dougdoepke Plot-- Trail-driver Cord (McCrea) is blamed for letting his cattle crew wreck a town. After prison, he consents to head up a trail drive that will save the same town's finances. But the town's in competition with an outside cattleman to be first to arrive at the buyer's base and get the contract. So who will win, and can Cord be trusted. Despite the great Joel McCrea and a grabber opening, this is a bland western. The only action, until the showdown, is loping cattle going here and there and who knows where. The rambling script fails to gel into any kind of suspense, with one talky scene after another to accommodate the many characters and subplots. Meanwhile the large supporting cast flounders getting no help from director Warren. The one compensation —the scenic eastern Sierras— is marred by contrast with poorly designed nighttime sets that take us back to the studio. Considering this was a TCF production, I'm surprised it was so poorly put together. Maybe they were trying to capitalize on the McCrea name. But by this time, he was in his mid-50's, still quietly commanding, but aging, nonetheless. At least they don't have him riding into the sunset with one of the girls. Mostly he sits astride his horse and gives orders. As a fan of the ace cowboy, I wish there were more to compliment. But unfortunately, there isn't.

bkoganbing Cattle Empire opens with Joel McCrea being dragged through the streets of a small western town. He's a former trail boss who went to prison because he was held legally responsible for his crew shooting up a town and a lot of people getting permanently injured. That's a first in all the westerns I've ever watched and there've been a lot. But now the big cattle baron in the area, Don Haggerty who incidentally married McCrea's girl Phyllis Coates has need of his services. Haggerty has to get his herd to market and beat another baron's herd there or they win an army beef contract and Haggerty goes broke. Haggerty was also blinded in the fracas that put McCrea in prison.So much nobility in one western I could hardly believe it. McCrea always on film epitomized the strong silent western hero maybe more than any other player. But it was just too much for me to swallow.Steve Raines, Rocky Shahan, and Paul Brinegar wound up on the Rawhide series the following and all three have parts in Cattle Empire. Possibly they were cast after being seen here. In fact Eric Fleming was very much in the Joel McCrea mold as Gil Favor the trail boss, but he was not a candidate for sainthood as McCrea is here.

TheLittleSongbird I wasn't blown away by Cattle Empire, however I do think it is worth the look. The production values are impressive, Joel McCrea is splendid, Gloria Talbott is a welcome presence and Charles Marquis Warren's direction is passable. Also the film starts brilliantly and the climax is pretty strong.What didn't do it for me though was the film's length, it is far too short. The story felt rushed and underdeveloped and the script is decidedly patchy. Less of an issue is the pace, but it is still an issue, if the film had slowed down a little more the characters, story and script could have done with more credibility.All in all, a decent film but nothing really to blow the mind. 6/10 Bethany Cox

ianlouisiana Mr Joel McCrea appeared in two of cinema's finest works at opposite ends of his career,"Sullivan's Travels" near the start and "Ride the high country" near the finish over 20 years later.In between,many of his roles were like that of John Cord in "Cattle Empire",a tarnished hero with a past.A trail boss wrongly convicted of allowing his men to wreck a town in a drunken orgy,Cord returns to Hamiltonville after being released from prison and is promptly arrested and dragged through the streets by horses ridden by irate townsfolk,only to be rescued by a former friend who was blinded in the incident that put Cord behind bars. Hired to take 5,000 head of cattle across unforgiving country to save the town from bankruptcy,Cord also agrees to take another herd in opposition to the original one,thus virtually guaranteeing to ruin Hamiltonville and gain his revenge. Directed by Charles M.Warren,also an experienced writer and producer, "Cattle Empire" is a bit of a journeyman's movie but is enlivened by Mr McCrea deciding to play the part of Cord as if he were John Wayne. As if that wasn't enough to peak our interest there are two brothers called George Washington Jeffery and Thomas Jefferson Jeffrey who run the chuckwagon and shave each other's beards,a pretty gal who dumped Cord when he went to prison and married the blinded man,and a villain racked with guilt who knows the truth about what happened in Hamiltonville five years earlier. The villain rides along at night singing "Streets of Laredo" in a shaky tenor as a tribute to an earlier Warren movie of that name that earned him a W.G.A. nomination in 1950. Ambitious neither in reach nor grasp,"Cattle Empire" is nevertheless a good example of the sadly long - defunct genre of the low - budget but thoughtful and well made western.And Mr McCrea is splendid in it.