TRUE GRIT (Paramount, 1969)

 

Judge Parker's courthouse as it looks today

DIRECTOR: Henry Hathaway;  PRODUCER: Hal B. Wallis;  WRITERS: screenplay by Marguerite Roberts based on Charles Portis novel of same title; CINEMATOGRAPHY: Lucien Ballard

CAST: John Wayne, Glen Campbell, Kim Darby, Jeremy Slate, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Alfred Ryder, Strother Martin, Jeff Corey, Ron Soble, John Fiedler, James Westerfield, John Doucette, Donald Woods, Edith Atwater, John Pickard, Myron Healey, H.W. Gim, Boyd Morgan, Stuart Randall, Guy Wilkerson, Hank Worden


THE PLOT.
You probably already know the plot, don’t you?  Well, just in case you don’t, here is how the story begins.

Fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross (Kim Darby), from near Dardanelle, Arkansas in Yell County, travels to Fort Smith to settle her dead father’s affairs.  Her father was murdered in that town by a man who worked for him, a man who called himself Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey).  After killing her father, Chaney robbed him of his horse and his money.  Apparently, the fugitive has fled to the Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) and there are reports that he has joined up with the “Lucky” Ned Pepper (Robert Duvall) gang.
 

21-year-old Kim Darby as 14-year-old Mattie Ross

Mattie is not content to just settle her father’s affairs (outwitting a horse trader portrayed by Strother Martin in some delightful scenes), but also plans to go after Chaney and bring him back to Fort Smith for trial.  The federal judge in Fort Smith is Judge Isaac Parker (James Westerfield) and his court for the Western District of Arkansas has jurisdiction over not only western Arkansas, but also the Indian Territory in any case involving a white person.
 
Since Mattie knows she can’t travel alone into that treacherous territory and achieve her goal of capturing Chaney and since the territory comes under federal jurisdiction, she decides to recruit a U.S. deputy marshal to assist her, one who possesses “true grit.”


MATTIE (Kim Darby): “Who’s the best marshal they have?”

SHERIFF (John Doucette): “Bill Waters is the best tracker.  The meanest one is Rooster Cogburn, a pitliless man, double tough, fear don’t enter into his thinking.  I’d have to say L.T. Quinn is the straightest, he brings prisoners in alive.”

MATTIE: “Where would I find this Rooster?”


After Mattie meets Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn (John Wayne), she isn’t sure that he is the kind of man that she is seeking, a man who has “true grit,” a quality that she recognizes because she personally possesses it in full measure.  He is a one-eyed, hard-drinking, ruthless, overweight man who for his part isn’t sure that he wants to work for any woman, especially Mattie.  However, greed overcomes his reluctance when Mattie offers to pay him a hundred dollars, his asking price for the job.  It is more than Mattie wants to pay, but she is able to force a compromise by paying him fifty now and promising the other fifty after the mission is accomplished.

Who knew aspens grew in Oklahoma?

Matters become even more complicated when a Texas Ranger (Glen Campbell) by the name of LaBouef (pronounced La-Beef) arrives in Fort Smith.  He is also on Chaney’s trail.  It seems that Chaney killed a state senator in Texas and that state and the senator’s family have placed a bounty on the fugitive’s head. The marshal and the ranger, although they have taken a strong disliking to each other, decide to join forces and split the proceeds  -- assuming they are able to capture – or kill – Chaney.

Neither of the lawmen wants a fourteen-year-old girl to tag along and they attempt to leave her behind, but they don’t know Mattie.  She will not be denied.  The three, at odds with each other and with differing goals, ride into the territory in search of Tom Chaney.


THE STARS.
The role of Rooster Cogburn, as everyone knows, is the role for which John Wayne finally won a long overdue Best Actor Oscar.  His only other nomination had occurred exactly twenty years earlier when he was nominated for his role as Sgt. Stryker in SANDS OF IWO JIMA (Republic, 1949).  He could have been nominated, but wasn’t, for his roles as Tom Dunson or Nathan Brittles or Tom Doniphon.  The biggest oversight, however, came when he was overlooked for what was his greatest performance, that of Ethan Edwards in THE SEARCHERS (WB, 1956).  Even harder to explain is the fact that the film did not receive a single nomination for anything.


ROOSTER COGBURN (John Wayne): “Boots, I got Hayes and some youngster outside with Moon and Qunicy. I want you to bury ‘em for me. I’m in a hurry.”
 
CAPTAIN BOOTS FINCH (Ron Soble): “They’re dead?”

ROOSTER COGBURN: “Well, I wouldn’t want you to bury ‘em if they wasn’t.”


Variety praised Wayne’s performance: “…it’s mostly Wayne all the way.  He towers over everything in the film….He rides tall in the saddle in this character role of ‘the fat old man.’”

Roger Ebert wrote: “Hathaway…has made the movie of his lifetime and given us a masterpiece….Wayne towers over this special movie.”

Wayne’s performance as Rooster Cogburn was not his greatest, but it was very good.  There is, however, some irony in the fact that he won the award for what in effect is a self-parody.  It is generally conceded that he didn’t win for that film anyway, that he was rewarded for his body of work.  If so, it isn’t the only time that such a thing has occurred.  And there is little doubt that TRUE GRIT represented his last chance for a bite of the academy apple – with one exception, albeit a slim one.  He might have been considered for his role as J.B. Books in his very last film, THE SHOOTIST (Paramount, 1976), had he not won earlier.  But maybe not, since he did not receive a nomination for that role.

