The Silver Whip

Character-driven western whose guiding idea unfortunately is better than the result. Sheriff Tom, tough guy Race, and young man Jess, are friends in a small frontier town. Jess, however, wants a chance to prove himself a man, so he gets trial run as a stage driver. Trouble is he screws up by not driving off to protect doomed passengers when stage is ambushed at a way station. Instead he stays behind to help his friend Race. Now Jess needs to redeem himself by helping Sheriff Tom and posse track down stage robbers before vengeful Race guns them all down. Climax occurs in town when lynch mob gathers to head for Tom's jail.

It's really Wagner's film. As the untried Jess, he shows his acting chops in a vivid performance still early in his lengthy career. Robertson (Race) and Calhoun (Tom) also get a lot of screen time as self-assured westerners. Oddly, they look so much alike, I got confused at times. The oater's unusual since no bad guy gets focal time, while the girls are strictly peripheral. Instead, the highlight is a well-photographed and lengthy chase scene across scenic rocks and hills. There's one unexpectedly jarring occurrence that I guess Hollywood convention couldn't let stand without smoothing out. Had they instead let it go extreme, the movie would be memorable. One key point, I wish Robertson's ambiguous character (Race) were more intense. That would have injected needed emotion to the movie as a whole There's a dramatic potential in the key conflict between Race and Tom that's unfortunately underplayed.

All in all, it's an interesting western with an unusual plot and some riveting scenery, but drains too much story potential.