Fury at Furnace Creek

Fury At Furnace Creek is a richly textured Western from 1948 starring charming second-tier leads Victor Mature and Coleen Gray. The mid to late 1940's, the Golden Era of Hollywood movies, produced such Western Classics as Red River (1948), My Darling Clementine (1946), and San Antonio (1945) (see my review). While not in a league with those blockbusters, this picture reaps the benefits of a big studio industry that was at the absolute peak of movie-making artistry. Though a medium budget picture, it gets the same glossy production values as any top-dollar 20th Century Fox number.

Mature and second lead Glenn Langan play long-estranged brothers uneasily reunited in a effort to clear their late Army General father of charges he caused an Indian massacre. Ms. Gray, as a pretty, but spunky diner waitress whose enlisted man father died in the massacre, makes a lovely romantic interest for the appealingly laid-back Mature. Formidable villainy is provided by Albert Dekker as a suave crime boss with henchmen Roy Roberts, Fred Clark, and the ever sinister Charles Stevens. Stevens, who claimed to be the grandson of Geronimo, was an asset to any Western. With his beady eyes, his weathered ferret-like face, and his wiry, stooped physique, he seemed the quintessential Western villain. Reginald Gardiner plays a pivotal supporting role as an alcoholic retired Army captain possibly involved in a conspiracy to frame the General.

Though director Bruce Humberstone directed only two other Westerns, he nevertheless shows a nice touch for the genre here, getting fine performances out of a diverse cast and brilliantly setting up the scenes for some dazzling cinematography. He and film editor Robert L. Simpson move along the critically acclaimed Charles Booth/David Garth story with silky smooth scene transitions and nary a wasted camera shot in a lean 88-minute running time. The colorful score, credited in the movie's opening graphics to Alfred Newman, not David Raksin as IMDb indicates, consists mostly of pervasive period honky-tonk music but works quiet effectively. Sets are lavishly detailed and costumes are colorful and authentic looking. All of which along with intelligent, colorful dialog, and Harry Jackson's stylish cinematography creates a rich, layered, ambiance. The style of Jackson's atmospheric cinematography, abounding with night scenes and starkly shadowed, obliquely angled camera shots, shows the influence of the dark, Gothic crime melodrama, now known as film noir, which was all the rage of the late 1940's. Look for some some real knock-out camera work in this modest Western, particularly the following: 1) a lengthy sequence of panicked Garder stalked through, dark streets, boardwalks, and alleys by Stevens -- 2) a shot of Mature descending a stairway viewed between the silhouetted hats of the two villains watching him -- 3) in the final reel horseback chase a pose of villains galloping across the top of a rugged cliff while the two fleeing brothers ride parallel to them at the bottom of the cliff, all in the same frame. And surely the climatic shoot-out scene in the ruins of the old fort accompanied by whistling wind, tumbling tumbleweeds, and screeching gate hinges, has served endless inspiration for a later generation of Spaghetti Western directors.

If you are a Western fan, or just a fan of classic movies, don't miss this one. Fury At Furnace Creek is a skillful blend of drama, intrigue, and action, exciting, atmospheric, and engaging from beginning to end. First-rate Western entertainment from Old Hollywood's Golden Years.

While escorting a wagon train carrying supplies to Fort Furnace Creek a cavalry officer by the name of "Captain Grover A. Walsh" (Reginald Gardiner) receives a message from "General Fletcher Blackwell" (Robert Warwick) to remove the troops guarding the wagon train in order to relocate to another destination immediately. Although the wagon master doesn't like the idea of being left unprotected in Apache territory, the captain insists that he must follow orders and subsequently departs with his men. Not long afterward the wagon train is attacked and Fort Furnace Creek is destroyed. Naturally, the army immediately conducts an investigation and it is then determined to courts-martial General Blackwell. Unfortunately, it's during this time that General Blackwell dies of a stroke and unable to clear his name his reputation is seriously tainted. However, rather than accept things as they are his two sons "Captain Rufe Blackwell" (Glenn Langan) and "Cash Blackwell" (Victor Mature) decide to conduct their own separate investigations into the matter-and they discover a number of things that weren't brought up at their father's trial. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a decent Western due in large part to the acting of Victor Mature. Admittedly, there were a couple of scenes which weren't quite as realistic as they could have been but other than that I enjoyed this film and have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Fury at Furnace Creek is directed by H. Bruce Humberstone and collectively written by Charles G. Booth, Winston Miller and David Garth. It stars Victor Mature, Glenn Langan, Coleen Gray, Albert Dekker and Reginald Gardiner. Music is by David Raksin and cinematography by Harry Jackson.

When General Blackwell (Robert Warwick) is accused of instigating an Apache massacre, he refutes the allegation so strongly in court he keels over and dies. With the family name tarnished, the estranged Blackwell brothers (Mature and Langan) must put aside their differences to hopefully unearth the truth and clear their father's name.

Nice. Without bringing new dimensions to this formula of plotting, Fury at Furnace Creek is stylish and doesn't take the easy narrative options so prevalent in other Westerns of the 40s. Sure, the standard action quotient is adhered to, with Apache attack, pursuits, saloon shoot-out and the good versus bad finale, but screenplay and scripting has an intelligence about it; and the cast performances coupled with Jackson's shadowy infused black and white photography, make this well worthy of a look by the Western faithful. 7/10

When a general gives an order to divert a military escort from a wagon train to the remote Fort Furnace Creek, the Apache leader "Little Dog" sees his chance to reduce everything to rubble... The horrified authorities proceed to court-martial the general, but he dies on the witness stand and it falls to his two, estranged, sons, to get to the bottom of this mystery. One, "Rufe" (Glenn Lankan) a soldier; the other "Cash" (Victor Mature) an astute gambler handy with his six-gun. The latter gets to the town where one of the chief witnesses against his father "Capt. Walsh" (Reginald Gardiner) has take refuge in the bottle. Clearly seeing he has something on his mind, "Cash" attempts to find out what. The arrival of the other brother, the murder of "Walsh" and a note that might clear things up all feature as the story comes to an head - appropriately, in the burnt out ruins of the fort. It's a solid, action-packed adventure that gives Mature a chance to be more than the usual swarthy, sandalled hero. Coleen Grey ("Molly") introduces the tiniest element of romance, but nothing to clutter the quickly-paced plot that amalgamates just about every theme from the genre. Some effort has been put into the production, and I quite enjoyed it.

Because it is a western built around an investigation, as a crime drama, a court drama. The main interest is for me Albert Dekker as a villainous character. For the rest, I repeat that this western is not like any other of this kind. This is for me one of the best movies from director Bruce Humberstone; he will repeat in western with TEN WANTED MEN for Columbia Pictures and starring Randolph Scott. But keep in mind that he was mostly specialized in comedies, light hearted dramas or musicals. A film noir though, I WAKE UP SCREAMING, also starring Vic Mature, was a little gem to pick up from Humberstone's filmography.