User Reviews

Director: GEORGE TEMPLETON. Screenplay: Alan Le May. Based on his 1934 novel, Thunder in the Dust. Photography: Winton C. Hoch. Color by Technicolor. Film editor: Jack Ogilvie. Art director: John B. Goodman. Music: Leonid Raab, Rudolph Schrager. Music director: Irvin Talbot. Orchestrated by Joseph Nussbaum, George Parrish, Leonid Raab. "O'Riley's Song" (Preston) by Al Colombo (music) and Alan Le May (lyrics). Wardrobe: Byron Munson. Technicolor color consultant: Mitchell Kovaleski. Assistant directors: Harry Templeton, James Paisley. Sound recording: Gene Garvin, Harry Lindgren. Producer: Alan Le May. A Le May—Templeton Production.

Copyright 31 December 1949 by Nuys Theatre Corporation. U.S. release through Eagle Lion: 1 February 1950. New York opening at the Palace: 4 May 1950. Australian release through British Empire Films: 30 November 1951. 85 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: An outlaw joins a law-abiding rancher to combat a group of cattle rustlers.

NOTES: George "Dink" Templeton directed only three features in his lifetime, of which this is the first. He followed with "Quebec" in 1951 and "A Gift for Heidi" in 1958. He also directed seven shorts from 1944 through 1946 and episodes of the TV "Rawhide" series in 1959. Most of his career was spent as an assistant director. Notable films in this capacity were Road to Singapore, The Great McGinty, Christmas in July, Ministry of Fear, The Affairs of Susan, Variety Girl and Tap Roots. The star of his first short, Trailin' West (1944), was Chill Wills. It's also interesting to note that Jack Elam also figured in the cast.

COMMENT: An odd western, filmed on actual locations in Texas, "The Sundowners" incorporates some potentially interesting story ideas with vibrant, stimulating characters, yet adds up to considerably less than the sum of its parts. Templeton's direction throughout is often regrettably loose, even weak, but the chief fault undoubtedly lies in the casting of colorless Robert Sterling in the key role of the ambivalent rancher who cannot make up his mind whether to accept or reject the outlaw's offer of help. This is a genuine dilemma, but Sterling plays the hero as such a pallid personality, we really don't care what he does.

This lack of audience identification weakens the story-line almost fatally, particularly as Robert Preston takes up the slack to make the charismatic outlaw the central focus of our attention.

John Drew Barrymore (in his movie debut) struggles gamely to regain the initiative for the good side, but is defeated by shallow writing that switches attention to yet another ambivalent character, Kathleen Boyce (the wife of a neighboring rancher), played with understandable uncertainty by Cathy Downs.

We're also never sure whether Jack Elam, who always plays bad guys, is actually on the right side in this movie. Nor do our doubts stop with the Boyces. The sheriff (Don Haggerty) is yet another player in the drama who seems to be playing both ends against the middle.

At least John Litel knows where he stands. He actually makes his confession, in fact. This is one of the film's most impressive scenes. A turning point, we feel. But then the Litel character virtually disappears, allowing Preston to ride roughshod until the final long-anticipated climax with the weak-kneed Sterling.

For all its faults, The Sundowners boasts some fine Technicolor photography, and will certainly prove a treat for Robert Preston's fans. He sings too!

OTHER VIEWS: This ambitious "B" western is almost scuttled by one fatal flaw: An audience simply cannot identify with lead characters that are weak, pallid fence-sitters who lack the drive to put their ideals into action. One or two such waverers may be tolerable in a psychological western, but this movie assembles six or seven: our hero (Sterling), brother (Barrymore), self-appointed friend (Wills), neighbor (Elam), the neighbor's wife (Downs), sheriff (Haggerty), and maybe the sheriff's dad (Litel). Far too many negatives for one movie. Only the villain radiates self-confidence. That's bad!

