years because Gall allowed him to because Kelly sabed his life) is coming to an end. First, after being a loner, he takes on 19 year old Anse Harper ( Edd Byrnes) as a partner, then he ends up with Arapaho Wahlleah ( Andrea Martin) who chooses him over Gall and his bad guy Nephew Sayapi ( Ray Danton). Then at the very end, a riverboat is coming and Kelly signals it by firing his rifle, because he and Wahlleah ( slong with lots of pelts) will be boarding, heading towards civilization. 9/10 stars