Decent Western , but neither extraordinary , nor notable , but acceptable ; dealing with two tough men who had been friends from infancy , until they fell out over attentions of their intimate sweetheart whom one of them married . After a train robbery committed in New Mexico, a small bunch sets-out to divide the loot . However , a disagreement over the shares causes one gang member , Billy Massey (Dean Martin) , to take the whole loot and run towards the Mexican border , being pursued by the remaining band formed by revenge-seeking outlaws . Unfortunately , band member Billy Massey is a very close childhood friend of the sheriff Chuck Jarvis (Rock Hudson) who's married to their beloved sweetheart (Susan Clark) . Now it's up to Chuck to bring Billy to Justice ....when the running stops and the bullets begin . Together they fought for survival...now their guns must turn against each other!
This is a tremendously exciting story of two men who have been friends since childhood - Damon and Pythias lookalike- , as they find themselves on opposite ends of the law , as Chuck became the honest town sheriff , while Billy took to train robbing . It begins as a sluggish , slow-moving Western but follows to surprise us with peculiar , rudimentary characters and solid plot . The tale is almost routine , and full of clichés , an upright sheriff and his old partner turned into a bandit come to join and separate , just in time to confront enemies but later the events get worse . The highlights of the film are the facing off between Rock Hudson and Dean Martin and the climatic showdown on the ending . Sober and adequate acting by Rock Hudson , but Dean Martin is better as the rebel and unconventional outlaw , his performance and role bear similarity to the one he played in ¨Rough Night in Jericho (1967)¨. It displays a vivid and lively musical score by David Rose and atmospheric cinematography by Ernest Laszlo . Watchable results for this offbeat Western.
The motion picture was professionally directed by George Seaton. This craftsman was a nice professional and a polish writer and a director who occasionally rose well above his average standard and was twice rewarded with Academy Award for so making . Seaton formed a partnership with William Perlberg , was to produce all Seaton's movies for several years . Both of them produced and directed the following successes as ¨Miracle on 34th Street¨, ¨The country girl¨, a monster Box office as ¨Airport¨ , the warlike movie : ¨Counterfeit traitor¨ and , another unusual War film as ¨36 hours¨ . Rating : 6/10 , acceptable and passable . The flick will appeal to Rock Hudson and Dean Martin fans. Worthwhile watching .
