Last night's movie was "Stranger on Horseback"(1955), a short-but-epic Western in which Joel McCrea stars as "Judge Richard Thorne", sent to audit the town of Bannerman in an unnamed state that looks like Arizona. He has a philosophy, voiced-over as he rides: "When you come out west, you need two things: your law book and a gun. And the closer you get, the more you hold tight to the latter." When he hits town, the first thing he notices is that everything is named "Bannerman": The Bannerman Hotel, Bannerman General Store, Bannerman Livery. Oh, there's a Kettering's Barber Shop, and a blacksmith named Taylor, but "They're Bannerman's cousins", a tall gent informs him. He's "Col. Buck Streeter" (John Carradine), a Federal prosecutor, but in name only, because he does no prosecuting unless the Bannermans allow him. The silver-tongued Colonel shows Judge Thorne around town, ever the country gentleman (as only John Carradine can play). After conducting a census, Thorne meets with "Sheriff Nat Bell" (Emile Meyer) to ask about crime, and gun violence. "Aww, we never have any of that around here."
Written into an early scene is an acknowledgement by author Louis L'Amour that the town boss "Josiah Bannerman" (John McIntire) is not a back-and-white villain. A Mexican man, an illegal immigrant, is brought by a deputy before the Sheriff. The man explains that his wife died and he's got three boys. "They have only me," he says in broken English, "so I come to America, the rich country". He, and all his small boys, signal a willingness to work, and Col. Streeter says, "there's four new hires for Josiah", indicating that Bannerman hires good men at fair wages. L'Amour's conflict - Judge vs. Land Baron - thus has ambiguities.
Continuing his conversation with the Sheriff, Thorne asks: "What was that funeral I saw when I rode in?"
"Oh, that? Well, that in fact was a shooting, but an act of self defense. It don't count as a crime, so there's no need for me to make an arrest."
But the Judge is thorough. "Okay, well then can I have the name of the man who did the shooting? I need to interview him as part of the process." Sheriff Bell hems and haws, then coughs up: "It's Tom Bannerman, Josiah's son". Smelling a cover-up, Judge Thorne tracks Tom down; he's slamming shots at the Bannerman Saloon. Tom is played by Kevin McCarthy, in Big Grin Mode when he was young. Needless to say, he don't take kindly to being questioned. "You heard the Sheriff, it was self defense!" "Maybe so, but I still have to give you a trial. and until I do, the legal charge is murder."
When Josiah hears about this, he tries to mollify Judge Thorne with an invite to a fancy dinner. "Let's talk like reasonable men. I know my boy's a little wild. I can discipline him myself."
But Thorne can't be swayed: "I can't allow that, Mr. Bannerman. That's not how the law works, I'm afraid".
There's a subplot involving "Amy Lee Bannerman" (Miroslava), Josiah's niece, where she's engaged to the nerdy town banker, also a cousin, but he's a drip and she's attracted to the Judge. Thorne likes her too; she's beautiful and she stands up to Josiah. She's fiery, knows that cousin Tom's a killer, and the plot may hinge on her loyalty to the extensive Bannerman clan. Meanwhile, the Judge has won the allegiance of the Sheriff, who's embarrassed at having been under the thumb of Josiah. Now, he's ready to die upholding the law, and when Judge Thorne decides they need to spirit Tom out of town in the middle of the night, to avoid a multi-Bannerman attack, Sheriff Bell willingly backs him, blowing several holes in the jail door when Josiah's henchmen break it down. The good guys are on the run now, riding over a mountain pass, taking Tom to the town of Cottonwood, where a fair trial can be held away from the Bannerman influence. And lo and behold, Amy Lee rides out to join them, bucking Josiah's orders. Also along are two witnesses who saw the shooting, in which Tom is claiming self-defense. They will testify they saw him try to rape the dead man's wife, and when the man intervened, Tom killed him: it was cold-blooded murdalization.
There's only one trail that leads out of town, so it's easy for Josiah to figure out where the Judge and his group have gone, and with many men to back him up, he tracks Judge Thorne and encircles him in the mountain pass. A gunfight ensues that will not only decide Tom's fate, but that of the Bannerman family going forward.