Glen Campbell, originally from near Delight, Arkansas, made his film debut in TRUE GRIT.  When I first viewed the film right after it was released, I couldn’t help but think how much better it would have been if a more talented actor had been chosen to play LaBeouf, the Texas Ranger.  I still felt that way each time I watched it over the years.  But I also felt that it wasn’t fair to Campbell, a hugely talented singer and musician (later inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame), that he was put in such a position, forced to try to hold his own with so many seasoned professionals.  The director, Henry Hathaway, had not wanted him and reportedly gave the novice actor a hard time.  That led to some conflict during the production because Duvall objected strenuously to Hathaway’s badgering of Campbell, which led Wayne to take Hathaway’s side.  Wayne probably remembered how as a young actor he had been tormented by John Ford and may have thought that it was how veteran directors had to operate in order to elicit good performances from young actors.

Glen Campbell, Texas Ranger

Campbell had no illusions about his acting.  He once said, “I’d never acted in a movie before, and every time I see TRUE GRIT I think my record is still clean.”  But when I watched the film recently, I reconsidered his performance.  It wasn’t exactly great, but it wasn’t that bad either.  I now think that had he continued to work at it he could have become a competent actor. 

The following year he starred in one last film.  It was NORWOOD (Paramount, 1970).  Like TRUE GRIT, it was based on an excellent Charles Portis novel with a screenplay written by Marguerite Roberts, was produced by Hal Wallis, and co-starred Kim Darby.  Instead of John Wayne, however, the third lead role went to football star Joe Namath. 

The film was not a success and though Campbell would later make a few cameo film appearances, he chose to concentrate on his music.

Kim Darby had appeared in three feature films prior to TRUE GRIT, but the film’s success and popularity didn’t do much to advance her career either.  Like Campbell, she gave a good performance, but the role of Mattie Ross called for a stronger – and younger – actress.  If it is true that Darby didn’t look as old as her age at the time, twenty-one, it is also true that she looked much older than Mattie’s fourteen.

Wayne was also older than his character was in the book.  He was 61 at the time while his character in the book was about forty.  It didn’t really matter, but I’m certain there were no deputy marshals that age hunting down desperadoes in the Indian Territory.

 Added to the other conflicts already mentioned, it seems that Wayne had no liking for Darby.  He had wanted another actress to be cast in the role and was extremely critical of Darby’s acting.  He was also critical of her work ethic, later stating that he found her to be unprofessional.  But if so, it is impossible to detect any evidence of conflict between the two on the screen.

After starring with Campbell in NORWOOD, Darby was thereafter mostly limited to acting in TV productions.


THE SUPPORTING CAST.
Robert Duvall began his acting career on the stage in the late ‘50’s and then became an extremely busy TV actor in the 60’s.  He made his feature film debut in 1962 in a small but effective role as Boo Radley in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (UI, 1962).  Afterwards he returned to TV and the stage for most of the rest of the decade.  Then in the late ‘60’s he began to appear in a number of feature films.  He had appeared in a ton of TV Westerns but his role as “Lucky” Ned Pepper served as his first in a Western feature film.

The following year he gained good notices as Frank Burns in M*A*S*H (Fox, 1970).  But it was because of his role as Tom Hagen in THE GODFATHER (Paramount, 1972) that his career really took off.  For his performance, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.  That was only the beginning.  He has since been nominated on five other occasions and has won one award.  He received the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in TENDER MERCIES (EMI, 1983).  He is one who pulled off the rare feat of graduating from the ranks of supporting players to become a star.

He gave a strong performance in TRUE GRIT and he appeared in several other Western films, but his greatest performance in a Western was as Gus MaCrae in the TV mini-series LONESOME DOVE (Motown, 1989).  Perhaps I’m prejudiced, but I think it was, at least to this point, his greatest performance ever.

Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call

The film includes a number of familiar and welcome faces, actors such as Strother Martin (such a good actor), Jeff Corey, Dennis Hopper, Jeremy Slate, Hank Worden, Stuart Randall (his final film), John Doucette, Guy Wilkerson, and John Fiedler (as the lawyer J. Noble Dagget).  It was also nice to see Myron Healey, who played badmen in a countless number of TV and movie Westerns, get to portray a lawman for a change.


THE DIRECTOR.
Henry Hathaway, seventy-one-years-old, had been directing films since 1932. His first was a Zane Grey story, HERITAGE OF THE DESERT (Paramount).  The director’s next seven films were also Westerns based on Zane Grey stories.  Randolph Scott, in his first starring roles, starred in six of the eight.  All had been filmed as silent films and Hathaway’s films relied extensively on stock footage from the silent productions.  They were all entertaining and well-made B+ programmers that were enjoyed by Western movie fans.

In a directing career that lasted four decades, he directed sixty-five films, including twenty Westerns.  

His first film with John Wayne had been THE SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS (Paramount, 1941), followed by NORTH TO ALASKA (Fox, 1960), CIRCUS WORLD (Paramount, 1964), THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER (Paramount, 1965) and TRUE GRIT.

The Director

THE WRITERS.
Screenwriter Marguerite Roberts and her husband, also a writer, were blacklisted during the ‘50’s communist witch-hunt days.  As a result, beginning in the early years of that decade and extending into the early ‘60’s, there is a ten-year gap in her filmography.  What makes this ironic is the fact that John Wayne, who never made a secret of his right wing political views or his support of the blacklist, found himself starring in a film whose screenwriter had been victimized by that same blacklist.  Roberts wasn’t the only individual associated with the film to have experienced such a fate during that era.  Jeff Corey, who portrayed Tom Chaney, had also been blacklisted.  Surely, Wayne was aware of the blacklisting of Roberts and Corey, but if so, he never referred to it and evidently, it was never the source of any conflict during the production.

