Cow Country

As Monogram Pictures morphed into Allied Artists, they tried to raise the quality of their projects. As the demand for their B westerns disappeared, they hired some good actors -- among them the incomparable Edmond O'Brien -- and produced this western, directed by long-time Western director Lesley Selander.

I wasn't expecting O'Brien to be convincing as a cowboy, but he is astonishingly good as an ex-cowpoke who is building an express business -- and given a huge oversupply of cattle, he's shipping an awful lot of tallow and hide, all the scrubs are good for. There's a lot more history intelligently explained here than is usual for a B western, the photography is crisp and clean and there are fine supporting actors carrying the roles -- John Millicam is particularly affecting in, for him, a large role.

Selander directs very efficiently -- you can tell that villain Barton Maclane shot his interiors in a block and the action sequences near Lone Pine, where Selander spent most of his professional career are handled to advantage.

The net effect is that everything is much better than a B western, yet the obvious economies make it at best a shaky A. Still, overall it is a superior effort and worthwhile for western fans and a surprisingly unexpected sidetrack for Edmond O'Brien.

Nothing special in this western speaking of a topic so common in this genre: war between cattle owners. It is so predictable that you can't expect any surprise, only watch it to waste time. Edmond O'Brien does his job, a good job as usual. Lesley Selander was a prolific western specialist and this feature will not be a milestone in his career.

On Edmund O'Brien's birthday, 2012, Turner Classic Movies presented this movie hitherto unknown to me.

This is an astonishingly good movie, and for several reasons: It assembled some of the most talented actors in Hollywood; they were all good to even great actors (Mr. O'Brien, for example, is one of those rarities who is believable in any role, and anyone who is a good cowboy is, to me, at the top of his profession); the characters, except, of course, for the bad guys, were likable and often admirable; even the bad guys were well-rounded and believable.

There are two female leads, and both of them are good horse riders; both even know how to mount a horse, even in long skirts, as if they had been riding for years (and might have been; unfortunately, I haven't read their bios to know for sure). That is important for characters who are supposed to be natives to the West.

Don Beddoe has not only one of his best roles, he handles it beautifully. He shows he was an actor who deserved even more and even better roles.

Raymond Hatton was a veteran of movies back to the silent days. He too gives one of his best performances.

Robert Wilke also has one of his best roles, and also handles it beautifully. So often all he is allowed to do is walk on and get shot. Here his character is very integral to the entire plot. And, again, he shows he was very capable of more and bigger roles. (In our one conversation, he never expressed any regrets about his career. He might have been content or even happy. His auto license plate read, if I have the spelling right, "VILLEN." He was one of the best and one of the busiest of them.)

The writing and directing were good, if not perfect, and the only criticism I have is of the costuming. Even most of that was good, but one of the characters wore a Fredericks bra, which was popular in that era of film-making but actually deformed the female figure. (Just imagine Madonna as she so often appeared on stage.)

Otherwise, well, "Cow Country" is good enough for me to rate it a 9. I highly recommend it.

Cow Country is directed by Lesley Selander and adapted to screenplay by Adele Buffington from Curtis Bishop's novel "Shadow Range". It stars Edmond O'Brien, Helen Westcott, Robert Lowery, Barton MacLane, Peggie Castle, Robert Barrat, James Millican, Don Beddoe and Robert J. Wilke. Music is by Edward Kay and cinematography by Harry Neumann.

Texas ranchers led by floating cowboy Ben Anthony (O'Brien) fight to save their land from crooked banker Marvin Parker (MacLane) and his hired thugs.

We are at the beef collapse of 1875 and this forms an interesting narrative backdrop. Pic is conventional, though, yet it never lacks for in efforts to entertain. There's a ready amount of chases, punch-ups and shootings, all laced with nefarious or heroic deeds, and although the ladies are beautiful, they unfortunately fall foul of under written romantic arcs - though we do get a quite glorious whipping sequence courtesy of Melba (Castle).

It's all very routine but there's enough here for the undemanding Western fan to enjoy, with good casting and performances helping things along. 6.5/10

Period piece. It's the 1870s, and the market for cattle prices is dropping like crazy. The people of garnet basin meet to come up with a plan. Unfortunately, everyone is still looking out for their own best interest. The banker, the shipper, the farmer, the cattle men. When things escalate, people start turning up dead. Someone is rustling cattle and selling the hides on the sly. Ed o'brien is ben, who's willing to take on the rustlers. If only someone will help him stand up to the thugs. We know there's going to be a big showdown at some point. The sound and picture quality are quite excellent. After the big grand start, this ends up as just another western. It's good, with no hokey, drunk sheriff that never goes after the bad guys. From allied artists. It's your typical western, but a little better. Story by curtis bishop. Directed by les selander, king of the westerns. O'brien was part of some pretty big films.. liberty valence, barefoot contessa, white heat. He won the oscar for contessa!