Red Mountain (1951)
If memory serves me right (and so far it usually does), this was my introduction to these four leads, Ladd, Scott, Kennedy and Ireland, and I was a fan forever more. And Red Mountain is right up there among the first westerns I can recall seeing. I had wished Ladd and Scott had made more movies together but it was not to be.
Most of the film takes place in a cave where a man holds a suspected murderer and his fiance captive while Quantrell's Raiders and Indians battle it out below them. Naturally the distance eventually shortens and some of those on the ground reach the cave which heightens the drama and the action.
William Dieterle was not usually a director of westerns (although he is credited with helming 1946's Duel in the Sun, everyone knew it was producer David Selznick's show to run) so maybe that's why this film isn't completely riddled with cowboy cliches. The three lead roles are also well-written and nicely acted.
The Charge at Feather River (1953)
In the scheme of things, this one might have played on the bottom half of that Saturday afternoon double feature, but Warner Bros. fell in love with the new 3D process (they had great success the same year with House of Wax). So here those arrows, lances and tomahawks had us ducking in the theaters and it's so likely I stayed to see this one a second time.
Not unlike the three-year-later The Searchers, two sisters are taken by Indians as younger girls. Now they are older and the cavalry has learned of their possible whereabouts. A strategy is mapped out to retrieve them with a scout leading a combustible group of prisoners and misfits. What could not be known is that one sister is determined not to return to a white world and her decision leads to skirmishes along the way. The battle at the end is the stuff of western fans' dreams.
Director Gordon Douglas keeps the action at a high level with Guy Madison in the lead role and Frank Lovejoy and Steve Brodie as his bickering assistants, Vera Miles as the fiery sister and Helen Westcott as the kind one and Dick Wesson providing the comedy.
Drum Beat (1954)
Trust me, by 1954 I could have been president of The Alan Ladd Fan Club, Cowboy Division. I loved his westerns and this one is right at the top. It was also one of Ladd's best B westerns probably because it was the first one he produced under the banner of his newly-formed Jaguar Productions at Warner Bros.
He is an Indian commissioner who is assigned to negotiate peace with the Modocs around the California-Oregon border. He gets able-bodied assistance from a Modoc friend and his sister while a vicious renegade Modoc and his band stay at war. It is beautifully filmed in and around Sedona, Arziona, and is directed by the wonderful Delmer Daves, whose many films I have long admired.
Charles Bronson as Captain Jack, the menacing Modoc, all but steals the show. Marisa Pavan and Audrey Dalton play the female leads, both in love with Ladd for some additional drama, and the film is jammed with those colorful character actors including Robert Keith, Anthony Caruso, Elisha Cook Jr., Willis Bouchey, Strother Martin, Warner Anderson, Rodolfo Acosta and Frank
Ferguson.
White Feather (1955)
This one isn't too far off from the last one. This time the Indians are Cheyenne with Robert Wagner as a surveyor who innocently insinuates himself into the peace negotiations by falling in love with the chief's daughter (Debra Paget) and befriending her brother (Jeffrey Hunter). She is promised to another brave (Hugh O'Brian), a good friend of the brother, which leads to bloodshed.
Filmed in New Mexico, there is an adventurous scene at the end with scores of Cheyenne lined up against just as many soldiers and the above actors involved in a battle to the death. Also present are Virginia Leith, a woman from the fort who also loves Wagner, and the distinguished Eduard Franz as the Cheyenne chief.
Wagner, Hunter and Paget were frequent costars. This was the second of six films to costar the two men. It was the second of two films to costar Paget and Wagner and the last of five films to costar Hunter and Paget. Be assured this trio had it all worked out.
Yellowstone Kelly (1959)
Originally this was going to be another John Ford-John Wayne production but they opted instead to work on The Horse Soldiers. I much preferred this film. Warner Bros. instead handed it over to a gaggle of it western TV stars... Clint Walker (Cheyenne), John Russell (Lawman), Edd Byrnes (77 Sunset Strip) and Ray Danton (The Alaskans).
The four men, especially Walker, of course, are showcased nicely. Walker's massive frame, especially shirtless, and that deep voice made him a natural for the great outdoors. It's probably the best role Byrnes ever had. Russell is especially handsome and noble as the Sioux chief and Danton sizzles as his uncontrollable nephew. The film is based on the exploits of a real-life westerner, Luther "Yellowstone" Kelly."
Directed by the capable Gordon Douglas and filmed around Flagstaff, Arizona, the story unfolds as Russell allows Walker to live, hunt and trap in Sioux country, along with some tenderfoot sidekick (Byrnes) . All goes well (with some nice comic moments) until a runaway Indian maiden (Andra Martin) stumbles upon the men and they shield her from her tribe which leads to mayhem and murder.
Next posting:
The directors
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