Roberts did not depart much from Charles Portis’ novel in her adaptation.  Her major change was in the ending.  As one critic noted, the ending was changed in order to allow John Wayne to ride into the sunset.

Earlier I reviewed Portis’ novel and you can read that review here.


CINEMATOGRAPHY AND LOCATION.
Lucien Ballard’s career as a cinematographer extended all the way back to the mid-30s, when he began working on what were primarily B-movies, including some of the Charles Starrett Westerns at Columbia.  In the ‘50’s, he began to work on more prestigious films

Among his Western credits are RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY (MGM, 1962), THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER (Paramount, 1965, starring John Wayne and directed by Henry Hathaway), WILL PENNY (Paramount, 1968), THE WILD BUNCH (WB, 1969), as well as Audie Murphy’s final film, A TIME FOR DYING (1969).

Ballard was a native of Oklahoma and must have been amused by the locations that were chosen for TRUE GRIT.  It is true that there are hills in eastern Oklahoma, but no snow-capped peaks!  Nevertheless, there they are in the film – along with golden aspens shimmering in the breeze, which are also not found in Oklahoma.  It is true that the Colorado locations that were filmed are much more spectacular than anything found in Oklahoma and that Ballard’s expert photography made beautiful use of them, but it is disconcerting for any viewer who has any knowledge of the geography of the area in which the story is set.

But if it is true that nobody should go to a movie to learn history, then I guess it would be fair to say the same thing about geography.

ROOSTER COGBURN.

In addition to TRUE GRIT (1969), the Rooster Cogburn character has been the subject of two feature films and one TV movie. 

Two other feature films:

ROOSTER COGBURN (Universal, 1975)

DIRECTOR: Stuart Miller;  PRODUCER: Hal B. Wallis;  WRITERS: screenplay by Martha Hyer (as Martin Julien) suggested by Charles Portis novel, True Grit; Cinematographer: Harry Stradling, Jr.

STARRING: John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn



TRUE GRIT (Paramount 2010)

DIRECTORS: Joel and Ethan Coen;  PRODUCERS:  Joel and Ethan Coen;  WRITERS: screenplay by Joel and Ethan Coen based on Charles Portis novel of same title;  CINEMATOGRAPHY: Roger Deakins

STARRING: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Stanfield

You can read my review of this film here.


TV movie (filmed as pilot for possible series that never developed):

TRUE GRIT (Paramount TV, 1978)

DIRECTOR: Richard T. Heffron;  PRODUCER: Sandor Stern;  WRITERS: screenplay by Sandor Stern based on characters created by Charles Portis in novel of same title;  CINEMATOGRAPHY: Stevan Larner

STARRING: Warren Oates, Lisa Pelikan 

 “LUCKY” NED PEPPER (Robert Duvall):  “What’s your intention?  Do you think one on four is a dogfall?”

ROOSTER COGBURN (John Wayne):  “I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned.  Or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker’s convenience.  Which’ll it be?”

NED PEPPER: “I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.”

ROOSTER COGBURN: “Fill your hands, you sonvabitch!”

THE OUTCAST (Republic, 1954)

DIRECTOR: William Witney; ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: William J. O'Sullivan; WRITERS: John K. Butler and Richard Wormser based on story by Todhunter Ballard; CINEMATOGRAPHY: Reggie Lanning; STUNTS: Chuck Hayward, Chuck Roberson

CAST: John Derek, Joan Evans, Jim Davis, Catherine McLeod, Ben Cooper, Taylor Holmes, Nana Bryant, Slim Pickens, Frank Ferguson, James Millican, Bob Steele, Nacho Galindo, Harry Carey, Jr., Bill Walker, Buzz Henry, Nicolas Coster, Hank Worden

THE DIRECTOR.
In 1937, Republic was experiencing problems with one of the co-directors of a serial, THE PAINTED STALLION.  The problem was that he was drinking on the job, so he was fired.  The assistant director, William Witney, was promoted to take his place and finish the picture.  He was all of 21-years old.

The Oklahoma native eventually became one of the most prolific and most accomplished of all action directors.  Specializing in serials prior to WWII, often with co-director John English, he became the studio's number one B-Western director after the war.  He became known primarily for downgrading the music and upgrading the action in the postwar Roy Rogers series, much to the delight of the popcorn-munching youngsters sitting in the front row. 

When Rogers became disenchanted with Republic's boss, Herbert J. Yates, he retired from feature films and made plans to follow William Boyd and Gene Autry and take his act to television (first having to sue Yates in order to do so, but that's another story).  When that happened, Witney took over Republic's Rex Allen series.  It was not only that studio's last B-Western series, it was the last for any studio.  After Witney left the series in 1953, only two more films were produced before it was shutdown the next year.

young William Witney and pal

So ended the B-Western chapter in Witney's life, but he remained as busy as ever.  Republic employed him to direct feature films and TV productions right up to the point that the studio discontinued all film and TV production in 1959.

The studio had removed Witney from the Rex Allen series in 1953 because it wanted him to direct something a bit more ambitious.  His new assignment was THE OUTCAST.

                                  

THE STAR

John Derek (born Derek Devevan Harris) was born in Hollywood in 1926.  His father was a film actor, producer, director, and writer during the 1920's.  His mother was an actress during the same era. As a teenager, he began acting in films in the early '40's.  

His big break came in 1949 when he was cast in important roles in two prestigious films.  In the role of a young criminal, he received second billing after Humphrey Bogart in KNOCK ON ANY DOOR (Columbia, directed by Nicholas Ray).  He was a little farther down in the cast list for ALL THE KING'S MEN (Columbia, directed by Robert Rossen), but his role as Willie Stark's son was nevertheless an important one.

Based on his performances in those two films Columbia signed him to a contract.  The studio then cast him in his first lead role.  ROGUES OF SHERWOOD FOREST (Columbia) was an old story with a new twist.  King John was still up to his greedy and dastardly ways, but Derek, as the son of Robin Hood, reorganizes his father's band of Merry Men in order to oppose the scoundrel.  One interesting aspect of the film is the fact that Alan Hale, in his last film, portrayed Little John for a third time.

After that, Derek was cast in the lead or in supporting roles in several run-of-the-mill films, several of which were of the costume adventure genre, which did nothing to advance his career.  Nevertheless, he stayed busy appearing in five films in 1953, including his first two Western roles.  

The first was AMBUSH AT TOMAHAWK GAP (Columbia), a 73-minute programmer starring John Hodiak, with Derek, known only as "Kid," in a co-starring role.  THE LAST POSSE (Columbia), also 73 minutes long, found Derek supporting Broderick Crawford. (The fact that Crawford had the lead pretty well says all that needs to be said about this film.  He was never believable in a Western role and should never have been cast in one.  Considering that both he and Derek had appeared as father and son in ALL THE KING'S MEN just four years earlier, the Western indicated that the careers of both were heading in the wrong direction.)

This was also the year that Derek said goodbye to Columbia.  His last film that year was SEA OF LOST SHIPS, a Republic production directed by old pro Joseph Kane, the director that William Witney had succeeded as the studio's principal B-Western director.  Derek's next film was also for Republic.  It was THE OUTCAST.

     

THE STAR

Much like Derek, Joan Evans hit her peak early in her career, but at even an earlier age.  At age fourteen, she made her film debut when she co-starred with Farley Granger as the title character in ROSEANNA MCCOY (Goldwyn/RKO, 1949), loosely based on the infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud.  

She won the role as the result of a nation-wide talent search conducted by producer Sam Goldwyn.  He didn't have to look very far since she was right there in his backyard.  

Born Joan Eunson, she was named after her godmother, Joan Crawford.  Her parents, Dale Eunson and Katherine Albert, were Hollywood writers.  Reportedly, the parents added two years to their daughter's age in order to make it appear that she was sixteen when the film was made.  It was Goldwyn who changed her name to Joan Evans.

Because Evans and the film received some good reviews, Goldwyn followed it up with two more films featuring her with Farley Granger, both released in 1950.  Even though she was still only a teenager, those three films represented the apex of her career.  Like Derek, her career leveled out and never approached the stardom that many had predicted for her.

In 1953, she was cast in her first Western, COLUMN SOUTH (Universal), starring Audie Murphy.  Her next film was also a Western.  It was THE OUTCAST.


THE SUPPORTING CAST.
    
 

Jim Davis as Matt Clark, railroad detective

Beginning with BRIMSTONE (starring Rod Cameron, directed by Joseph Kane) in 1949 up through THE MAVERICK QUEEN (starring Barbara Stanwyck, directed by Joseph Kane) in 1956, Jim Davis appeared in practically every Western produced by Republic Pictures.  In nearly every case, he portrayed a villain.  One of the films during that period was THE OUTCAST.  The film's main villain was portrayed by, you guessed it, Jim Davis.

However, that year he also got to portray a hero.  In fact, in 1954-55 he got to play the role for two years on television.  Stories of the Century was a Republic TV production that starred Davis as a railroad detective named Matt Clark who was in on the capture of thirty-nine famous outlaws during the show's thirty-nine episodes.  The series might have lasted longer but the Old West ran out of outlaws.

It is hard to fathom how Davis was able to star in this series, guest star in other TV shows, and appear in as many movies as he did while Stories of the Century was being filmed, but somehow he  managed  -- and so did the show's director.  William Witney directed the first thirty episodes in the series.

Slim Pickens always sounded as though he hailed from the Texas plains or maybe Oklahoma, but was born in central California, not far from Fresno.  His real name was Louis Burton Lindley, Jr.  He came by his stage name when at age fourteen he signed up to appear to ride in a rodeo, but since Louis Burton Lindley, Sr. was opposed, he told the manager he would have to perform under another name.  The manager said something to the effect that he would see nothing but "slim pickins" on the rodeo circuit.  Slim said that would work as a name.  The man wrote it as "Slim Pickens" and that became his name.  At least that's the way Slim told it and if it ain't true, it should be.

He might not have been from Texas but he was as much cowboy as any Texan.  He rode bareback and saddle broncs in rodeo competition and later learned the art of acting and comedy as a rodeo clown.  He got a late start in the movie business but once he started it was bombs away (literally; see conclusion of DOCTOR STRANGELOVE [Columbia, 1964]).

He was 30-years old when he broke into films in the Errol Flynn Western, ROCKY MOUNTAIN (WB, 1950).  It was two years later before his second role but after that, he became an extremely busy actor.  

