This is a tough one to like for several reasons. Mark Stevens stars as a guy who turned outlaw because as a kid he was forced to watch some ranchers lynch his pa for helping himself to one of their horses. His big brother went the other way, becoming a hard-nosed marshal who later sent his brother off for an eight-year paid vacation to the nearest graybar hotel with a very restrictive checkout policy.
Fresh out, Stevens has a plan to go mostly legit, but lands in a simmering range war. One greedy Ben Cartwright wannabe rancher vs. Some pious, hard working farmers who just want a humble piece of the valley to raise crops and young 'uns. How original.
But the script overflows with a**holery beyond the rich rancher and his cadre of bullies. The two brothers are jerks toward each other and everyone else - including the women (Kobe the ingenue; Robbins the hardened saloon gal with a heart o' gold) what loves Stevens - for far too much of the running time. When the inevitable ending arrives, it plays out so hastily and oddly that it seems like they ran out of film or budget, and cut the script short. Couldda been a lot better than it was.
Fresh out, Stevens has a plan to go mostly legit, but lands in a simmering range war. One greedy Ben Cartwright wannabe rancher vs. Some pious, hard working farmers who just want a humble piece of the valley to raise crops and young 'uns. How original.
But the script overflows with a**holery beyond the rich rancher and his cadre of bullies. The two brothers are jerks toward each other and everyone else - including the women (Kobe the ingenue; Robbins the hardened saloon gal with a heart o' gold) what loves Stevens - for far too much of the running time. When the inevitable ending arrives, it plays out so hastily and oddly that it seems like they ran out of film or budget, and cut the script short. Couldda been a lot better than it was.