The Tall Stranger

Leo Gordon too often was given the part of a sniveling villain, but here he gets to show that his talent would let him play almost anything.

Prolific, theater-trained Barry Kelley was on screen possibly more than in any other role, and did he make the most of it!

Virginia Mayo, one of the most gorgeous and talented women in the history of the world, is not just decoration: She has a pivotal role, including being a mother.

Joel McCrea probably never played any part badly. And just his appearance, his bearing, added strength and credibility, including here.

In fact, all the players were so great, the story almost doesn't matter -- but it does. Based on a Louis L'Amour story, this plot is involved but completely plausible. And it has lots of characters who are important to the development, who have their moment on screen.

One is played by Tom London, who first appears as only atmosphere, then stands out in a dangerous moment. (According to one of those "believe it or not" outfits, Tom London was in about 2,000 movies! Usually, as here, not given on-screen credit. Thank the heavens we have IMDb!)

Praise must be given to the prolific -- that means "busy" -- Thomas Carr. He is probably best known as a TV director, including of many of the "Adventures of Superman" entries, but he obviously knew how to present motion pictures.

Only the blah and generic title gets any, and mild, criticism. This is one great movie, which I highly recommend, and point out there is a very good print at YouTube. Enjoy.

Most reviews characterize this Louis L'Amour-based film as an average western. However, by me, no picture featuring Virginia Mayo, especially in several low-cut dresses, is going to be blah run of the mill fodder. We don't usually associate Virginia with Westerns, but this is the 5th western I've seen, in which she was the leading lady, and not simply a saloon floosy. She had her tomboy side, exhibited in some of these films, as well as her inherent talent as eye candy. Some years before this film, she costarred with Joel McCrea, as she does here, in the acclaimed "Colorado Territory". Here, as Ellen, along with her small son, she's part of a wagon train supposedly heading for CA. She helps revive saddle tramp Ned Bannon(Joel McCrea) who happened to stick is nose in the wrong place, discovering a small cattle herd, which he later surmised represented the 84 head missing from Hardy Bishop's spread, Bishop being his half brother. Nearly dead of a gunshot wound and thirst, Ellen nursed him back to health on a bed in her small prairie schooner. She later feeds Bannon a cock and bull story about her background as a Civil War widow. Much later, she admits that she never had a husband, and had been a saloon girl floozy, as oily Mexican rustler Zarata claims. Zarata encounters her bathing in the river, and tries to rape her as she dresses. Bannon happens along in the nick of time to break it up.

Oily Mort Harper joined the train late but, with his charismatic extrovert personality, soon became the de facto leader of the train, rerouting it southward toward verdant Bishop Valley, Colorado Territory. He talks up the advantages of settling in this valley. In contrast, Bannon tells them this land is all taken and there's no through route westward, but they have deaf ears to that message. Clearly, Harper has some ulterior motive in talking up Bishop Valley. Later, we discover that Harper is in cahoots with the cattle rustlers, headed by oily Zarata. Apparently, their plan is to engineer a land war between Bishop and the wagoneers, hoping they will mostly kill each other off, then the rustlers will kill or intimidate the remainder to leave the valley for them. Clearly , the rustlers are taking a chance that their plan will pan out as hoped.

Initially, Bishop hated Bannon, blaming him for the death of his no-good son, executed for his part in Quantrill's raiders. But, gradually, Bishop warms up to Bannon's strategies, realizing that Bannon is trying to diffuse the animosity between him and the settlers in a peaceful way. Eventually, there's a shootout between Bishops men + Bannon vs. the rustlers + some wagoneers. This isn't what the rustlers planned for themselves, and the leaders, along with others are killed. According to standard formula, Bishop and Zarata kill each other, albeit by different methods. Naturally, Bannon and Harper have a final confrontation. Since Bishop left no kin aside from Bannon, presumably, he is now the owner of this valley. He tells the wagoneers (and especially Ellen) that they can stay if they wish, conditions not specified.

This film presently is viewable at YouTube.

A pleasing Western, with a little more grit in it than is usually found in one of the 1950s. It starts with Zarata's brutally shooting of an innocent onlooker - the hero Ned Bannon - then emptying his water bottle and leaving him to die, Hardy's beating up his ranch-hand who didn't prevent his cattle being rustled, Ellen's (distant) nude bathe, and then her attempted rape - and she also has a "past".

It was a little difficult to follow Hardy's changes in personality: his over-harsh treatment of his ranch-hand, his threatening of Ned, followed by him accepting him back into the ranch after a fist-fight, then the change of heart after Ellen's son plaintive question, "Why do you hate us"? Virgina Mayo is as eye-catching as ever, and Leo Gordon shows a great deal of screen personality. I've a feeling that McCrea had at least seven bullets in his six-shooter in the final showdown, but I'll leave others to do their own count.

It was nice to see James Dobson on the big screen; his filmography suggests a good career, but I remember him best as a trooper in the old 1950s TV series "Boots and Saddles".