Republic signed him to replace Buddy Ebsen as the comedy sidekick in the Rex Allen series.  He played the role for eleven films before the series was discontinued in 1954.  As fate would have it, both William Witney and Slim Pickens joined the series on the same film.  Under Witney's direction, Pickens underwent a crash course not only in movie acting, but especially movie stunting.  His rodeo background made it much easier than it might have been.  He was a natural.

Can you guess from the photo which cowboy is the hero?   It most assuredly was not a still from one of William Witney's films.  He wouldn't have allowed the fancy costume.  This was probably a publicity still for a public appearance.  In Rex's films, he dressed rather conservatively, especially for a singing cowboy.  In addition, he was always a one-gun man. 

 
While appearing in the Allen series Pickens acted in a few other pictures.  The most notable was THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT (1953), directed by John Ford, produced by his Argosy Productions, and distributed by Republic.  A year earlier he had appeared in THUNDERBIRDS (Republic), starring John Derek, on loan-out from Columbia.

When the Allen series ended, Pickens didn't miss a beat.  His next film was THE OUTCAST, reuniting him with Witney and Derek.

Catherine McLeod is in the film because there were two women in the story.  Enough said.

Black actor Bill Walker is the town blacksmith who quietly opposes the Major and rekindles his friendship with Jet.  He gives one of the best performances in the film.

William "Bill" Walker is probably best remembered for his brief, but memorable performance as the Reverend Sykes in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (Universal, 1962).  "Miss Jean Louise. Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passing."

    

Ben Cooper portrays a reckless, hardheaded, headstrong kid, who is known only as "The Kid."  If you remember Cooper then you know that he was nearly always a reckless, hardheaded, headstrong character who looked like a kid, a boy trying to be a man.

a boy trying to be a man

THE KID (Ben Cooper):  "Here's for helpin' the lady.  Buy yourself a cigar" [he tosses a coin to Jet].

JET (John Derek):  "You keep it" [flipping it back].  "Until you're old enough to smoke." 


James Millican and Frank Ferguson, both familiar faces in Westerns provide good support.  Harry Carey, Jr. is in the film, but seems out of character.  First, he plays a mean hired gunman (I ain't buying it.) and second, he seems older and more mature than in his previous roles.  However, two years later, when Carey was in his mid-thirties, John Ford cast him as a 19- or 20-year old in THE SEARCHERS (Whitney/WB) (I bought it).  Of course, in Ford's eyes because of his long relationship with the Carey family he always saw Carey as a kid.

Robert "Buzz" Henry, a former child actor, is in the film but has hardly any dialogue.  Moreover, so was another former child actor, Robert Adrian Bradbury, but he had a lot to say.  Like Derek and Evans, he was a member of a Hollywood family.  In addition, like William Witney and Slim Pickens, B-Westerns were an important part of his background.  We know him as Bob Steele. 

Steele's career began in the early '20's when as a pre-teen he starred in a series of shorts with his twin brother, that was directed by their father.  In the late '20's when he became 

a B-Western star at FBO, his name was changed to Bob Steele.  

I plan a more extensive write-up on Steele in the near future, but for now, I will add that Steele was no stranger at Republic.  From 1940 to 1943, he was the last Tucson Smith in the final twenty films in Republic's long-running "Three Mesquiteers" series.  Although William Witney never directed Steele in that series, it is ironic that his third film as director, and first non-serial, was a Three Mesquiteers film.

This is the final combination in The Three Mesquiteers changing cast of stars.  (L-R) Tom Tyler is Stony Brooke; Jimmie Dodd is Lullaby Joslin; and Bob Steele is Tucson Smith.

THE MOVIE.
When Jet (short for Jetthow in the original story) Cosgrave (Derek) was 16-years old his father died.  According to a will, the family ranch had been left to Jet's uncle, Major Linton Cosgrave (Davis).  

Jet was sure that he had been robbed of his inheritance, but he was too young to do anything about it.  Eight years later, he returns and he plans to reclaim the ranch.  Because the major employs a band of hired guns (Millican, Cooper, Carey, et. al.) to protect his interests, Jet hires his own group of mercenaries headed by Dude Rankin (Steele) to help him regain his ranch.  Dude is a merciless killer who doesn't hesitate to shoot a man in the back or string one up from the nearest tree.  He also feels no loyalty to Jet or any other man.

A third party has an interest in the proceedings.  The Polsen hill clan (Ferguson, Pickens, Henry, Coster, and Evans) has been forced off a valley ranch owned by Hal Newmark who has mysteriously disappeared.  Newmark had generously allowed the Polsens to graze their cattle in the valley, but the major who claims that he is only minding Newmark's ranch until he returns has banished the Polsens from the valley.  Therefore, Jet sees the Polsens as potential allies.

Judy Polsen (Evans), the only female member of the clan, becomes romantically involved with Jet.  Alice Austin (McLeod), a refined lady from Virginia, who arrived in town at the same time as Jet, has come to marry the Major, but that doesn't quite work out.

 
ALICE AUSTIN (Catherine McLeod): "I'm going home, Linton."

MAJOR LINTON COSGRAVE (Jim Davis):  "As easy as that.  You just walked out on the man you promised to marry."

ALICE:  "I found out you're not the man I promised to marry."


 Jet almost finds himself isolated and alone in the range war.  Dude and his hired guns are bought off by the Major and the Polsens don't trust him.  The Polsens eventually come around and two of them, Boone (Pickens) and Zeke (Henry), join Jet in the big shootout that allows him to take control of the range.

