The Outcast

In this tight little western which has a complex part John Derek is out to get his rightful inheritance of the ranch he feels should have been his. Instead the will lawyer Taylor Holmes drew up left the property to Derek's uncle Jim Davis. Davis is expecting Catherine McLeod a new bride and the stagecoach that brings her also brings Derek.

Derek unfortunately hired a bunch of gunmen led by Bob Steele. His hands aren't clean because of that.

Republic Pictures assembled a real good cast of familiar players to support Derek and Davis. Derek wages war on all fronts making a play for McLeod at the same time he's courting Joan Evans who is a neighboring rancher's daughter. Not exactly a move for a cowboy hero.

In its last years Republic was going in for western stories with an adult theme. The Outcast is not a film you would see Gene or Roy in. But it's a good one.

William Witney the director will be remembered as the greatest Republic Pictures serials maker. In his movies, for most of them, only the action scenes will be the best. See for instance STRANGER AT MY DOOR, an intimistic western, remember the horse sequence, with Skip Homeier? The story, very cute and unusual indeed, was rather flat but suddenly, you had a terrific action sequence, even better than any big classic Hollywood production. Even in his B westerns or thrillers - HEADLINE HUNTERS - there was a fist fight scene absolutely outstanding, for a forgettable B thriller. For this prectable western, THE OUTCAST - there is a.stampede sequence, involving wagons, and a wagon doing a stunt never seen before, some kind of a forward somersault, perious leap, a wagon laced at top speed !!!! Just in the middle of a flat western; because this story, sorry, but is flat, with a Jim Davis in a predictable villain character.

An early performance by Derek is the main attraction here, in this action packed tale of a young man, returning home to reclaim his ranch from a dastardly cattle baron. A good supporting cast, and a director that doesn't let the romance scenes get in the way, make this good fare.

Spectacular western with emotion, gunfire, go riding, twists, shoot'em up and, of course, loads of action. It stars John Derek as a young avenger who figths against his uncle, nasty rancher Jim Davis, to win his rightful inheritance of his deceased father. As he attempts to take the family ranch wrongfully held by a conniving uncle and even hiring ominous gunfighters . Along the way he finds love : Joan Taylor opposite his father Frank Ferguson, as well Derek enjoys fistfights , crossfire and ordinary final duel.

Exciting and thrilling western with thrills, brawls, stampedes and lots of gunfire. John Derek is acceptable as a tough young who takes justice on his own hands. Derek is mainly known for his marriages to gorgeous actresses as Ursula Andress, Linda Evans and Bo Derek. In The Outcast John Derek provides a nice role as a violent revenger who struggles to win his rights, though he is hardly ever macho man fo his character, usually battering his knuckles and fingering his pistol. Support cast is pretty good, such as : Ben Cooper, Frank Ferguson, the always sympathetic Slim Pickens and Jim Davis later famous for his roleas patriarch Ewing in Dallas series.

Produced by Herbert j. Yates from Republic Pictures in medium budget, it was efficiently directed by William Witney, in one of the last films for Republic. This director Witney was a prolific craftsman who worked a lot for Republic, the studio where he laboured for many years churching out a series of low budget westerns, many of them starred by singing cowboys as Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. Witney was a fine professional who made 140 titles from the 30s .By 1936, he was script supervisor on serials and his own directorial career began the following year. The favorite shooting was the 1936 serial Zorro's fighting legion. After WWII service with US Marines, he moved to Roy Rogers films and Western genre such as : Shadows of Tombstone, Heart of Rockies, Border saddlemate, Bells of Coronado, The painted stallion, The lone ranger, Home in Oklahoma, On the Old Spanish trail, Hig time in Nevada, Gay ranchero, Helldorado, Rex Ryder, Eyes of Texas , among others. Furthermore, his television work wich included some quite trilling episodes of succesful series such as : High Chaparral, Bonanza, Laramie, Zorro, The Virginian, Wagon train and he followed to work for cinema and was capable of making acceptable movies in budget enough, such as Santa Fe passage, The Bonnie Parker story and Escaped from Devil Island. Rating : 6/10. Decent and passable western.

The Outcast is set in 1880s Colorado about a man who rides into town with a gang of hired gunmen to reclaim his inheritance. But the man opposing him is none other than his uncle, who will not give up the ranch, and all that goes with it, without a fight.

A truly pleasant surprise to me this one was. Too many times I care to mention when I have sat down for a B movie Western and cringed at the banality on show. Directed by prolific B helmer William Witney and coming out of the mightily solid Republic Pictures house, The Outcast {AKA The Fortune Hunter} uses a standard story premise and expands it further with a multitude of interesting character arcs. There is so much going on in this part of Colorado, the film never has time to become boring or twee in its execution. Each character serves a purpose, if they have screen time then they are functional to the plot{s} in hand. We have feuding families, hired thugs, a pugilist blacksmith, reams of gun play, fist fights on horseback {fine stunt work here} and pretty gals pulling the male protagonists emotions left and right! All set against a lovely rolling location backdrop {sadly not able to find where at the time of writing} and filmed in the safer cheaper colour aspect of Trucolor, which looks nicer now in this day and age of HD TV.

The cast are led by John Derek (All the King's Men) and an assortment of stoic and professional Western players fill out the roll call. It does look to be either largely unseen or consigned wrongly to the B movie bin. But it's certainly a must for the Western genre fan, and definitely a film to prove that Republic Pictures did have good films in their locker. So do check it out if you get the chance 7/10