I've seen hundreds of Westerns, and this might be one of the dumbest, well maybe that's not the right word, but certainly one of the most ill conceived Western stories I've ever come across. The premise of a green tenderfoot Easterner arriving out West and becoming a gunfighter isn't the problem, it's just that the story here didn't seem to be written with any conviction. Dan Duryea's character Willie Duggan is clueless when he first arrives at the Silver Lady Saloon, and proves it by ordering up a hot pitcher of coffee and another one of hot milk!
By this time in his career, Dan Duryea had plenty of movie and TV credits, so I can't believe he played his character this badly without being directed in such a manner. As viewers, we're never really given any reason for Willie's motivation to become a bounty hunter, other than the easy money he and partner Captain Luther (Fuzzy Knight) picked up for bringing in Big Jim Seldon (Red Morgan) almost by accident. So when Willie declares he's going to go full time and bring in wanted outlaws alive, I was just as incredulous as the sheriff. In any other picture there would have been screen time spent on showing Willie practicing with a gun and mastering his quick draw technique over a period of time, but here he became a gunman in no time at all.
If anything, the draw for me was catching a host of veteran movie cowboys riding into their career sunset with the likes of Johnny Mack Brown, Buster Crabbe, Bob Steele and Fuzzy Knight on hand. Crabbe seemed to have the lion's share of the screen time among them as outlaw Mike Clayman, and I had to do a double take when his gang arrived to rescue him from Willie and the Captain; his henchman Jeb (John Reach) actually pushed a horse out of the way with his hands! That's about when I gave up on the picture.
But I stuck around to the conclusion because that's the vow I made myself to review these movies. With bad writing, terrible dialog, and a main character who goes from milquetoast to vicious killer, I can only surmise that the film makers meant to make the picture this bad on purpose.
By this time in his career, Dan Duryea had plenty of movie and TV credits, so I can't believe he played his character this badly without being directed in such a manner. As viewers, we're never really given any reason for Willie's motivation to become a bounty hunter, other than the easy money he and partner Captain Luther (Fuzzy Knight) picked up for bringing in Big Jim Seldon (Red Morgan) almost by accident. So when Willie declares he's going to go full time and bring in wanted outlaws alive, I was just as incredulous as the sheriff. In any other picture there would have been screen time spent on showing Willie practicing with a gun and mastering his quick draw technique over a period of time, but here he became a gunman in no time at all.
If anything, the draw for me was catching a host of veteran movie cowboys riding into their career sunset with the likes of Johnny Mack Brown, Buster Crabbe, Bob Steele and Fuzzy Knight on hand. Crabbe seemed to have the lion's share of the screen time among them as outlaw Mike Clayman, and I had to do a double take when his gang arrived to rescue him from Willie and the Captain; his henchman Jeb (John Reach) actually pushed a horse out of the way with his hands! That's about when I gave up on the picture.
But I stuck around to the conclusion because that's the vow I made myself to review these movies. With bad writing, terrible dialog, and a main character who goes from milquetoast to vicious killer, I can only surmise that the film makers meant to make the picture this bad on purpose.