The Silver Whip

Western novelist Jack Schaefer's follow-up to SHANE, THE SILVER WHIP is turned into a "shaky A" with Dale Robertson, Rory Calhoun, and Robert Wagner in the lead as an ambitious young stage driver. While this black-and-white effort lacks the visual grandeur of George Stevens' masterpiece, and the cast all right. and.... well, this is a good B western, with some nice outdoor photography by Lloyd Ahern Sr.

Director Harmon Jones doesn't seem to push anyone too hard, but it's a well-told story. It's clear they were feeling ambitious with this one. They screenplay is pretty good. I's simply that they chose to tell the story with melodramatic intentions, rather than the simple way that George Stevens' masterpiece did.

Robert Wagner, thirty years before Hart to Hart. Here, he's young Jess Harker, waiting to leave his quiet little hometown, in one of his early roles. the stagecoach company lets him drive the stage, but of course, there will be obstacles along the way. when they get held up, they go after the gang. co-stars Dale Robertson and Rory Calhoun. Some scenes filmed in the hills east of modesto. GIANT trees on the ponderosa. Directed by Harmon Jones.. his first film as director was As Young As You Feel, with some huge hollywood names; he directed a bunch of big films, but moved into Television pretty quickly. It's good! no real surprises, but it's good.

Based on a novel from the author of "Shane" and "Monte Walsh" comes a much less substantial of western, but an entertaining one none-the-less. Robert Wagner plays a young cowboy who's getting restless in his small town, so to keep him from becoming a no-good drifter the local stagecoach owner hires him as an armed guard for a large gold shipment. After the stagecoach is robbed, young hotheaded Wagner learns from the stagecoach driver (Dale Robertson) and from the sheriff (Rory Calhoun) there are two kinds of justice and he has to decide which one is right. In the hands of a director like George Stevens, this story had the potential to be something really smart, but instead it's merely a diverting western that will entertain fans of sagebrush tales.

"The Silver Whip" has a very good cast for a western. Rory Calhoun, Dale Robertson and a very young Robert Wagner star in this one.

Jess (Wagner) is very young but capable...so much so that Race (Robertson) recommends the stage company hire him to be their driver. But on his first run, the stage coach wanders into an ambush. Race yells at Jess to leave him behind to fight off the bandits but Jess refuses and stays to help. In the process, Jess gets himself shot (not badly) but his passengers are killed. Later, when he returns to town, Jess is fired for not listening to Race and not leaving with the coach.

Following this robbery, Race sticks behind and tracks the band of killers...all on his own. Jess goes back to town and after being fired, he's hired by the Sheriff (Calhoun) to be his deputy. Obviously Sheriff Davisson still has confidence in the young guy. Soon, the Sheriff and Deputy set out to find Race and the killers. What's next? See the film.

There's nothing great about this film but the script has some original ideas AND the acting is quite nice. After all, while not exactly A-listers, Robertson and Calhoun made some mighty good westerns during the 50s....and Wagner was just fine in one of his earliest roles. Overall, if you like westerns, you're bound to like this one...and seeing Jess grow and change through the course of the story was quite nice as well.

Three of the stars became major television stars as well. And Rory Calhoun, Dale Robertson, and Robert Wagner made an excellent trio.

Accompanied by two of the loveliest ladies, Lola Albright and Kathleen Crowley, as well as by some un-credited high-caliber performers such as the great John Doucette, George Cheesbro, and Edmund Cobb, they give us a tense western drama.

Anger and revenge for cold-blooded killing always make for drama, and usually the audience, the viewers know which side to take. Here, though, there becomes a question of the right and wrong of lynch law. Who will defend the "official" law, and who will support the old "eye for an eye" law?

The denouement is not what we expect.

Until then, we are torn, because all the protagonists are good people and it is hard to decide for whom to root.

Un-billed is Chuck Connors, but billed is the superb James Millican, as is J.M. Kerrigan in an undemanding but literate and important role.

"The Silver Whip" is available at YouTube and I highly recommend it.