Cattle Drive

This pleasant ,juvenile Western is a retread of the theme of the classic movie -and Kipling novel upon which it is based-Captains Courageous in that it deals with the education in life of a spoiled rich kid who is taken out of his comfort zone and forced to adjust to new situations and people Chester Graham Junior (a winning performance from Dean Stockwell)is the boy in question .He is left alone in the desert by mischance and can only get back to civilisation by joining a cattle drive bossed by the tough but fair Dan Matthews (the always excellent Joel Macrea).Chester is a fish out of water and struggles to adjust, making his dislike of the situation and his new colleagues all too plain until he sees the error of his ways learning lessons of the trail and life itself from his new boss and grizzled veterans played by genre luminaries Chill Wills and Bob Steele.There is one delightful touch when Macrea pulls out a picture of the woman waiting for him at end of trail -it shows his wife in real life ,Francis Dee, with whom he made a number of Westerns

Kurt Neumann,not a name usually linked with the genre, directs admirably and the colour photography by Maury Gertsman ,of Death Valley where the movie was shot is superb .Indeed the choice of ;ocation adds immeasurably to the impact of the movie as it is relatively little used in Westerns

This is not the only trail drive Western to draw its inspiration from a movie in another style -Red River being essentially a variation on Mutiny on the Bounty .This is not in the class of that magnificent movie but it is enjoyable and worth watching

This a neat, colourful "Captains Courageous" variation, with veteran Joel McCrea and youngster Dean Stockwell combining really well. The moralising and the sentimentality are underplayed and the action is excitingly staged by underrated director Kurt Neumann (even if some of the 'wild horse' scenes are taken from an earlier Universal-International western - directed by George Sherman - called "Red Canyon"). All in all this 78 minute oater is well worth catching.

Young Dean Stockwell is one spoiled kid, but with his father Leon Ames running a railroad, he's hardly got time for the kid. After Dean gets lost on the New Mexico desert when his father's train stops to take on water, he's found by Joel McCrea who's the top hand of a Cattle Drive going to Sante Fe.

That Cattle Drive is the making of young Dean. Under the tutelage of Joel, the kid turns out to be quite a good hand.

If the story sounds familiar like everyone else who reviewed this film, we all noted the obvious similarity between Cattle Drive and Captains Courageous.

McCrea and Stockwell had worked well together before in Stars in My Crown for MGM the year before. Though Cattle Drive is a good film, I can't recommend Stars in My Crown highly enough.

Look also for a nice performance by Chill Wills as the cook on the drive. A man definitely good to stand in with as we learned in Monte Walsh.

There's no violence in Cattle Drive, there's no women in it either. We do learn Joel does have a girl friend as he shows a picture of Frances Dee to all who will look.

It's a shame that Cattle Drive is not out on VHS or DVD it's a perfect family film to rent.

The lost genre being the good, challenging family/children's movie.

There were many series Westerns, and later TV variants like Cisco and Hoppy, but "Cattle Drive" is a lovely example of a cinema Western movie for kids but also to be enjoyed by the family. Shortish but with barely a false or draggy moment.

From the reviews already logged, it's obviously warmly remembered by those who saw it as children when it first came out.

Here in the UK it has been shown several times in the last few years and, as I write (March 2012) it's getting consecutive airings on a free to view digital channel.

No surprise: it's a terrific little film, one of two or three in similar vein that McCrea made around that time.

Joel McCrea obviously had an affinity with children, but, then again, wasn't he just a marvellous actor in whatever he did?

To the many points mentioned by the reviewers I would add another-the wonderful music.

Okay...so we all know Cattle Drive (1951) is Captains Courageous (1937) on dirt, and instead of cut fingers and constantly soaked clothes, it's saddle sores and an endless supply of beans and bad coffee. So what? It doesn't lessen the value of the story, nor reduce the entertainment experienced when watching this movie. It's a little gem of a story. That said, there are some less than positive attributes with Cattle Drive (1951). The worst of these are that, frequently, the movie and the characters seem rushed and even abrupt. This leaves the viewer wanting more ... more development between the two main characters; more interplay with the other hands during the drive, and more information about the "education" of the father at the end of the movie. Having seen this movie subsequent to seeing Captains Courageous (1937), it was difficult not to mentally compare the two while viewing this movie. To some degree, that actually worked against Cattle Drive (1951). Even at that, Cattle Drive (1951) is well worth a look.