Man Without a Star

Terrific stuff! Kirk Douglas stars as a whiskey-sluggin' man's man who drifts into a Wyoming cattle town after taking young, hot-tempered William Campbell under his wing; they get jobs on cattle baroness Jeanne Crain's ranch, but she's fixin' to muscle in on her rancher-neighbor's land (for the grass) until her neighbor puts up a barbed-wire fence--something Douglas has a violent aversion to. A quality package, what with King Vidor directing and Douglas at the peak of his rough 'n tumble charms. Kirk's paternal relationship with Campbell suits him, as does tough-lady Crain as a possible love-interest. Screenwriters Borden Chase and D. D. Beauchamp get this outdoor yarn off to a great start, and it just keeps going from there. Strong cast includes Richard Boone as the villain, an uncredited Jack Elam as a killer, and Claire Trevor, wonderful as a bar hostess. Douglas swaggers, shoots, bites, plays the banjo and sings! It's one of his best films. *** from ****

Man Without a Star is not ranked as one of Kirk Douglas's great films, but it's a personal favorite of mine and a tour de force for this player.

I don't think any actor in screen history could ever go from zero to 120 in intensity as Kirk Douglas. His character Dempsey Rae in this film is a free footloose cowpoke with charm to spare. When provoked he changes like lightning and he's a man not to be trifled with. Kirk Douglas could do this better than any other actor.

Douglas gets good support here from western regulars like Jay C. Flippen, Eddy Waller, Roy Barcroft. Claire Trevor, although she's played more heart of gold floozies than anyone else in cinema history is never bad. Jeanne Crain as the boss bad gal did well being cast against type.

William Campbell was famous for two things, a role in the original Star Trek series as a Klingon Captain named Koloff and the fact he was married once to Judith Exner who also was linked to President Kennedy and Sam Giancana. He's pretty good in this however as Douglas's sidekick/protégé who turns on him for a while. And Richard Boone never gave a bad performance in his life and doesn't do so here as the foreman Jeanne Crain hires to run roughshod over the smaller ranchers.

Western fans and Kirk Douglas fans will love this.

Solid western directed in magisterial way, in the best genre tradition, by prestigious King Vidor. You can said the topic of the experienced cowboy teaching to a newcomer results very common at movies western. But Man Without Star is some more. This excellent movie picture tell us about the rivalry between two land´s possession different conceptions and about men´s maladjustment to new society rules. Everything is good at Man Without Star: the story (Borden Chase), the casting (Douglas, Trevor, Boone...), the song (Frankie Laine), and, of course, the production. Many director told us stories in western, but a few ones so efficaciously and with so easy manner like King Vidor at this picture. Because things results easier when you are expert. The same story was years later (also starring by Douglas) the Lonely Are The Brave starting point.

This is probably my favorite Kirk Douglas western. Although it has plenty of action this is not just another action western. Rather it deals with the implacable transition of the west from open range available to all to individually-controlled patches of range that are fenced off with barbed wire. Dempsey Rae (Douglas' character) loves open range and keeps drifting north to avoid the barbed wire which destroys it. Finally, however, he realizes that the small ranchers must fence off the range to protect themselves from the massive herds of a greedy rancher and her ruthless foreman and helps string and protect the wire that he hates so thoroughly. I love this under-rated western.

The man without a star is Douglas, and the Star is the picture here. Douglas apes, cavorts, and even sings his way thru the part of the seasoned cowboy attempting to teach a tenderfoot the ways of the range. Campbell is good as the young green-horn that learns his lessons perhaps too well. Although the fun seems a bit forced at times, this one is hard not to like.