I have only two quarrels with the film.  First, it is hard to accept the beating that the slightly built Jet gives to the major who is about three inches taller and at least twenty-five pounds heavier -- especially since Jet was recovering at the time from a bullet wound to the shoulder.  The fight is well-staged by Witney, with Chuck Roberson and Chuck Hayward, doing the doubling and Derek and Davis handling themselves well in the close-ups, but it is still hard to believe that Jet could have emerged the winner in that scrap.

Second, where was the law when this range war was in progress?  The town is Colton, Colorado and the sets indicate that it is fairly large and well populated. For example, Mrs. Banner (Bryant) owns a rather opulent saloon and restaurant.  Yet, there seems to be no law in Colton.  

There should be a town marshal and in a town this size, he should have several deputies.  In many Westerns with similar storylines the local marshal is cowardly or corrupt or both.  But not in Colton.  There he doesn't even exist.  What about a county sheriff?  Nope, there doesn't seem to be one.  The cavalry was sent into Lincoln, New Mexico to put a lid on the range war that featured a kid named Billy.  But not in Colton.

Okay, so the rangeland revenge story is a standard Western plot that we have all seen in many films and it develops in a predictable fashion with no surprises.  But let me give a couple of reasons for watching it anyway.  

One reason is veteran cinematographer Reggie Lanning's color photography.  Since this is a Republic film, the color process is Trucolor, which was used primarily in the Roy Rogers series.  

It could be rather garish at times, but Lanning was able to use it in such a way as to create some rather subdued outdoor scenes.  The best example is when the Major's men, led by his top hand Cal Prince (Millican) have Jet's Mexican cook Curley (Nacho Galindo) holed up in one of the buildings on the Newmark ranch that Jet has occupied in an effort to regain his own ranch.  Curley is saved by Dude and his men who ride to the rescue.  The rescue is beautifully shot by Lanning and Witney.  

With a background of Colorado golden aspens in the background, the rescuers ride down a ridge with guns blazing. (It was always possible to identify a Republic Western by the distinctive sound of the gunfire.  It may not have sounded like real gunfire, but it did sound the way gunfire should sound).  The camera is placed in relation to the sun in a way that the smoke from the gunfire is shown in dramatic fashion and so is the dust stirred up as the riders fan out on their galloping horses as they race down the ridge.

Another reason to watch the film is Witney's staging of the action scenes.  The big shootout with Jet and Boone and Zeke Polsen taking on Dude and his men is a real treat.  Pickens is able to demonstrate his superior horsemanship as he rides at a full gallop, firing his rifle, and without holding the reins, guide his horse with his knees.  

It is at this point that it becomes apparent why Buzz Henry is in the film.  He hasn't had much to say because he couldn't act -- despite the fact that he had starred in films at a very young age.  But could he ride!  

It was to be expected that Pickens and Henry would be able to demonstrate superior horsemanship, since they had been practicing practically all of their lives.  The big surprise is Derek.  His abilities didn't quite come up to the other two, but he was no slouch either.

During this sequence, Witney films a stunt that I have never seen before or since.  Derek's double (probably Chuck Roberson) rides alongside Steele's double (probably Chuck Hayward) and jumps off his horse and grabs the other man around the waist and is hanging on the side of the other man's horse.  He then does a pony express mount and leaps onto the horse behind the other rider.  The saddle cinch breaks and the two hit the ground.  It is extremely well done.

In watching this film again after many years, it strikes me that John Derek would have been a great B-Western cowboy.  His handsome looks (some said too handsome), athleticism, and horsemanship would have made him a natural.  He could have acted under his own name.  John Derek would have been as good a name for a cowboy as Roy Rogers, Allan "Rocky" Lane, Monte Hale, and Rex Allen, all Republic cowboys at the end of the B-Western era who acted under their own names.  He would have also been a better actor than any of those range riders. 

Brian Garfield in Western Films: A Complete Guide writes the following with regard to THE OUTCAST:  "Fast-paced yarn has perky direction and good action, marred by Derek's thespic incapacities and a few too many screenplay cliches."  

I rarely disagree with Garfield, but I do with regard to Derek's acting.  He wasn't the weak link in the film.  He wasn't that bad.  Garfield did identify the primary weakness, which resulted either from a weak story or a weak screenplay -- or both.

However, if for no other reasons, it is worth viewing for the action scenes and to watch Pickens, Henry, and Derek ride.  Furthermore, for a film that featured a star on his way down, a studio on its way out, and a former B-Western director it was better than what anyone had a right to expect.

You can watch THE OUTCAST on YouTube.  






      

YELLOW SKY (Fox, 1948)

DIRECTOR: William A. Wellman; PRODUCER: Lamar Trotti; WRITER: Lamar Trotti from story by W.R. Burnette;  CINEMATOGRAPHER: Joseph MacDonald

CAST: Gregory Peck, Anne Baxter, Richard Widmark, Robert Arthur, John Russell, Henry (Harry) Morgan, James Barton, Charles Kemper, Robert Adler, Harry Carter, Victor Kilian, Paul Hurst, Hank Worden, Chief Yowlachie

 

(L-R) Victor Kilian, bartender; Paul Hust,barfly; and soon-to-be bank robbers: Stretch, Bull Run, Dude, Lengthy, Half-Pint, Walrus, Jed

THE PLOT.

The Civil War has been over for a couple of years but some ex-soldiers find it difficult to adjust to peaceful postwar conditions.  Some even resort to a life on the wrong side of the law.  

