Männer, die in Stiefeln sterben

The Only + for this, in Yet Another Serviceable George Montgomery Western-Movie is the Prestige of CinemaScope and Technicolor.

It Seems that after Putting-Up the Money for the Eye-Candy-Wrappers, the Production, otherwise, Feels Bare-Boned.

The Script Concerns Rail-Road Intervention and its Consequences for the Locals...Mainly Land-Grabs by the Town's Corrupt Business Leaders, Backed by a Killing Gang of Cut-Throats, that was Done-to Near-Death by 1958...

Especially when Handled with the Weakest of Movie-Magic...a Love-Interest Involving Stiff Scenes of Seduction by a Past-Her-Prime Bar-Room-Babe (Nancy Young)...

and Our Outstanding Roll-Model, Ex-Lawman, Do-Gooder (after all, he's from"God's Country"), the Ever-Stiff Stunt-Man and Actor Montgomery,

(who did have a unique and distinctive voice and vocal style), who Rode His Hunky Screen-Persona Appearing on Big and Little Screens Over a 100+ Times.

But His Career is Lackluster, Probably Best Known for a Season Starring in TV's "Cimarron".

The Action is Mundane, the Shoot-Outs Dull, and is a Forgotten Film in the Wasteland of the Unimaginable Output of the Western that Lasted about a Decade...

a Genre so Main-Stream Prolific and Ultra-Popular that it was Ever-Present in the Home and at the Theater in the 1950's...even on Top-40 Radio.

Generating a Spin-Off, the Modest-Doo-Wop-Hit by "The Olympics (Peaked at #8)..."Western Movies" (My Baby Loves the) Complete with Ricochet Sound-Effects.

This is One of those that Tumble-Weeded with Hundreds of Others that Crossed the Range and into the Sunset...

Dead and Buried with the Honorable Sam Peckinpah's "Ride the High Country" (1962)...

Sergio Leone "Death-Rattled" the Genre Some in the 60's...

But it was Peckinpah Again in 1969 Delivering a Movie So Strong, So Compelling, and So Great that it Resurrected the Genre Completely and the "Western Movie" was Back-From-The-Dead with..."The Wild Bunch".

In this standard late 50's color western from George Montgomery, a decent script is hampered by so-so casting and pacing . Montgomery is convincing in the lead hero role --- in a film that is ultimately routine.

As movies moved into the late 50's and 1960's, audiences were demanding more adult themes and conflict. This film is an example of that trend. Strained friendship, betrayal, redemption and renewal are all on display in this film ...... but it's too much in too short a film.

This is really a "C" western, and while it does entertain it is undemanding and barely memorable........

George Montgomery has a shot taken at him while he's heading to Sundown. He has no idea why. He's on his way to visit his Civil War buddy, House Peters Jr., with not a care in the world, so everyone figures he's someone else, and that's why they're after him: everyone has a different reason, including saloon singer Randy Stuart (who takes quite a hankering to him) and freight operator Frank Wilcox, who's not looking forward to the railroad coming and detroying his business. Montgomery goes about his affairs with his open, friendly manner and shoots people only when necessary, usually when they're trying to shoot him.

It's a pretty good Allied Artist western, with beautiful camerawork by Harry Neumann, and a lot of subtext in the script about how honesty is the best policy. Montgomery, as always, is very good. He was so good in westerns that he was pretty much stuck in them. So long as they are as good as this one, I think that's a good thing.

Man From God's Country has George Montgomery fired recently as sheriff of one town going to visit a friend in another town, House Peters,Jr. who seems to be mysteriously under the thumb of Gregg Barton and his right hand man James Griffith who does the enforcement of Barton's will when needed. This is not a normal situation by any means and Peters' own son Kim Charney is troubled by it.

Of course the bad guys are all taken care of as you would expect in a B western. I have to say though that the plot and motivations of the characters were pretty muddled. Except for saloon girl Randy Stuart. She's working a plan that will put her with a winner no matter who comes out on top.

Montgomery never got the acclaim for his B westerns in the way Randolph Scott did. They vary in quality, some were good, over all Randolph Scott's were better. But this one from Allied Artists is near the bottom.

Man from God's Country is directed by Paul Landres and written by George Waggner. It stars George Montgomery, Randy Stuart, Gregg Barton, Kim Charney, Frank Wilcox, Susan Cummings, James Griffith and House Peters Junior. A CinemaScope/De Luxe production, with music by Marlin Skiles and cinematography by Harry Neumann.

Dan Beattie (Montgomery) is a former Civil War soldier who is working as the sheriff of Yucca. After being acquitted of murdering a rabble rouser, he quits on principle and heads towards the town of Sundown where he hopes to hook up with his old war buddy Curt Warren (Peters Jr). Upon arrival, though, Dan finds a town run by a shifty business man Beau Santee (Wilcox) who mistakenly suspects Dan of being in league with the railroad company who want to run a line through the town. This opens up a can of worms and friendships and families become in danger of being ruined.

Little known Oater from the end of the 50s, Man from God's Country is a standard B picture that never quite fulfils the promise of its themes. There's interesting threads within, though nothing that hasn't been dealt with better elsewhere in 50s Westerns. The railroad is the devil who patrols the edges of the frame, this causes no end of suspicion and treachery as "honest" Dan proves to be the catalyst for Sundown's secrets and lies to come tumbling out of the dust in a blaze of guns, fists and tears.

It's handled efficiently by TV director Landres, with Waggner's screenplay mature and not without merit. Cast are mostly run of the mill, though Montgomery (looking and sounding like a poor man's Charlton Heston) proves more than capable at being the macho cornerstone of this particular production, where just like Heston he could throw a believable punch. Filmed out of Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth, California, there's some nice exteriors photographed by Neumann, costuming and colour are very pleasing and at 72 minutes in length the film never has time to labour.

It's more about "potential" psychological characterisations than action, which is fine, all be it annoying since the characters just don't get fleshed out at all. What action there is is done in short sharp shock manner, and in truth the ending, which is never in doubt, is all too brief and not doing justice to the good versus bad thread that director and writer were striving hard to build upon. 6/10