The Return of Jack Slade (1955) Poster

(1955)

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7/10
perfect relax is an old unpretentious western
pzanardo31 January 2001
"The return of Jack Slade" makes me think that perfect relax, if not happiness, is an old unpretentious western of the 1950's. Everything in the movie contributes to smooth the viewer's nerves. The story is linear, pleasantly predictable, with a suitable number of classic gunfights and dramatic events. The hero John Ericson (Jack Slade) is handsome and fast with his gun. Neville Brand makes a nice job as the villain Sutton. The movie is entirely filmed in open air: the viewer breaths freely, he feels to ride together with the guys on the screen. A little paradox: the locations are beautiful, but not stunning (that's not Monument Valley or similar wonders of nature). Yet this very fact increases the relax of the viewer: too much beauty could require a tiresome concentration...

And there is a beautifully romantic, even touching love-story... Let's give much credit to the loveliness, charm and niceness of Mari Blanchard as Texas Rose (this very name is a treat: isn't it?).

And, yes, we also find a good deal of mild, agreeable erotism in the movie. You know, the camp of the outlaws swarms with gorgeous, cheerful girls (a very young Angie Dickinson among the others)... they all wear tight trousers and shirts, showing that they are, well, in great physical shape, to say the least... and the girls keep guns in holsters, and they draw and shoot, and a couple of them wrestle on the ground of jealousy... Thereafter three smiling beauties, even more attractive wearing 19th century lady robes, hijack a stagecoach, with alluring toughness... Light, good-taste erotism, perfect for dreaming without being disturbed.

I don't want to be misunderstood: "The return of Jack Slade" is a flick of no consequence (but the intense presence of Mari Blanchard is something, believe me). I don't care: I really had a good time seeing this movie.
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7/10
Good flick but could have been better!
jeanbarb26 September 2007
I like all the films staring Ericson. He has always been an under rated actor. No one would know he was born in Germany. The film is a good, not great, Western. Why it was not done in color is beyond me. I wished it would have been a bit more true historically but thats the way of the westerns of the fifties! The film does have some witty moments. Another asset is Neville Brand. He was one of the all time heavies and shows his stuff in this flick. Worth the time to watch! The outdoor scenes are also good. Was also a good start for Angie Dickinson who does not have a great part but still shines. The interaction of Slade and "Com padre" is also good but could have been longer. I also like the fact that the weapons are accurate for the period. Most flicks of this era didn't pay much attention to the details. Although an older film parental discretion should be used because of the violence.
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7/10
A really good 50's Oater
jimo316 February 2005
This is definitely a low budget picture but it has some pretty good production values. The film seems to be filmed totally outdoors and the use of polarizing or yellow filters made the sky shots dramatic. John Ericson's performance isn't particularly dramatic but for a 50s oater it was was above average. He's almost "too pretty" for this kind of role. I thought the winning over of Mari Blanchard was sort of hokey given that she stole Ericson's gun in the beginning of the movie. I found the romance between the two sort of forced but she was nice eye candy.

Nevil Brand played his usually great bad guy and he's one of my favorite western actors along with Jack Elam.

It was pleasant to see Angie Dickinson in one of her early performances.

One of the bones I have to pick with this film is a certain lack of realism. Cowboys of the period didn't wear belts to hold their pants up. They wore suspenders. Pants of the period didn't have belt loops
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7/10
A fun shoot-em-up with good kissing thrown in....
stancym-120 April 2006
The movie has more pluses than minuses. John Ericson is, there's no other word for it, sexy. Plus, he can really handle a gun! It's not his all time best performance (I still think that's in RHAPSODY) but it's solid.

He's a plus, and I really liked his friend in the film, Johnny, played by Jon Sheppod. I was sorry he didn't have a bigger part in the film. There are some nice love scenes between Ericson and Mari Blanchard.

I think Angie Dickinson even in a small role has more star power and beauty than Blanchard, and I would have liked to see her in Blanchard's part, chasing Ericson. But she's fun to watch anyway.

OK, you have to forgive the fact that the women are dressed in tight pants, wear ponytails and a lot of make-up--they look like women of the fifties, not the post-Civil War era.

And I was disappointed the film was not in color, especially since most of it is shot outdoors. But all in all, a good Western with scrumptious eye candy.
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7/10
Not bad for an Allied Artists production!
JohnHowardReid19 July 2017
Warning: Spoilers
An Allied Artists picture. A Lindsley Parsons Production. Copyright 1955 by Allied Artists Corporation. New York opening at the Globe: 23 November 1955. U.S. release: 9 October 1953. U.K. release through Associated British-Pathé: 16 September 1956 (sic). Australian release through Paramount: 19 March 1959 (sic). 7,114 feet. 79 minutes. Cut to 6,558 feet (less than 73 minutes) in order to gain a "General Exhibition" certificate in Australia. U.K. release title: "TEXAS ROSE".

