bkoganbing Despite an unnecessary prologue in which we are treated to a history of the life and career of William Quantrill, Arizona Raiders concerns us with the efforts of former Quantrill members Audie Murphy and Ben Cooper to capture a large band of former Quantrill men led by Michael Dante and George Keymas who are now operating in Arizona.The man who captured Murphy and Cooper is Buster Crabbe former Army captain and now in charge of the new Arizona Rangers. He's offering Murphy and Cooper a Dirty Dozen like mission, get them and there will be a pardon awaiting. What Crabbe doesn't know is that Murphy is both one unreconstructed rebel and he's got a younger brother in the Rangers already played by Ray Stricklyn. That fact cuts several ways before the film is over.Arizona Raiders is a decent enough western. Murphy was still going strong in doing these second feature B films. But it was certainly nothing you couldn't see on television where westerns ruled at that time on the small screen.

Spikeopath William Quantrell's raiders are cornered by Capt. Tom Andrews and Quantrell and a number of his men are killed. Two are captured whilst Montana Smith and the others escape to carry on their illegal operations. Clint Stewart and Willie Martin are the two captives, who much to their surprise, are spared a death sentence on account of Capt. Andrews vouching for them as soldiers of integrity and honour. Sentenced to 20 years hard labour, the guys are faced with an interesting proposition when Andrews offers to break them out so as they can join the Arizona Rangers. The plan being for them to infiltrate the renegade Raiders and help to bring them down.With few votes and even less reviews of substance written, one could be forgiven for thinking that Arizona Raiders is barely worth the time. Using elements of the Quantrell Raiders legacy and blending with the Texas Rangers plot lines, Arizona Raiders is not found wanting in the entertainment department. Directed by William Witney and starring Audie Murphy, Buster Crabbe {this film not to be confused with Crabbe's 1936 film, The Arizona Raiders} and Michael Dante, it's a film that has a number of issues within its plot. It would have been easy to just have it as a straight forward tale about bad guys turning good {something other reviewers claim it to be}, but writers Frank Gruber and Richard Schayer add impetus to the good v bad axis by cramming in other factors.Murphy plays lead protagonist Clint Stewart, asked to basically switch sides and loyalties, his conflict-ion is excellently portrayed by genre legend Murphy. His resolve is further tested by emotional pulls involving his brother and best friend, with Witney and his team seemingly happy to put Stewart thru the mangler, with the result being a richly told character strand. Also into the equation comes the role of the Indians, so often seen as the nemesis and bad boys of the genre, here they get something slightly different as they become involved in this white man squabble, it's really rather refreshing the part they have to play. Tho the score from Richard LaSalle is badly out of sorts, this is off set a touch by the visual treat on offer with the locale. Beautifully shot by Jacques R. Marquette, the Gold Canyon location is a sumptuous extra character, giving an added depth to the story unfolding. The story is nicely paced by Witney, who rightly gives us development of characters in the first half of the piece, while all the genre staples of shoot outs, villains and chases are nicely added to the already intriguing broth.A little treasure as far as this viewer is concerned. So if you be a genre fan such as I? Well do catch this one given the chance. 7/10

ashew It is impossible to imagine a worse beginning to a film. Booth Colman plays a newspaper man who provides a long, meandering, long, convoluted, long, unnecessary, and overly LONG introduction explaining Quantrill's history. He actually breaks the fourth wall and talks directly into the camera as if we're his junior high school class. This goes on for a full SEVEN MINUTES before the movie starts, then they cut to Quantrill himself leading his men to a raid and we are treated to a DIFFERENT actor providing voice-over narration explaining what Quantrill is doing ALL OVER AGAIN. I GIVE!! UNCLE!! MAKE IT STOP!!! Audie Murphy and Ben Cooper are convicted for their part in riding with Quantrill and not until THIRTY-EIGHT MINUTES into the film are they sprung from a chain gang by Buster Crabbe to earn unconditional pardons for themselves by becoming Arizona Raiders, infiltrating the newly-formed gang of old raiders, and bringing them all to justice. Even film fans who have never taken Screenplay 101 know that the entire premise of the film needs to be provided to the audience within the first ten minutes of the film, not thirty-eight! The most excruciating of all endurance tests.Because Audie Murphy is the good guy, we know all the "tension" generated by whether he will or won't keep his promise to the rangers is pointless...of course, he strays from the goal every once in a while and someone close to him always manages to die because of it, so he is kept on the righteous path. Of course, the screenwriter has the most important symbol that Audie should care about die first, then a less important person (who seems to make a bigger difference to Audie), and then a Yaqui Indian woman is the one who drives it all home for him (even though they have no relationship and he has no reason to care at all about her). That's just dumb. On top of all that, the first half of the film sets up George Keymas' character as the arch-nemesis for Audie's character (and the main reason Audie agrees to become a ranger), yet it is all undermined when Audie kills him immediately upon finding the gang's hideout halfway through the film! From than point on, Michael Dante's character becomes the main nemesis, but he and Audie have no history/personal grudge/drama/conflict between each other...Dante's character is not even remotely as interesting, or evil, or sadistic as Keymas' character, so it becomes a "So what?" kind of scenario. Everything that gets built up fizzles into ho-hum and is undermined by the screenwriter, so we're left with a lot of dopiness and zero tension.Okay, now for the good parts...Audie Murphy, Ben Cooper, Ray Stricklyn, and Buster Crabbe are EXCELLENT!! They absolutely lift this poorly written and constructed film up several notches just by their presence and commitment to their characters. Audie Murphy was short, soft-spoken, and baby-faced...on paper, not the ideal characteristics for a Western hero (truly the anti-John Wayne)...yet it speaks volumes about his charisma and talent (especially for a self-professed "non-actor") that he is such a joy to watch.If one can ignore the lousy stunt work, even worse stunt doubling, bad foley work, and unimpressive soundtrack, the directing was not bad at all. The action was handled well, and the Arizona scenery was really a pleasure to see.This is, at BEST, a so-so film...for Audie Murphy fans only. If you can grip the seat cushions and force yourself through the first thirty-eight minutes, the rest of the film has several nice moments that are decent rewards for the initial torture. Don't spend money to rent or buy it, but if it comes on cable, it's worth a look.

Gidgetlea1240 It was really great watching it being filmed. I was lucky enough to meet and get autographs from AUDIE MURPHY, BEN COOPER, GLORIA TALBOTT, GEORGE KEYMAS. Lucky enough to get my picture taken with BEN COOPER. I rate this movie 1000% I also have a bought copy and watch it quite often. Gidget [Lilly