Thunder Over the Plains

Complex western that manages pretty well to stay afloat. You may need a scorecard since the screenplay involves four different factions bouncing off one another. Scott displays his usual iron-jawed determination as the captain torn between loyalty to his native Texas and the Union cavalry. The bad guys, as usual in these post-Civil War oaters, are the greedy carpetbaggers, headed up by that excellent actor Hugh Sanders. And who can overlook perennial fall guy Elisha Cook doing his usual fierce rabbit bit.

The rivalry between the two captains, Scott and Barker, is an interesting feature, especially when it extends to Scott's wife (Kirk). That scene where the home-sick wife is captivated by the handsome Barker is both well played and unusual for a western. Note too how Scott is compelled by the byplay to fade into the background, another unusual feature for a western hero.

Though filmed just west of LA, the rolling scenery makes a good Technicolor backdrop to the action. Much credit for making the elements work should go to director de Toth who was skilled at handling conflict as shown in his masterwork, Ramrod (1947). The redoubtable Sam Peckinpah also selected de Toth to direct many episodes of his groundbreaking TV series The Westerner (1960).

On the whole, it's a complicated story of personal and political conflict but still delivers the goods for fans of westerns.

This just became one of my favorite Randolph Scott movies.

First, there's an intelligent script by Russell Hughes, who wrote for some good radio shows like "Nightbeat" and Alan Ladd's "Box 13", as well as such films as Anthony Mann's "Last Frontier", Delmer Daves' "Jubal", and even the best of the giant-bug movies, "Them".

Then, there's the look and feel of the film. Director Andre De Toth and his great cinematographer Bert Glennon (who had done remarkable work with the likes of Josef von Sternberg and John Ford) light and shoot for realism and emotional impact. Glennon had also shot "Man Behind the Gun" (available on the flip side of this DVD), so I suppose director Felix Feist could be blamed for that film's phony-looking stage sets. Here, in "Thunder... ", a barroom scene looks like it was shot in a real barroom (foreshadowing Clint Eastwood's "natural lighting" technique by decades) and exteriors are shot outdoors. To be fair, the Feist film may have had budget or producer issues, but given that film's potential (dealing with water rights, corrupt politicians, the possible secession of southern California, even the semi-legendary Joaquin Murrietta as a supporting character) it still seems like a typical, entertaining, 40's-style B-movie. "Thunder...", released the same year, 1953, seems more forward-looking, more compelling, more of the age of the "adult" Westerns, even though the literally flag-waving ending with its narrative paean to the great state of Texas kind of pulls us back to B-movie-land.

The only thing worse than a Hollywood Civil War western is a Hollywood Reconstruction western, especially one made in the early 1950's, about a dozen years after GWTW and ten years before MLK, when the movies, mirroring white American society in general, tended to glorify the slave owning, secessionist, defeated southerners as poor, put upon farmers (i.e. Fess Parker) and demonize the anti slavery, pro union, victorious North as a pack of rapacious weasels (i.e. Elisha Cooke Jr.) and have newly freed but soon to be Jim Crowed African Americans, the true victims of this most shameful period of our history, shunted off to the side and occasionally allowed to jeer at the Carpetbagger who, along with Federal troops, were their only protectors against the racist peckerwood heroes of this most lame ass movie.

Plus, there's Phyllis Kirk.

During reconstruction, Texas-born Army Captain Randolph Scott is torn between duty and his fellow Texans (including a young Fess Parker), who are in a life-or-death struggle against corrupt officials and ruthless carpetbaggers. Meanwhile, slimy officer Lex Barker gets a little too close to Scott's wife.

Thunder Over The Plains sags just a bit in the middle, but has great production values and is fairly ambitious for a 1950's B-western, with some pretty complex characters. The cinematography and direction by Andre De Toth are excellent.

Elisha Cooke Jr. is pretty good as a sniveling tax collector. Lex Barker's character is especially vile, kind of a surprise considering the times in which this was made and the fact that Barker is so handsome and all-American looking!

In post Civil War Texas, an Army captain is charged with bringing in an outlaw who has become a legend for taking on the Carpetbaggers. It begins and ends with hokey narration, but in between there is a fairly interesting story, helped by nice color cinematography. Scott is his usual solid self as the captain. McGraw plays the outlaw, but it is Barker (coming off his final Tarzan movie) as another Army captain that is the real villain here. Kirk does well as Scott's understanding wife. It's not up to the level of Scott's later Westerns with Budd Boetticher, but it's competently directed by de Toth. The final gunfight is too drawn out and somewhat anti-climactic.