The hothouse plot drives mercilessly forward with appropriate action , breathtaking shooting , thrills , attacks , treason , rivalry , twists and turns .The film is set in post civil war , at a Western town, the pattern of the other celebrated cow towns of the Old west. There arrives back from the Civil War, Ned Bannon (Joel McCrea), a gunman who arrives at the place that is dominated by Hardy Bishop (Barry Kelley) , an old enemy, and who considers Bannon to be responsible for the death of her son by the famous Quantrell gang. In his territory Hardy Bishop runs his own legal regime, nicknamed 'Bishop's law' , There, conflicts mark the daily life of the town, especially when some farmer settlers try to settle around and our starring is forced to defend trusting, weak and betrayed colonists . Ned Bannon comes across rustlers and is shot and left for dead, but is found in time by a wagon train heading for California, being cured by the beautiful Ellen (Virginia Mayo). When he recovers he becomes suspicious of the two outsiders who are leading the train into a dead-end valley owned by his hostile half-brother. Braving his relative's animosity going back to the Civil War, Bannon makes contact to attempt and avoid a showdown. He Rode Tall And He Walked Tall... The Stranger out of Nowhere! The wagon train hated him, even after his gun had saved them from a massacre! Savagely written by the author of "Hondo"!

The picture based on a story by expert Louis L'Amour contains whirlwinds of manic action , fights , sustained energy and often commendable results . Nice-looking but ordinary 'Walter Mirisch Productions' Western , including some novelties , but also with usual elements , such as frenetic action, thrills , crossfire , romance and some spectacular action scenes .The tale is strong one and the action is wonderfully located against a colorful background from Morrison Ranch, Agoura, and Russell Ranch - Triunfo Canyon Road, Thousand Oaks, California; however, the cinematography is lousy due to bad copy, being necessary a perfect remastering. The picture gets Western action , shootouts , a love story and is quite entertaining . It's a medium budget film with good actors , technicians, production values and pleasing results . Brawling , sprawling , almost primitive action in which our starring goes into action and eventually changes allies against traitors . Stars Joel McCrea who gives an efficient acting in his usual style as an ex-Yankee officer aids a wagon train of former Confederates settle in a prosperous valley marred by cattle-rustling and land-grabbing feuds. Joel was a prolific actor in Western, his career is divided in movies directed by some great Western filmmakers . His wholesome good looks and quiet manner were soon in demand, primarily in romantic dramas and comedies, and he became an increasingly popular leading man. He hoped to concentrate on Westerns, but several years passed before he could convince the studio heads to cast him in one. MacCrea was a B actor , though ocassionally he played A films as ¨Sullivan's travels¨ and The ¨Dangerous game¨ . Joel perfomed a lot of Westerns, such as : ¨Union Pacific¨ , ¨Buffalo Bill¨, ¨The Virginian¨ , ¨Ramrod¨ , ¨South of Saint Luis¨, ¨Four Faces West¨ , ¨The Oklahoman¨ . Forteen years on from the famous ¨Sam Peckinpah's Ride in High Sierra¨, aging Joel Crea's goes back , as he came out of retirement to play a likeable and upright starring in his last film in 1976 ¨John C. Champion's Mustang County¨. Cos-star the always gorgeous Virginia Mayo as a woman with a dark past and with whom he falls in love. Both MacCrea and Mayo achieved great success with the classic ¨Colorado Territory¨ (1949) by Raoul Walsh. In The ¨Tall Stranger(¨1957) stands out a large numbers of secondaries, Western's ordinary, such as : Barry Kelley , Michael Pate , Michael Ansara, Leo Gordon, Ray Teal, James Dobson, George Neise and Whit Bissell .

The film was professionally and artisanally directed by Thomas Carr (1907-1997) , however it is sadly botched by a poor print run, which makes it almost unwatchable, at times. American second-feature director of the 1940s and '50s, invariably westerns for Republic, Monogram and other Poverty Row companies. Carr began as a child actor with Selig in silent movies from the age of two, continuing to act until becoming a dialogue director with Republic in 1937. Stayed with the studio and graduated to directing in 1945. Ended his career working in television during the 1960s. He was a Stakhanovite craftsman who directed a number of films in his long career, both in cinema and television, among which the following can be included: ¨Alias Billy Kid¨ (1946), ¨Brick Bradford¨ (1947), ¨Jesse rides again¨ (1947), ¨Congo Bill¨ (1948), ¨Blazing guns¨ (1950), ¨Guns of justice¨ (1950), ¨Pirates of the high seas¨ (1950), ¨Captain Scarllett¨ (1953) and ¨Superman in Exile¨ (1954) . Carr directed the original ¨Superman¨ (1948) serial. This led to the gig for which he is best remembered, directing many episodes of ¨Adventures of Superman¨ (1952) television series. He would spend his final decade in the business mostly directing for episodic television. ¨The Tall Stranger(¨1957) rating: 5.5/10. The film will appeal to Joel McCrea and Virginia Mayo fans.

I was expecting just a run of the mill fifties B Western but the film was quite entertaining for several reasons I will attempt to allude to.

1) Casting. Central character Ned Bannon (Joel McRea) is an ex Union soldier who becomes a sort of mediator between his hot-headed half-brother Hardy Bishop (Barry Kelley) who owns a big plot of land and a group of simple minded wagon train homesteaders on their way to a new settled life in California who stray onto Bishop's land after some bad advice from Mort Harper disregarding warnings given by Bannon himself.

2) Cinemascope colour photography makes this low budget film seem more upmarket as such.

3) Plenty of gunfights (and fist fights!) throughout the films typically short B running time keep the story ticking over nicely.

The film has its origins from a novel of the same name so has some good origins for its screenplay.

McRea himself endears his character to the audience like other notable 'Western' actors such as John Wayne and Randolph Scott.

Give this film a viewing, it's worth the time and a must for fans of the Western genre in particular.