SYNOPSIS: Jack Slade (John Ericson), son of a famous Wells Fargo gunslinger of the mid-80's and a phenomenal man with a Colt revolver in his own right, is hired by Joseph Ryan (Howard Petrie) as a Pinkerton guard. Ryan assigns Slade to get all information he can on a large band of Wyoming outlaws, headed by Billy Wilcox (Casey Adams).

NOTES: A sequel to "Jack Slade" (1953) starring Mark Stevens, also directed by Harold Schuster from a Warren Douglas script.

Superscope was the only major anamorphic projection process that used a ratio other than the CinemaScope standard of 2.35:1. The Superscope screen was exactly twice as wide as it was high. Allowing for extra waste space top and bottom, movies were shot in the standard way on standard film. In the laboratory, the image was masked 2:1 by the Technicolor company and then transferred anamorphically to standard 35 mm projection prints. Sounds a bit like Technicolor's later variation, Techniscope? You guessed it. VIEWERS' GUIDE: Adults.

COMMENT: Surprisingly well directed and crisply written western with a fan-pleasing portion of action and sex, the latter commodity being very ably supplied by Misses Blanchard and Dickinson.

Screenwriter Warren Douglas also acted as dialogue supervisor, which doubtless explains the better-than-average quality of the acting. Production credits are good — the music score particularly, which comes across as one of Paul Dunlap's most stirring and exciting.

OTHER VIEWS: Two of the most ruggedly beautiful mountain settings in California were used in the filming of "The Return of Jack Slade". The company worked near Lone Pine, on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains and in the region of Sonora, on the west side of the range. The Allied Artists' film is a sequel to "Jack Slade", in which Mark Stevens portrayed the unforgettable character of a Wells Fargo manager who ruthlessly killed every outlaw he faced. John Ericson is cast as Slade's son. — Allied Artists publicity.
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6/10
Variations On 'The Yellow Rose Of Texas'
boblipton26 February 2023
In this loose sequel to JACK SLADE (1953), John Ericson is the son of a fabled killer of bad guys out west. He's as fast and accurate with a gun as his father. Howard Petrie recruits him to root out the Hole In The Wall Gang. Ericson goes undercover and discovers they're a non-sexist bunch, including Mari Blanchard, Donna Drew, and Angie Dickinson in her movie debut. Ericson and Miss Blanchard fall into each other's arms quickly, yearning for a normal life, but psychopathic Max Showalter keeps psychopathing.

He's good at it, adding some psychological depth to this Allied Artist western, as does the loneliness of Ericson. The gang is a bunch of really mean guys, which gets tiring, except for Showalter, but the action sequences, including the last shootout, are pretty good.

Director Harold Schuster would head only a couple of more movies, then retreat to TV work. He had started out as an editor, and was good at that. He shifted over to directing in the late 1930s, but had never reached the top ranks, and so slid down the rankings, still turning out good pictures, but less in demand. He died in 1986, aged 83.
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9/10
Surprisingly enjoyable!
Mbarnum18 June 2001
For a low budget Allied Artists oater this one is quite remarkable. The story of the son of Jack Slade infiltrating an outlaw gang really held my interest, and I am not generally a fan of westerns. John Ericson was probably too good looking for his own good, but he did still manage to find interesting and challenging character roles in a variety of small budget action films in the 50s while others like him were stuck in the rut of playing the handsome hero. He does a great job in THE RETURN OF JACK SLADE, probably better then the average 50s B-actor would have done. Mari Blanchard is also impressive as Texas Rose, the somewhat good girl mixed up with some bad boys, and the romantic chemistry between the two is quite believable and touching. If you come across this one late at night, stick around, I think you will enjoy it.
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I prefered the first one
searchanddestroy-16 February 2023
Yes folks, I prefered the film starring Mark Stevens, from the same director Harold Schuster, made a couple of years earlier; it was far more interesting, darker, than this one. It remains a honest western, very predictable, bland and, I repeat, just bearable to waste time. I have seen it a long time ago and forgot it just after watching. The main interest remains Neville Brand, Mari Blanchard and an early Angie Dickinson's role, several years before RIO BRAVO. John Ericson is quite good though. So, please don't avoid this western at all costs only because I preferd the first JACK SLADE; after all, it's just a matter of opinion. The only thing is that I will never forget the first movie with Mark Stevens, whilst I will forge this one just after a couple of days.
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