Rebel in Town

I just watched this movie on Netflix. Although I am a big western fan, I had never seen this movie with its wonderful cast. The general story line is about a nervous confederate man shooting a boy and then becoming more cowardly than ever, allowing his brother to take the blame. That's not what this movie is truly about. It is about the psychological effects people had as the Civil War ended. On one side, we have the heroic Northern officer who can't resist always assisting the law and his perspective of the Confederacy that he has passed on to his son. On the other side, we have five war-weary confederate soldiers, four brothers and a father, having just robbed a bank in a nearby town, but having a need for water. Three of them ride into town and one is involved with a shooting. The youngest brother feels guilt and wants to do the right thing. The father of the shooting victim wants revenge against the soldiers, regardless of the fact it was an accident. The story hinges on the tug and pull of the emotions and feelings people had, due to the War. If there was something I would criticize, it would be the writer finding the easy out by making the shooter become cowardly and unconcerned about anyone but himself. What made this western stand out to me was the material it covered. It was not a simple plot. The emotional content is what makes this story special, the right and wrong perspective idea consistently flows throughout this movie with only Ruth Roman being the voice of reason and logic. All the actors did great jobs with their characters and it was refreshing watching actors, normally portrayed as stereotypical heroes playing people with huge flaws that pinpointed their humanity. I would like to have seen more of Ben Johnson (side bar complaint). Very worthy of watching more than once.

Hollywood made a slew of so called "B" westerns during the 1950s, mainly black and white 80 minutes jobs meant to fill a second feature at the local theatre.....when I saw the top notch actors in this film I figured it would be worth watching and it was very good....John Payne, J. Carrol Nash, John Smith, Ben Johnson and Ruth Roman round out a very solid cast.....in a lot of these so called B westerns there were a lot of films about confederate soldiers on the run rummaging and pillaging so the plot was somewhat familiar....what set the tone for this film was the slaying of a young boy who was gunned down by a rebel coward, who thought that a cap gun going off was the real thing and he turned around in an instant and shot the kid dead...what follows are real character studies of the rebel family and their self righteousness about how a member of their family killed a little boy and the intense manhunt led by John Payne, the boy's father....Ruth Roman plays a very compassionate, caring mother while grieving for her dead son and tries to instill logic and a level head into her husband Payne who starts to lose his cool nearly every moment in the film.....Strange part to the movie when one of the rebel band is rounded up by Payne and brought to his house not knowing he was one of the rebel band....questions follow and soon Payne realizes his "guest" is part of the family that killed his son....a mob scene follows as usual and soon law and order is restored....in the end Payne nails the real killer (John Smith) in a knife fight in a barn as he tries to escape town....his father, J. Carrol Nash forgives Payne in the end for his son's cowardice..... Payne is reunited with his wife who was at the breaking point with her husband's blood thirst for revenge.....a solid, very worthwhile western, considering it was made rather cheaply by a small studio Bel Air productions..but released by United Artists.....

A mixture of Film Noir elements, a lot of psychological insight and scenes that are typical to the usual Western this makes for an unusual film. A child is killed and the man who caused it tries to evade responsibility for it, and many brutal scenes are shown before the final outcome. Filmed in black and white this accentuates the Noir feel, and the direction and casting is excellent. Ruth Roman is at her best as the child's mother, and so is Ben Cooper as one of the brothers of the killer, who tries to restore justice in his own way. John Payne gives a good performance as the father and I cannot fault the acting. In my opinion this film should be better known, and valued but if found it is well worth seeing. A deserved 10.

Small scale western that holds together well despite unoriginal situations and a low budget.

Most of that can be attributed to the lean direction by the little known Werker and the competence of the players. John Payne is brooding and bitter in the lead occasionally going overboard with with the righteous indignation but by and large he does well. Ben Cooper is also solid as a conscious stricken young man but it's Ruth Roman who stands out with a well balanced performance as Nora Payne, weighted down with grief but compassionate enough to remain clear eyed and level headed while all around her are losing theirs.

Another asset of the film is the use of natural sounds to underscore scenes adding to their import without a lot of intrusive musical cues.

No prize winner but a better than average western.

Rebel in Town is directed by Alfred Werker and written by Danny Arnold. It stars John Payne, Ruth Roman, J. Carrol Naish, Ben Johnson, Ben Cooper and John Smith. Music is by Les Baxter and cinematography by Gordon Avil.

The phrase a hidden gem gets used far too much, so much so I try my utmost to veer away from it if at all possibly. However, for fans of grown up Westerns then Rebel in Town is most assuredly a gem of a find for sure. Story is set just after the American Civil War in the town of Kittreck Wells. A family of Confederate soldiers (The Masons) have staged a robbery in a nearby town and need to go into Kittreck for water supplies. A turn of events will bring the family of outlaws into the life of ex Union soldier John Willoughby (Payne), a hard working family man, who still has a fierce commitment to rid the land of Confederate rebels.

It could have ended up as just another trite "B" Western message movie, but this is so much more, the quality of the writing is such that the script demands full attention. The effects of the Civil War are of course central, where the characters from both sides of the fence are here painted in rich colours. John Willoughby had a tenuous grip on post war forgiveness before his family is shattered by the arrival in town of the Mason family, but soon enough his thirst for revenge begins to tip him over the edge. The Mason family are not merely outlaw fodder, they are a complex bunch, each of the four brothers different in their own values and approach to life, but it's with the patriarch Bedloe (Naish) where the screenplay finds real strength. A God fearing man, he hates what his family has become, and although he clearly rules the roost, he is given to complete democracy, his boys always are given the vote on the decisions the family must make. The juxtaposition between the two heads of family, from different sides of the war, is intelligently thought out by the makers.

Added bonus here as well is the characterisation afforded Ruth Roman as Nora Willoughby. So often in "B" Westerns female characters are given to being love interests or a cause for macho posturing, not so here. Nora Willoughby is arguably the key character, she fights throughout the play to not only overcome her grief, but also that of her husband. She is relentless in her attempts to stop John from become a crazed revenge fuelled mad man, for she can see the bigger picture that her man simply can't. The other key character of note is Ben Cooper's Gray Mason, the younger of the Mason family and the family's conscience, his interaction with - via a plot development to integrate him with the Willoughby's - is a priceless commodity for the picture's dramatic worth. With characters of great substance it only then needs good performances from the actors to make it all work, and we get that. Even the smaller supporting roles are well held by director Werker, such as Marshal Adam Russel (James Griffith) who is calm and measured and a mile away from the caricature type of law men we get in the genre.

The look of the piece is terrific, Avil's black and white photography comes from the film noir stlyed playbook, which is most befitting for the story's psychological axis. Werker had dabbled in film noir, notably with the excellent He Walked By Night, so his instruction to Avil for the look on show is astute and makes sense. Action scenes are well staged, but it's with certain scenes where the pic soars high. The catalyst scene that sets the wheels in motion is boosted by an authentic recoil, which is great to see. Also attention grabbing is a corporal punishment section that should make you wince, while the father and son axis between John and his son Peter at the film's beginning begs for deeper thought once film reaches its closure. With a lovely print being shown on TCM-HD rounding out the bonuses, this is a super treat for Western fans and therefore comes highly recommended. 8/10