I was kind of surprised that a low budget studio like Eagle-Lion would actually fork out the cost of Technicolor film (expensive) and on-location filming in Texas (also expensive) for what is essentially an A- (minus) western. An A- western being something that had more money spent on it than a B western, but lacks the star power an "A western" would usually carry. It's not bad although the plot seems a little disjointed at times. It could be because of what an earlier reviewer had said about the studio atrociously editing down the running time of the film, even after all the money they seemed to have spent on it.

Robert Sterling and his "Younger Brother" (played by the recently departed John Drew Barrymore) are caught between competing ranch interests (led by John Litel) who want to lay claim to his land. The sheriff (Litel's son, played by Don Haggerty) even goes so far as to have one of Sterling's ranch hands killed. In walks Sterling's long lost brother, "Kid Wichita" (Robert Preston) who decides to do a little killing for his brother on his own. Sterling even weirdly agrees to it at first but then sees it getting out of hand and decides he has to kill his brother.

There is one memorable scene of Preston being whipped by one of Litel's men as he hides under a rock outcropping, then he grabs the end of the whip and the man tumbles over the ledge to his death, but otherwise this is fairly dreary stuff. Even near the end where Sterling confronts Preston in a draw only to have Sterling's ranch hand Sam Beers (Chill Wills) shoot Preston from the side, seems anti-climatic. It's as if everyone was sleepwalking through their parts, except for Chill Wills and the young Barrymore, who spends most of his time grimacing at the camera, making faces like he's trying to act too hard. But hell, he was only 18 at the time and it was his first film so I guess that's understandable.

Also notable for as an early role for Jack Elam as Earl Boyce, a neighboring rancher that Preston guns down in his own house, and Cathy Downs plays Elam's wife who may (or may not) have a thing for Sterling. That love interest looks like one of the things edited out of this film.

The Texas scenery is more interesting than the film itself and gives the viewer a break from the usual California locations that we've seen a thousand times before. VCI used a pretty good print for their DVD with minor blemishes and scratches. Considering the film stock's age, it looks in pretty good shape.

Worth a look. I'd give it a 5½ out of 10.

The summary line above, spoken by James Cloud (Robert Preston) to his brother Tom (Robert Sterling) just about says it all. Jim, AKA Kid Wichita, has a way of making things happen, only trouble is, he usually leaves dead bodies where he's been. Not the sort of mentoring Tom envisions for younger brother Jeff, who likes what he sees in Jim, especially when defending their ranch against local Texas cattlemen.

The opening credits state 'Introducing John Barrymore Jr. as the Younger Brother', in this his very first screen appearance. That seemed rather odd to me, particularly since he was addressed as Jeff almost immediately into the story. Approximately eighteen at the time of this movie, he bears a passing resemblance to Sean Penn. No stranger to personal and legal problems throughout his career as well as estrangement from his family, I was left wondering if his daughter Drew Barrymore might have ever seen this picture. I'm inclined to think not.

On the subject of resemblances, I was also struck by the thought that the young Robert Sterling looked a bit like Roy Rogers early in his career. Knowing Sterling previously only from his role as George Kerby in the early 1950's TV series 'Topper', I thought he looked out of place in a Western, but that might just be me. His character becomes emboldened by his brother's resourcefulness at creating trouble, and provides some of the edginess to this not so typical story. Minor subplots abound, including the relationship rancher John Gall (John Litel) has with his son the Sheriff (who Kid Wichita kills), and the troubled marriage between Kathleen Boyce (Cathy Downs) and her husband Earl (who Kid Wichita kills). Chill Wills rounds out the main cast as one of Tom Cloud's hired hands, and figures in the somewhat predictable finale.

What's not quite predictable is how things eventually wind up there, and for that reason, this Western earns points for following a less traveled, hence not quite as formulaic a plot as a lot of good brother/bad brother Westerns do. Combined with the eclectic casting of the principals, it's one I'd recommend, even if you have to endure some of the jump cuts and sloppy editing that I experienced with my copy.

"The Sundowners" was originally released back in 1950.

