classicsoncall Here's a perfect example of film makers pulling two historical names out of the past, putting them together and then throwing them up against the wall to see what sticks. This story could just as easily have been told without the names of Calamity Jane and Sam Bass in the title, but then I guess it might not have been a draw at the cinema. Oh well, it could have been worse.It turns out that the film had some pretty good star power going for it, at least in retrospect. Howard Duff and Lloyd Bridges both had respectable careers in film and TV, and the inclusion of Yvonne De Carlo as one of the title characters was an interesting casting decision. To me she'll always be Lily Munster, but she had a pretty diverse career as well. The surprise for me in this picture was Willard Parker in the role of Sheriff Will Egan. It made me wonder why I've never seen him in another movie Western before, as he was one of my TV favorites as a kid watching "Tales of the Texas Rangers". He partnered with the always hungry Harry Lauter as Ranger Clay Morgan.Even though the Calamity Jane/Sam Bass team up is pure fiction, the story itself is fairly credible in the way it follows a hard luck cowpoke trying to make his way honorably, but sidelined by circumstances that create a turn for the worse. The business about the Denton Mare suddenly brought back to life was a stretch though; everyone at the race who saw him go down knew he was dead, and one of the bystanders even offered to bury it.What I thought was clever was the way the story ended, requiring the viewer to try and figure out which woman Sam Bass was talking about when he revealed his feverish dream about owning his own ranch and sharing it with a 'different' girl, the only one he really loved. That could have been either Calamity or Kathy Egan (Dorothy Hart), so in a way, he was able to let them both down easy. Personally, I lean toward Miss Egan, but otherwise it's a close toss up.There actually was one element the film makers got right historically. The real Sam Bass did die a day after being shot by a Texas Ranger near Round Rock, Texas. He was buried there, with the remains of the original gravestone marker on display at the Public Library in downtown Round Rock on Sam Bass Road.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) Sometimes you feel a film counts more for its nostalgic values than for its merits. And this western is worth seeing just for that, and also for its great Technicolor. From the days of my youth when I read comics I learned that Sam Bass was quite a mean guy. Here he is a hero , but a doomed hero because no outlaw could get away from Hollywood's moral code. Anyway you root for him as you feel he is getting every time into more trouble specially because of his taste for horse races. I am not a a fan of Yvonne de Carlo, she was the star in two awful westerns "Frontier Gal" and "Salome, where she danced", but here she manages to let Howard Duff as Sam Bass be the main character even though Calamity Jane comes first in the title. Lloyd Bridges is Sam's friend, Joel Collins. George Sherman, besides directing wrote the film's story.

gridoon2018 ....since Sam Bass is clearly the central character here, and Calamity Jane the peripheral one. Actually, Calamity is just one of the two women between whom Sam Bass is caught - the other is an incredibly sweet, sensible shopkeeper played by Dorothy Hart - and it really is quite the dilemma. I found myself pondering whom I would choose if I were in his place, but I couldn't make up my mind. Calamity is a role that suits Yvonne De Carlo perfectly - you can tell she is very comfortable with it - and Dorothy Hart is very appealing, too. The Technicolor photography is pleasing to the eye, and the story generally keeps your interest and leads to a surprisingly strong (sad & enigmatic) ending. **1/2 out of 4.

lyon5 This is largely an unremarkable little film, with mostly wooden performances typical of the time in which it was made, but it does show how easy it is for a man to take the wrong turning through no fault of his own, when circumstances beyond his control provide no other option.