Outlaw's Son

Dane Clark is pretty good in this movie, but it's an unconvincing effort overall. It takes a 1950s story -- absent father trying to re-establish a connection with his son, resentful child raiser that formed the basis of REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and tries to place it in an Old West setting.

As a result, it calls attention to the fact that it's a costume drama. It gives the impression that everyone is playing Dress Up, like putting on Pilgrim costumes to talk about the Taliban. The dramatic and clearly 1950s music score doesn't help.

What does help is the clean and elegant cinematography of William Margulies. He was a cameraman in the Bs who graduated to D.P. just as the Bs were shutting down, so he went into TV work, where his style enlivened such excellent TV oaters of my childhood as HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL.