The Forty-Niners

Elliott, a US Marshal, goes undercover to catch three killers. In the process, he befriends one of them, Morgan, and finds out his job is not as morally easy as he thought.

I was expecting a matinée western with the usual formula plot and stock characters. But this is not a formula matinée. Two of the chief characters—Morgan and Bradford—are morally ambiguous. That is, they are as capable of high deeds as well as low, sort of like real people. Also, Morgan, I believe, has more screen time than ostensible hero Elliott. I'm not sure why, maybe because Elliott is a middle-age 50, and wants to slow down. Also, it's Morgan who attracts the good-looking woman, while Elliott is all business.

I suspect the 70-minutes departs from the standard since it comes at the end of the matinée era. Instead, TV was taking over the cheap western. Anyway, the film is better than its lowly pedigree indicates, and can stand on its own as a slice of sagebrush entertainment. And, oh yes, shouldn't leave off without paying tribute to Wild Bill, this being his final western. He was one of the few matinée cowboys who could act tough and make you believe it. I think it was the narrow eyes and resonant voice. Anyway, he sure gave me a lot of entertainment over the years. Good luck, Bill, wherever you are-- you went out on a pretty good little western.

Wild Bill Elliott stars in one of his last westerns for Allied Artists -- basically Monogram with a budget -- in this story about a marshal hunting for someone who is killing miners for their claims during the California Gold Rush.

The story is compressed a bit by having Elliott narrate the beginning of the story. However, with his low-affect acting style and the overly full writing of the narration, it comes off like a long episode of TV's DRAGNET on horseback. Add in Harry Morgan, who spent the end of the 1960s as the second lead on the current version of the show -- well, from this distance it looks like a burlesque of Jack Webb's. In reality, it was probably simply an attempt to add some up-to-date techniques to the oldest film genre.

It didn't work. Elliott would retire from the cowboy B movies -- he would switch to mysteries -- and the B westerns themselves would migrate to the television screen and then would die. The mythology of the West was no longer the myth of the country. Science Fiction was already moving in.

That peaceable man, Wild Bill Elliott appears in one of his final films as a Marshal in the wild and wooly west. He is ably supported here by co-stars Harry Morgan and John Doucette.

Elliott was one of the most popular of the western movie stars, playing Red Ryder and Wild Bill in several series of westerns.This one was not his best, but it is very entertaining and will more than satisfy his legion of fans. Harry Morgan does an admirable job in an interesting, atypical role.

Elliott's western film career lasted longer than others, and in this one we see the action, suspense and moral values that are sorely lacking in today's films ...... Enjoy !

The Forty Niners may be a western, but it has the tone and documentary approach of a film like Calling Northside 777 or The House On 92nd Street modern crime dramas. It could also be compared to Dick Powell's Station West, a noir like western.

Wild Bill Elliott did this one for Allied Artists and it's a no frills western with accent on characterization as opposed to action, though we have enough of that. Elliott is a US Marshal working undercover to find out who killed one of his peers. It was a modern contract killing and they've got the guy who paid to have it done. He gave up the name of the middle man who arranged the contract and Elliott searches for him to lead him to the killers.

That middle man is Harry Morgan, a small time crooked gambler who has other sidelines. The rather strange bond that forms between Elliott and Morgan is what drives The Forty Niners. In fact in a way Morgan gets the girl here in the person of Virginia Grey who is married to one of Elliott's suspects.

The Forty Niners which title fixes the year and place the story takes place in is a good western with some really good characterizations. It was one of Harry Morgan's best screen roles and if you see it I'm sure you will agree.

Elliot plays Sam Nelson, an undercover U. S. marshal looking for the killers of a fellow marshal. The trail leads him to Alf Billings (Morgan), who makes by cheating at cards. Sam saves Alf from some irate gamblers, and Alf eventually leads Sam to the killers (John Doucette and Lane Bradford).

Virginia Grey plays Doucette's alcoholic wife Stella, who was Alf's old flame. Alf starts to think about turning over a new leaf so he can take Stella away from her miserable husband, and his new conscience comes in handy when Sam runs into trouble dealing with the two bad men.

With Elliott's resonant voice providing ongoing narration the film feels a bit like a Western DRAGNET. It's a law enforcement type of western and snappily-paced and compelling one at that. Elliott is his usual no-nonsense self and Harry Morgan does well as slippery yet charming gambler.