JohnHowardReid Producer: Grant Whytock. An Admiral Pictures production, released through Columbia. Copyright 1 May 1964 by Admiral Pictures. No New York showcasing. U.S. release: April 1964. U.K. release: 10 May 1964. Australian release: 10 April 1964. 7,918 feet. 88 minutes. Censored to 86 minutes in Australia.SYNOPSIS: Clint Cooper, who left his home town after being forced into a duel in which the sons of a powerful rancher were killed, decides to return and claim his right to his father's ranch and to Helen Reed, his schoolteacher sweetheart. On the way he learns that a large gang plans to rob the town bank. When he arrives he finds that most of the townsmen have left on a cattle drive but he agrees to help Scotty the sheriff, an old friend of his, and a few elderly men remaining in the town, defend the town against the gang.NOTES: This movie was filmed in Techniscope which was an anamorphic projection system developed by the Technicolor company. Scenes were photographed in CinemaScope proportions by using a wide-angle lens that threw two images instead of one on a single frame of standard 35mm film stock, thus saving companies half the cost of raw film. In processing, each wide-angle image was anamorphically squeezed on to a single frame. The prints look identical to CinemaScope prints and are projected in the same way. Despite the 50% reduction in camera frame area, the prints were claimed to be nonetheless sharp and well defined.COMMENT: Villain Ted de Corsia is not nearly as appealing in the first half of this low-budget western, as he is in the second half where he shares a delightful scene in a saloon with heroine Merry Anders. Indeed most of the action in the film also takes place in the second half and while this is attractively photographed (the townsfolk against the yellow flames of the barricade), the people generally, with the exception of Audie Murphy, are not photographed half as well. Miss Anders, particularly, suffers from this unattractive lensing.Musician Richard La Salle has obviously been listening to Jerome Moross' score for "The Big Country", but I liked it anyway!The film does have one really unusual feature in that the script kills off the second lead before the big action finale. Frank Ferguson does not altogether make the happiest of substitutes.

Hollycon1 Audie Murphy is one of my favorite actors, in westerns he's real good. Clint Cooper returns to the town he was run out of, 2 years prior to the start of the movie, and he Audie, tells a flash back-like story. He returns because he wants to redeem himself, and in the beginning it's tense, but as per usual, the town begins to let Clint Cooper know, everything isn't as it seems. So, without giving the plot away and telling how well lit the scenes are, I will just end by saying if you like to root for the good guy turned bad guy, turned good guy, then you might like this film. One funny thing is seeing a rough tough rancher with a bright purple shirt on. Something tells me, that wouldn't have happened back in the day. The trouble starts when Tom Morris finds out that Clint Cooper is back in town! Tom want's revenge for Clint killing his two sons in a gun fight while Tom Morris and his sons were trying to steal Clint's families land. So the towns people hate Clint and want him gone! But the town doesn't have time to run him off this time. Spangler's on his way with his gang to rob the town and burn it to the ground if "I feel like it, nobody could stop us". Clint's been thinking about the cute little school marm he left behind, figures he can come home and pick up where he left off! But she's gonna marry Clint's old buddy the Town Sheriff. So watch and see how all this untangles! But be careful 'couse Clint's gun "got to fast"

djlouey It's your standard bad guy vs. good bad guy western. Clint Cooper returns to the town that ran him off and reluctantly agrees to stay and fight the coming horde of thieves. Though this is a very predictable plot, it doesn't feature the huge leaps that are common in some westerns from the era.Watching this movie 41 years after it's release and judging it by today's standards isn't really fair. It is from a simpler time in history and as a result seems naive to us.Today you would never see scenes that are supposed to occur at night happening in obvious sunlight. The melo-drama is passe. Everyone knows that gunshots are messy, except in old westerns. Having said all of that, fans of the genre and Audie Murphey will no doubt enjoy this film.I also enjoyed watching James Best before his Dukes of Hazard days. While I am not one who thinks that his performances as Sheriff of Hazard County are un-noteworthy, this role really opened my eyes to his versatility and talent as an actor.

vinnienh The problem with most of the Audie Murphy westerns are: they are not exciting. This is probably one of the last old fashioned style westerns Hollywood used to make for such a long time. The story is rather naive and so are the characters: Merry Anders is awful in her role of solid yet biting (yes!) schoolteacher, the only thing that is curious is to see a young James Best in a pre-"Dukes of Hazzard" sherrif role. Even Ted de Corsia doesn't get a chance to play a real villain.