Anyway - As the story goes - In this tale of two brothers caught on opposite sides of the law, James Cloud is the heroic and upright sibling while his brother Tom is the dastardly villain who threatens both his brother and his brother's son.

One of the main plot threads that runs through most of this Technicolor 1950 western is the question of whether younger brother Jeff((John Drew Barrymore) is going to continue to emulate brother Tom(Robert Sterling), who runs a legitimate cattle ranch in Texas, or brother James(Robert Preston), commonly referred to as Wichita. who is landless, and seems to roam around doing odd legitimate and illegitimate jobs. In contrast to the serious disposition of Tom, Wichita seems laid back, always chuckling, confident of himself, and of his popularity with women, as demonstrated by his pawing of Mrs. Kathy Boyce in her home, with her husband Earl(Jack Elam) absent......Against his better judgement, Tom finally accepts Wichita as a temporary member of his team, deciding that he needs a forceful leader in his battle with rustlers. But, besides protecting Tom's cattle from being stolen, Wichita and his small gang, including brother Jeff, engage in some rustling of their own. He kills one of the hands of neighbor John Gall, caught rustling with several others. Then, he sneaks into the sheriff's office afterhours and assassinates Sheriff Gall: son of John Gall. Apparently, he had connected the enemy rustlers, who had just exited from the sheriff's office, with Gall, and decided to cut off the head of the dragon. Interestingly, Father Gall decided to appoint himself the new sheriff! Then, he sneaked into the house of Earl and Kathy Boyce, and assassinated Earl, who was sitting at the kitchen table. It was not crystal clear why he did this, as Earl was not connected with the rustling. Probably, he wanted to eliminate Earl as a possible witness to his rumored killing of Tom's previous foreman, in a night raid. Also, possibly he wanted to eliminate him as Kathy's husband.......Then, there is the climactic shootout between Gall's rustlers and Wichita's gang plus Tom and Sam(Chill Wills), who arrived later. Brother Jeff is seriously wounded, and captured. But each of the brothers, including Jeff, kills one of the 3 rustlers. Tom takes Jeff to his cabin for recovery, and vows he will bring Wichita in to the new sheriff(meaning he will kill him), for his presumed(although unproven) guilt in killing the Sheriff and Earl Boyce. A second climax event happens when Wichita shows up at Tom's house, where Tom, Sam, Jeff, and Kathy are waiting. The atmosphere is tense, as the men spread themselves out some meters apart. One gun is pulled from it's holster, quickly followed by several others. Soon, one man is dead.....We wonder the fate of Tom. Is he arrested as an accomplice to Wichita's murders? Does he leave the area, as several have suggested? Does Kathy leave the area, as threatening to do?. Do Tom and Kathy resume their secret romantic dallying, now that she is a widow? Does brother Jeff resume his role as a hand for Tom, now that Wichita is dead? Or does he continue to seek a life like Wichita's....... As frequently cast, Robert Preston's character of Wichita doesn't seem all bad. He did his job of eliminating the rustling, but his methods weren't approved by the legal establishment, nor the town's people. Another classic example of a Preston character who is partly good and partly bad is seen in the Cecil DeMille epic "Union Pacific"......The action was filmed on site at several locations in north Texas, including Palo Dura Canyon, sometimes providing rather spectacular settings for battles or roaming.......See it at YouTube..Don't confuse this film with the 1960 film of the same title, but with quite a different setting and story.

This is one of those westerns that, well, stands practically alone in the unrelieved quality of its dialog. Very few can hold up to it over the long haul. That said, the rest is pretty bad. Nevertheless I am giving it an eight because there is no other western with such consistently good dialog with maybe the exception of The Wild Bunch, Junior Bonner, and perhaps a few more.

It is riddled with weaknesses, John Drew Barrimore the most glaring. However it does have one truly memorable scene. Nothing like it. Its right after Kid Wichita kills the sheriff, and goes to Jack Elams place trying to goad him into a fight. Wonderful stuff. Right up with the best in any western.