Overland Pacific

This might have packed a bit more punch had the assembled acting talent had a bit more to them, but as it is it is really just a rather routine cowboy and indian western centring around the expanding railroad after the end of the American civil war. "Granger" (Jock Mahoney) is, ostensibly, a telegrapher sent in by the railway company but is soon embroiled in some gun-running that is providing the hostile Comanches with the wherewithal to hold up construction and cause mayhem amongst the workforce. It soon becomes clear that there is something more to this harassment - and evidence of bribery and corruption in order to have the line diverted quickly emerges. Can he get to the bottom of it? It takes it's time to get going this, but after about twenty minutes it becomes a predictable, but perfectly watchable, afternoon filler. There are some gunfights, fisticuffs and, of course, the obligatory romance before a denouement that we've all seen loads of times before. Nothing at all new, but it's not bad.

I caught this rare item from a 16mm print, not very good, but I don't care. It is a good time waster without any surprises, with Jock Mahoney in a predictable role. A western as you have seen a thousand times before, with plenty of action, a bit romance and that's all. It was not produced by Columbia Pictures and their infamous Sam Katzman, Columbia where Sears made most of his career. He was not a bad director, but the producers whith whom he had to deal over the years prevented him to show better skills. He made many westerns and thrillers but only EARTH VS FLYING SAUCERS - a science fiction film - brought him fame.

I see that there are no reviews here so I'll add my two-cents. This was a very poor Western in just about every way. It deserves its 5.0 rating average. I usually like the stars, Jock Mahoney and Peggie Castle. Here they were attractive, anyway. Everything else about the film was cheap, unrealistic, actually embarrassing. Mahoney is known as a stunt man early in his career; here his fistfights were awkwardly staged acrobatic doings. Westerns that have battle-winning ploys at the end of throwing sticks of dynamite or lighting brush fires are a sure sign of a ludicrous movie, and the former was used here. The basic story (the bad guy's plot)seemed pretty thin and unworkable to me.

A B-movie western that delivers the goods when it comes to action. Jock Mahoney plays a guy investigating a spate of Indian attacks on a pioneering railroad and soon undercovers a minor conspiracy taking place. What occurs plotwise is unremarkable, but this is a film better than average thanks to the execution, which favours momentum and action over tired dialogue and romance scenes. There's a feisty heroine, treachery, a square-jawed hero and a whole host of vivid battle sequences that are staged well on a low budget. It's one of those entirely forgettable films that nonetheless entertains while it's on.

For some reason I hadn't ticked this one against my reference bible (Phil Hardy's "Western Movies"); it was on UK TV's marvellous Talking Pictures free channel.

What a nasty story full of murders, treacherous former friend, saloon gal with heart of gold (murdered), cowardly sheriff (murdered), feisty heroine (Peggy Castle) sporting tight slacks (father is murdered); hero is supposedly a telegrapher but really a "railroad agent", former mate is chief crook conniving with the usual sinister townies to supply repeating rifles to the Comanches to cause mayhem so railroad is diverted to town so land values can increase (familiar?); Hardy mentions the awful colour (Color Corp. Of America) which is a bleached horror; (the cowardly, crooked sheriff is Chubby Johnson-playing against his usual comedy type-warmly remembered as the riverboat captain in "Bend of the River"); ticked it off as am an obsessive Western watcher-but will never see it again!