bkoganbing The producing/directing team of Harry Sherman and George Archaimbaud who turned out a couple dozen Hopalong Cassidy movies moved away from Hoppy and the Bar 20 to give us The Kansan, an independent film from United Artists. This western stars Richard Dix as the Shane like character who takes a hand in stopping a bank robbery by the notorious James gang. Dix gets good and shot up for his troubles, but while he's on the mend he finds he's been elected town marshal.Engineering his election is town banker Albert Dekker who has many interests, legal and extralegal and he'd like a gun-hand like Dix as marshal to look after those interests. Dekker has cause for regret as Dix takes the job very seriously. Dix also starts courting Jane Wyatt the local innkeeper.That doesn't sit well with Victor Jory who is Dekker's brother. But Jory plays a lone hand in life as the film unfolds.Dix's best years on screen were way behind him when he did The Kansan, but he could and does contribute a solid western characterization and gets solid support from the cast. Eugene Palette as a visiting cattle baron looks a bit lost in the western garb, but he works through it.Western fans will recognize some distinct plot elements the Cecil B. DeMille classic Union Pacific. If you do you know exactly how The Kansan will end.

MartinHafer This is a decent and generally unremarkable western. But, because it stars Richard Dix, it comes off a bit better. While not a household name, Dix was a very fine actor--mostly because he played a great 'everyman'--a believable and rugged guy who was no pretty-boy. Solid, dependable and making the most of his material, he pretty much makes this film worth watching.The film begins well, as it's pretty creative. Dix is a stranger in a new town and soon after arriving, there's a bank robbery. He happens to be in the right place at the time and is able to thwart the robbers. He gets them but is injured in the process. Here's the twist--when he awakens, he hears the crowd outside his window celebrating the election of a new sheriff...and that sheriff turns out to be HIM! Too good to be true? Yep. That's because a powerful rich guy has his own reasons for having the stranger become sheriff. Fortunately, Dix's character is on dummy. What's next? See this one yourself.Overall, not a bad little film. Despite a VERY familiar plot, Dix and some decent baddies (Victor Jory and Albert Dekker) are able to elevate this one to more than just another time-passer.

jetan This probably doesn't deserve the "B Movie" sobriquet. The production values are pretty high and it is quite heavy on the movie stars. This looks to me like it would have taken the A spot on a bill. Dix is good but Victor Jory nearly steals the show. The high point is likely one of the most over-the-top barroom brawls I've ever seen on celluloid. The script is also fine, although nothing too original. The low point in the movie....aside from a really unfortunate racial caricature.... is probably represented by a really ghastly World War II style showgirl routine based around "When Johnny Comes Marching Home". All in all, a satisfying show.

classicsoncall This obscure 'B' Western stands a cut above most with some creative writing and rather good performances by the principals. The film also offers a number of elements that I hadn't seen before after reviewing almost three hundred Westerns in this forum. Though a standard feature for this venue, the barroom brawl here is one of the longest and best staged fights you'll ever see, initiated by cattleman Tom Waggoner's (Eugene Palette) response to a couple of cowpokes who reach for their guns (see my summary line above). Once the fur starts to fly, you'll notice a couple of saloon girls join the action, and they manage to get the upper hand in their respective segments.Speaking of saloon girls, there was also a spirited song and dance rendition of 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home' by an actress who wasn't the female lead, another rarity. For that role, it was a surprise to see Jane Wyatt in an early film appearance, looking rather gorgeous as the hotel manager in Broken Lance. She spends her time in the film balancing her affections between the picture's star, Richard Dix, and Victor Jory, portraying the brother of town boss, Steve Barat (Albert Dekker). Jory always manages to succeed well in his roles, and is one of the few actors who can pull off hero and villain roles just as easily. In this one he straddles the fence for pretty much the entire picture, keeping you guessing on which way he'll turn by the finale. Speaking of which, one gets a fairly good impression that Jory's character didn't make it, but if this was a serial, he would have shown up in the next chapter.Then there's Willie Best in a comic relief role, used unfortunately to so much of the stereotype of a scaredy cat black man when facing danger. There was also an unfortunate line uttered by John Bonniwell (Dix) when he asked 'Bones' to "Come here boy". This was a pretty common occurrence in pictures of the era, and subliminally comes across as racist. With today's rarefied sense of political correctness, the comment was certainly noticeable, however Bonniwell treated Bones well throughout the rest of the picture.As for the story, a couple other reviewers do a good job of explaining the basic plot, so I won't dwell on that. With my viewing, I was on the lookout for supporting and uncredited actors that often pop up in these oaters, and "The Kansan" is a gold mine if you pay attention. Robert Armstrong is a Waggoner cattleman behind a mustache, and Rod Cameron is on board as a cowhand. It's easy to miss George Reeves in that quick shoot 'em up opening scene as Jesse James, while Jason Robards Sr. operates as one of Steve Barat's bank tellers. The rest of the uncredited cast holds a whole pile of bit actors whose names pop up in Westerns all up and down the Forties and Fifties.