Brimstone

Basically, this Republic western from the late 1940's is Walter Brennan all the way with admirable support from two of his sons in the film, Jim Davis and Jack Lambert. The so-called star of the show, Rod Cameron, is only so-so and the rest of the cast mainly plod through their lines without much inspiration; this includes the likes of Forrest Tucker, Jack Holt, and "Big Boy" Williams, three screen stalwarts who usually did much better in the acting department.

Walter Brennan as the title character, Brimstone, reprises his Old Man Clanton role from "My Darling Clementine," which he parodied twenty years later (still an old man) in the magnificent "Support Your Local Sheriff!" Jack Lambert as the dullard son, Luke (reprised by Bruce Dern in "Support Your Local Sheriff!"), has one of the best lines in the film. Pop Brimstone uses the expression, "...Just as sure as the world is round." Surprised by his dad's revelation, Luke blurts out, "Round?" Later, Luke is still puzzled and tries to convince his dad otherwise. "I've been thinking, Pop. The world can't be round...cause if it was, the people down in China would be standing on their heads." Luke comments while distorting his face and body to indicate the predicament of those living on the bottom of the earth. Why Jack Lambert never received his just deserts for his acting talents remains a mystery.

The story is a bit lopsided and in places seems made-up as the film progresses. Generally, it's about the Courteen family of ranchers led by the old man who refuses to accept the end of the open range. He continues to fight a war against homesteaders, nesters, squatters, and the like by robbing stagecoaches of loot being transported for the interlopers. Suddenly, a mysterious stranger appears on the scene to begin robbing the robbers. The mysterious stranger teams up with the local sheriff to ferret out the real thieves. In the process he becomes involved in a split within the Courteen family concerning the youngest son, Bud (James Brown), in love with a nester, Molly Bannister (Adrian Booth). Bud finds himself in trouble with the law and with his own father. Unraveling the twisted plot is not easy but by the end of the show a satisfactory resolution takes place with a few surprises along the way.

Keeping with its reputation for delivering plenty of action, Republic makes sure there are fisticuffs and chases. The studio would possibly have been better off shooting "Brimstone" in black and white. The color leaves much to be desired with a few tinted black and white inserts. This may have been a bigger budget film for Republic, but cost cutting is still obvious with rear projections and backdrops clearly visible in several "outdoor" scenes. "Brimstone" is still a pleasing shoot-'em-up for fans of the genre.

This is one of the B Western films that has everything, great stars, great plot, surprises, good guys, bad guys, etc.

Brennen does an excellent job as Brimstone, a grizley old man that is bad to the bone and expects his moron sons to be just as bad. The exception being James Brown.

Rod Cameron plays a great part but in my opinion, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams steals the show.

"Gracious, I always talk Spanish when I'm eatin', makes the food taste better"

Watch it, tape it and watch it again. You'll always find some hidden part or line that'll connect for you.

This one would have gone over well with the under 12 crowd, many years ago. For you young folk, once upon a time movie theaters had matinees for kids every Saturday morning. Starting times varied - ours started at 10:00 am, and consisted of some cartoons, a serial, maybe a comedy short, and then a (fair-to-middling) western feature film. "Brimstone" would have filled the bill for one of these, and if I were 11 I would have rated it higher.

"Brimstone" is a typical two-dimensional western devoid of rational thought and motivation, the type produced by the carload by Poverty Row studios in the 40's. It has lots of action, with fistfights and shoot-outs and hombres talking tough. This one has stalwart Rod Cameron as a US Marshal trying to apprehend some stage robbers, in fact a family of them. The family is headed by Walter Brennan in iron-fisted fashion as a cantankerous old rancher, and he makes the most out of his chance to carry a movie. He is like Moe and his sons like the other Stooges, aided by some unintentionally funny dialogue and knockabout comedy, as the British would say. (Of course,this is supposed to be deadly serious stuff).

There are the usual plot dead ends and unresolved loose ends which I always find annoying, but at the age of 11, who would notice? There is enough action to fire up the young audience, and cause the matron to descend on us and order all concerned to be quiet, flashlight in hand.

This is a Republic Studios shot at an A picture. The problem is that it is still Republic, after all. The film is in color, but it's "Trucolor", which is a two color process that makes the great outdoors look very odd. (The movie was clearly shot in the winter -- which makes the fact that the process really does not show green less of a liability. The blue shows up as a very cold blue) And when it is time for a big sweeping scene that's beyond this film's budget, the movie suddenly changes to black and white for a minute.

But the reason for watching is seeing Walter Brennan in full-bore villain mode. And he plays the character as that mean old evil reprobate we all know in our lives, and he is scary good at it. The character resembles his villain in "My Darling Clementine", but he has more film time to be just plain awful, and he makes the most of it. It is bravura acting, but it is not the least hammy or corny. The man won his Academy Awards for a reason.

Plot? Stranger with unclear motives takes on a corrupt town. No surprises on how this develops, though one thinks the Walter Brennan character in real life would have made prompt mincemeat of the stalwart hero, and purchased himself a few more local politicians.

Borrowing from his portrayal of Old Man Clanton in My Darling Clementine, Walter Brennan dominates this film as the mean and merciless head of an outlaw family. It seems that Brennan at one time was the local Ben Cartwright, but little by little the homesteaders and small ranches have nibbled him down to little by his standards. So he and his two outlaw sons Jim Davis and Jack Lambert have been plying the outlaw trade going after them with some cattle rustling and other forms of criminal enterprise.

The general outlaw situation has a lot of people mighty of suspicious of sheriff Forrest Tucker and deputy Guinn Williams. Federal Marshal Jack Holt arrives on the scene, but he's wounded in a stagecoach holdup and not able to do too much.

Into all this mix is a mysterious loner played by Rod Cameron who looks like he's trying to cut himself in on everybody's action, Brennan's and Tucker's. When you're not watching Brennan, Cameron's the one that should be paid attention.

Brennan had a very bad time with John Ford when he made My Darling Clementine, but Ford got a great performance from him. I think Brennan channeled a lot of that into his role here of Brimstone Courteen.

This is a great action western from Republic with quite a bit more plot to it than the usual Republic product for the Saturday afternoon kid market. And you'll not forget Walter Brennan in the title role.