It was such a group of men, seven in all, who rob the Rameyville bank.  A detachment of cavalry pursues them as they make their getaway.  One of the gang, Jed (Adler), is killed, but the other six escape by riding into an area of desolate salt flats (filmed in Death Valley).  In fact, the area is so forbidding that the cavalry commander halts the pursuit believing that the fugitives will perish in the desert.

 

However, they do survive, but just barely. Badly dehydrated and quarreling among themselves they see what appears to be a town in the distance. They make their way there only to discover that what they had spotted was in reality a ghost town. Yellow Sky was once a booming mining town, but now it has only two inhabitants: an old man (Barton) and his young tomboy granddaughter, Mike (Baxter).

 

Mike

The men do not receive a warm welcome from Mike.  She does direct them toward the water source that saves their lives, but she makes it clear that she wants them to clear out.

There is no honor among these thieves and it is all their leader Stretch (Peck) can do to keep them in line.  In fact, it is more than he can do. He orders the other gang members to stay away from Mike and her grandfather, but two of them are especially hard to restrain. 

Dude (Widmark) has a hankering for wealth.  He is certain that there is something of value to be had in Yellow Sky or why would the old man and his granddaughter choose to live there (he is right).  He is determined to find out what it is and to make it his.

Lengthy (Russell) has a hankering for wealth – and the woman.  Despite his orders to the men to stay away from her, Stretch finds it impossible to apply the same restrictions to himself.

Mike and Stretch

Dude and Lengthy challenge Stretch’s leadership causing the gang to split into two factions.  The other three gang members – Walrus (Kemper), Half-Pint (Morgan), and Bull Run (Arthur) -- are born followers and rather malleable and therefore it soon becomes apparent that since they are easily influenced they might continue to follow Stretch or they might side with Dude and Lengthy.  They, in effect, hold the balance of power.

Dude

 

Lengthy with Bull Run in background

The final three-way shoot-out takes place in an old saloon and is staged in an extremely effective fashion.  We hear the shots and see the flashes of gunfire from Mike’s perspective outside the saloon.  After the firing ceases, she enters the saloon and we discover with her who, if anyone, has survived the altercation.

That’s enough about the plot, except to say that only three gang members survive the conflict that embroils the group.  However, I’m not saying which three.  

One more thing, as has happened before in Western movies, beginning with those starring William S. Hart (practically all of them), a bad man is reformed by the love of a good woman. I’m not going to say which bad man, but it wasn’t Lenghty.  You already knew that, didn’t you?

THE STARS.

Compared to many young actors, Gregory Peck was extraordinarily lucky.  True, he was in his late twenties before he made his film debut (DAYS OF GLORY [RKO, 1944]).  However, unlike most actors appearing in their first film, he had the lead role.  Furthermore, for his performance in his second film, THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM (Fox, 1944), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. 

Three more nominations came in the next four years, giving him four in just five years.  The other nominations were for THE YEARLING (MGM, 1946), GENTLEMEN’S AGREEMENT (Fox, 1947), and TWELVE O’CLOCK HIGH (Fox, 1949).  It was quite a beginning to what would be a long and successful career.  True, he had to wait another fourteen years before receiving another nomination, but the fifth time was the charm.  For his defining role as Atticus Finch in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (UI, 1962), he was awarded his only Best Actor Oscar.  It was also his last nomination.

During those early years, in among his Oscar-nominated roles, he starred in some other rather successful films.  In addition to a couple of Hitchcock films, he starred in three Westerns.  The first was DUEL IN THE SUN (Selznick, 1946), in which he was cast against type as Lionel Barrymore’s mean, lowdown son, Lewt.  Then there was YELLOW SKY in 1948 and two years later a true classic, THE GUNFIGHTER (Fox).

In the ensuing years, Peck starred in eight more Westerns of varying quality.  The best of the eight was THE BRAVADOS (Fox, 1958).

It seems that practically every Western begins with the female and male leads getting off on a bad footing with each other.  That was true of both A- and B-productions – especially the latter.  Think back to all those Gene Autry and Roy Rogers movies (if you are old enough to remember them) and how the two cowboys nearly always did something early on (usually inadvertently) that led the leading lady to dislike them.  In the end, of course, everything would work out for the best and they would become friends (but rarely more than that).  The A’s differed in that the relationship usually evolved into something more serious.

Anyway, there seemed to be a rule in the Western Writers Handbook that mandated that a Western story simply had to have a female among the leading players even if her presence added very little to the plot.  YELLOW SKY was an exception in that Anne Baxter’s role was just as essential as Peck’s.

She played the tomboy role very well and I have only one quibble with her performance.  It is perhaps a minor one, but it is one of those minor things that bother me.  Here she and her grandfather are living alone in this godforsaken ghost town located on the edge of the desert and the Levis she wears for the duration of the film look as though she bought them at the local general store – that very day -- only there is no local general store. However, as I said, it is difficult to find fault with her performance.

Despite being only in her mid-twenties at the time she starred in YELLOW SKY, she was already a show business veteran.  She made her Broadway debut at age thirteen and appeared in her first film when she was only seventeen.  That first film was a Western, but not a particularly good one.  It was 20 MULE TEAM (MGM, 1940). Incidentally, both it and YELLOW SKY featured scenes filmed in Death Valley. All told, she appeared in eight Westerns, but none of the others came close to the high standards of YELLOW SKY.