The movie is about how law and order ultimately settled the West. Before it arrived, in the form of Federal judges and the Army, bullies ran towns, like Trump. They glad-handed a few, paid henchmen well (and henchmen felt powerful by proxy). The citizens went along to get along, and kept their heads down to avoid trouble. And - like Tom Bannerman - the scions had their way, got drunk, or killed someone and called it self defense, and they got away with it because Donald Trump always owned the Sheriff as well as the town. But then the Federal government started sending Judges or creating Army outposts, and the day of the Western small town shot-callers slowly came to an end. Two Bigs verging on Two Huge for "Stranger on Horseback". You can't beat a Western with Joel McCrea, and you get John Carradine in the bargain. I hadn't heard of the actress Miroslava (single name), and was saddened to read that she committed suicide, at age 30, not long after this movie was completed. She's very beautiful and captivating in her role as Amy Lee, but was apparently heartbroken over the breakup of an engagement. The picture is color, slightly soft. ////
The previous night once again featured the combo of Clint Walker and Aaron Spelling, working out of what looked like the same location they used for "Yuma". It's another made-for-TV Western called "The Bounty Man"(1972). Maybe they shot 'em back to back. Walker plays "Kinkaid", a bounty hunter with a black beard that looks painted on. We see how good he is at his trade in the opening scene: two outlaws are celebrating with a drink from a mud puddle, believing they've outrun him after two days on horseback. They discover they're wrong when Kincaid pops up out of nowhere. One guy draws and gets blown in half.
The bounty on these men is 500 bucks, and when Kincaid brings them in to collect (one dead, one alive), another local bounty hunter named "Angus Keough" (Richard Basehart as a total dirtbag) doesn't appreciate the competition. With his scuzzball gang to back him up, he threatens the gigantic Kincaid. Basehart uses his renowned voice to great effect, issuing whiskey-and-cigar-smoked threats: "Listen here, Kincaid. We've been workin' this area since you wuz in short britches. Why don't you pack up and git?"
When Kincaid tells him to stick it, that he's now going after the notorious "Billy Riddle" (John Ericson), Keough tells him he's crazy. "Riddle's holed up in Battle Creek, which is hemmed in by mountains. That town's mostly outlaws who see Billy as a hero. You'll be walkin' into a trap and you'll never get out alive."
"5000 dollars says I will".
"Oh, so it's five now, is it? Just last month it was only three, and even that much wasn't enough for us to try takin' him, and I got five men. Like I'm saying; you go practice your trade somewhere else." When Kincaid refuses, one of Keough's men wants to shoot him, but Keough has a better idea. "Let that he-man go to Battle Creek. Either he gets killed, or he leaves with Riddle and we steal him. Either way, we win."
Kincaid does ride into Battle Creek, which is situated in a box canyon as described. He busts into a saloon, pulls Billy out like William Devane in "Rolling Thunder", and rousts Billy's girlfriend (Margot Kidder), but she's a handful: "I love Billy! You'll have to kill me to stop me from coming with you." Kincaid ties her up also, puts them both on horses, and they all ride off at his gunpoint. Prior to hunting Billy, Kincaid had stopped at Tom Brady's gun shop, where the one-armed Brady (who must've thrown so many passes that his arm fell off) gave him a riot gun, which he demonstrates during the escape from Battle Creek by blowing several tunnels in the door. But now, in the desert at night, it's our three against Keough and his lowlifes, who're aiming to ambush and kill Kincaid, then take Billy for themselves to collect the five grand bounty. God only knows what they'll do to Margot Kidder.
The Keough gang manages to shoot Margot's horse, so now she's riding double with Kincaid. They're also out of beef jerky and have just one canteen of water. Keough has plenty and offers Kincaid a deal. "I'll give ya food and water for Billy. You can keep the girl and we'll let you live." But in between, Billy has talked Margot into seducing Kincaid, by using her wiles as a "saloon girl". Kincaid's a loner ("He's a lonely man", Billy says) whose wife left him for an outlaw. That's why he became a bounty hunter, to catch and kill the wife-stealer. Billy hopes that Margot can get Kincaid to sleep with her, so that when he's asleep, and she's still untied, she can get his gun and free Billy. But the plan backfires when she does sleep with Kincaid and falls in love. "He's a real man," she tells Billy, who's irate: "I thought you wuz gonna free me!"
And now, all three are gonna need each other, bounty hunter and prey or not, because Keough and his lowlifes have surrounded them during the night. And Billy is close to escaping. Kincaid has to come up with an ingenious plan to get out of this predicament. His rappelling prowess comes in handy.
Margot Kidder is only 24 here, and she's all heart, like her Lois Lane persona. She was such a sweetheart of an actress, and you feel bad about how her life broke down with mental illness and substance abuse. Like the tragic Miroslava, she too committed suicide, but she's a tough cookie in this role. John Ericson was amazingly 46 playing Billy Riddle, but supposed to be twenty years younger. He was actually a year older than Clint Walker in real life, but he looked like Billy the Kid. However, it's Richard Basehart who gets the acting honors, with long hair, filthy clothes, and an evil, envious grin. He looks like a real, backstabbing bounty hunter of the old West, who could only hunt his prey with a gang because he's really a wimp, like all gang members. Two Big Thumbs Up. The picture is good but dark in places; it's the color film, TV- movie-print-syndrome again. We're on a roll with Clint Walker. ////
And that's all I've got for a late September Friday. My blogging music is Klaus Schulze "La Vie Electronique #16", my late night is Wagner's "Die Walkure". I wish you a great weekend and a Rams win over Indy, and I send you Tons of Love as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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