Die Draufgänger von San Fernando

You must take this film with a wheelbarrow of salt. Two young men get in dutch with the Texas state police during the 1870's and are forced to go on the lam. One teams up with Cole Younger, and winds up being framed for a crime he didn't commit. A good western, but I never figured Cole Younger to look like a middle aged insurance agent or to be so mellow hearted. Hollywood really did a job on this old west badman. And that courtroom scene near the end! No way!

Frank Lovejoy plays the title role of Cole Younger in this western from Allied Artists and proves that even outlaws have a code when it comes to paying a debt.

When both James Best and Jan Merlin are running from the carpetbagger Texas State Police they come across Lovejoy. Best stops Merlin from turning in Lovejoy for the reward. After that Best and Lovejoy start riding the trail together.

In the end Lovejoy finally repays the debt.

Jan Merlin stands out in the supporting cast. In his younger days when he wasn't starring on TV in the Rough Riders he played various punk roles. He's a real low life here.

The Texas State Police have come down in history as one corrupt group. I've no doubt they were. But in Reconstruction Texas the main objection to them was that they included black people in their ranks.

Still this western is a good if not wholly accurate.

In 1873 the proud citizens of Texas were humiliated and oppressed under the carpet-bagger administration of Governor E.J. Davis and his especially created state police, the corrupt and tyrannical "Bluebellies". Natuarlly they didn't take it lying down - - -

R.G. Springsteen directs and Daniel Mainwaring adapts from Clifton Adams' novel, The Desperado.

This is pretty much a like for like remake of Thomas Carr's 1954 version which took the title of the novel. Only difference here is that it is in De Luxe Color and filmed through the CinemaScope process. Main character change is with the outlaw Cole Younger (Frank Lovejoy), where in the 54 film it was an outlaw named Sam Garrett played by Wayne Morris.

In short the pic finds James Best having to leave town due to a violent confrontation with the Bluebellie captain. On the run and having left behind the love of his life (Abby Dalton), he hooks up with outlaw Cole Younger, forms a friendship and is thankful of that friendship when treacherous Frank Wittrock (Jan Merlin) fits him up for a murder.

It looks absolutely gorgeous, the colour, the Simi Valley locations, costumes and set design, but it rarely raises the pulses. It sort of plods through the story and fails to utilise what is a decent cast (it was Lovejoy's last feature length film). There's some value in the themes at work, such as refusing to bow to tyranny and that some gunmen were honourable and kept to gentlemen codes of conduct, but really it's lazy and you are strongly urged to seek out the far superior 54 film instead. 5/10

"Cole Younger, Gunfighter" is an okay western. There is not much else to say. There's nothing glaringly bad about it but there isn't much to praise either. There are a few nice moments here and there but mostly it's kind of dull. I think a little star power would have helped this one out quite a bit. On the plus side, "Cole Younger, Gunfighter" did help me get through a sleepless night. Honorable mention: a dreamy Abby Dalton.

A western, in glorious color. When hooligans terrorize a town in the old west, caswell (james best, coltrane on dukes of hazzard) is blamed for a murder. Can an outlaw's word save him at a trial? Frank lovejoy is cole younger. And there really was a cole younger, born in 1844, which would have made him about twenty in the civil war. Later, when the war ended, he and his brothers actually did commit various crimes as bandits, as described in wikipedia dot org. It's pretty good! Your basic western, but i think i paid a little more attention just because it was based on a real guy. Filmed at stunt man ray corrigan's old ranch, which was later owned by Bob hope. And is now a beautiful county park. Story based on desperados, by clifton adams, who died young himself at 51. Directed by robert springsteen. Lovejoy died young at age 50. Ainslie pryor died even younger at 37. More recently, there's also "cole younger and the black train" made in 2012.