Two years before YELLOW SKY, Baxter was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in THE RAZOR’S EDGE (Fox).  Two years after YELLOW SKY, she appeared in the film with which she would become most closely identified, ALL ABOUT EVE (Fox).  

Both she and the film’s other leading lady, Bette Davis, received Academy Award nominations for Best Actress, which probably resulted in the fact that neither won and Judy Holliday did.  It was Baxter’s last nomination.

Richard Widmark, a veteran radio actor, was in his thirties when he made his screen debut in KISS OF DEATH (Fox) in 1947.  But what a memorable debut it was.  Widmark portrayed Tommy Udo, a psychotic mob enforcer who murdered a wheelchair-bound old lady by shoving her down the stairs.  If that wasn’t bad enough he giggled with relish while perpetrating the crime.

For his performance, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.  It would be his only nomination.  He also won a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer.

YELLOW SKY was his second film and he makes the most of it.  His performance as Dude, the gambler and outlaw with a bad lung, who becomes Stretch’s main rival for control of the outlaw gang, is one of his best.  He may have gotten off to a late start in movies, but he was certainly making up for lost time.

Widmark would go on to appear in sixteen Westerns during his career.  He was even fortunate enough to star in two John Ford Westerns, TWO RODE TOGETHER (Columbia, 1961) and CHEYENNE AUTUMN (WB, 1964).  However, he was unfortunate in that the two, through no fault of his, are Ford’s weakest Westerns.

I am probably in the minority, but I thought he gave a strong performance in his last Western, that is if rodeo pictures can be considered Westerns.  WHEN THE LEGENDS DIE (Fox, 1972), co-starring Frederic Forrest, is considered to be the lesser of several rodeo films that were made at about the same time, but I think that it is an entertaining film with excellent location photography.  Widmark was never better.

THE SUPPORTING CAST.

With John Russell leading the way, YELLOW SKY’s supporting cast is outstanding.  Russell was a decorated ex-Marine who was awarded a field promotion as a 2^nd Lt. while serving on Guadalcanal during WWII.  He also received a discharge due to a case of extreme malaria. 

Somewhat like Jim Davis, for example, he never achieved stardom on the big screen, though he was responsible for some strong performances in supporting roles.  Also like Davis, he did become a star on the small screen.  In 1958-1962, he starred as Marshal Dan Troop in the Western series, LAWMAN.

YELLOW SKY was Russell’s eleventh film, but his first Western.  Clint Eastwood cast Russell in three of his films, including Russell’s last Western, THE PALE RIDER (Malpaso/WB, 1985).

Charles Kemper is probably best known for his role in John Ford’s WAGON MASTER (Argosy/RKO, 1950).  Just as in YELLOW SKY, Kemper portrays an outlaw.  However, Kemper’s Uncle Shiloh in WAGON MASTER is a decidedly more lowdown, vicious example of the breed than the character he portrayed in YELLOW SKY.

Kemper died about a month after WAGON MASTER was released.  He was forty-nine.   

Harry Morgan (billed as Henry in the early years) is primarily known for his work in television. Surely he set a record by having recurring roles in ten TV series, the most famous as Col. Sherman Potter in M*A*S*H.  However, he was also a busy supporting actor in movies during his six decades of acting.  Many of his roles were in Westerns, several classics among them.

Morgan liked appearing in Westerns and always singled out his role as Henry Fonda’s partner in THE OX-BOW INCIDENT (Fox, 1943) as his favorite film role.  And why not?  He probably had more screen time in that one than in any other film.  Directed by William Wellman, it is considered a classic today, but was not a commercial success at the time.

 

Morgan has a delightful little scene near the end of YELLOW SKY, but I’m not going to spoil it.

And speaking of William Wellman….

THE DIRECTOR.

William Wellman launched his career as a director at the helm of Buck Jones Westerns during the silent era.  Over the years, he would direct sixteen films in the genre, with THE OX-BOW INCIDENT and YELLOW SKY being the best of the bunch.

Not only was he talented, he was also versatile, possessing the ability to direct films in many different genres.  He received three Oscar nominations for Best Director: A STAR IS BORN (UA, 1937), BATTLEGROUND (MGM, 1949), and THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY (WB, 1954).  However, his only win was as co-writer of the screenplay for A STAR IS BORN.

William A. "Wild Bill" Wellman

******

REVIEWS:

“It’s not a masterpiece – it’s quite conventional in plot and development – but it’s an excellent, grim, little movie, very taut and involving and suspenseful.—Brian Garfield in Western Movies: A Complete Guide

“…the guns blaze, fists fly and passions tangle in the best realistic Western style….Wellman has directed for steel-spring tension from beginning to end.” – Bosley Crowther in The New York Times

“The direction by William A. Wellman is vigorous, potently emphasizing every element of suspense and action, and displaying the cast to the utmost advantage.  There’s never a faltering scene as sequence after sequence is unfolded at a swift pace.” – Variety

 “Beautifully shot, in a stark black and white, YELLOW SKY is one of the best Westerns of the forties.” – Westerns on the Blog

“Well-written, well directed, well cast, the gang is a well-drawn collection of individuals, each with his own personality and intentions. – Buddies in the Saddle

“Like all the best Westerns, it raises questions about one’s word of honour and, in this case, if that has any value for those who live outside the law.” – Riding the High Country

 one of the film's greatest strengths is Joseph MacDonald's glorious black-and-white photography in Death Valley and the Alabama Hills near Lone Pine, California

There are black-and-white and colorized versions of the film on YouTube.  I recommend the original black-and-white version.