The Legend of Tom Dooley

A real bow-wow, as are most Civil War westerns (surprising how many have been churned out, though apparently nobody has compiled a list). Both the Confederate gang and the townspeople manage to acquire guns that weren't thought of yet. They include the Colt Peacemaker of 1873 and the Winchester Model 1892 (and maybe a 94 for good measure) plus double-action, cartridge conversions of cap and ball revolvers!

Also, you have to wonder why the producers took a popular folk song and set it in another era. The similarity with "Burning Bridges," the "Kelly's Heroes" theme by the Mike Curb Congregation, comes to mind. Absolutely no connection between score and plot.

The Legend of Tom Dooley is based on the old folk song, Tom Dooley, which itself was inspired by a real life case about Tom Dula, who was convicted of the murder of Laura Foster in 1866. The films story pretty much follows the song, performed by The Kingston Trio as the title song and as part of the soundtrack - cum - screenplay!

Photographed nicely out of Chatsworth and Thousand Oaks, California, by Gilbert Warrenton, it stars Michael Landon, Jo Morrow, Jack Hogan, Richard Rust and Dee Pollock. The narrative and various character actions hit all the right emotional beats. A series of events, where circumstance dictates, puts Dooley and his two pals on the run, which with the Civil War literally only just over, makes for a powder-keg like backdrop. Things are further compounded by the fact that Dooley wants to go to his home town and get Laura, to elope to Tennessee, only he has a major love rival, the bitter and vengeful Charlie Grayson.

There's nary a dull moment in the 80 minute runtime, no pointless exposition or scene fillers of no consequence. Action junkies are catered for, with the usual Western staples adhered - though the speeding up of one round of knuckles is more chucklesome than exciting, but a shoot-out (actually a hold-out is a more appropriate terminology) part of the play is splendidly executed. Cast are dandy, doing what is needed to make it all work on an emotional level, with the stand out being Rust as Country Boy. He's a sort of John Ireland/Kevin Bacon hybrid, a very good character actor who deserves to be better known, even if he thankfully carved out a good career in film and TV.

It's no hidden gem of the Western genre sphere, and it doesn't break any new ground, but it's admirably constructed and keeps those wagon wheels turning. 7/10

It's to appalled the opening song already suggest a final destiny of the main character Tom Dooley (Michael Landon), in other hand when the confederate soldiers surrender the union soldiers they must to telling them that war is over, instead the first shooting coming from the wagon by a civilian I suppose, then they aren't the guilty as such, in fact they shot back, keeping aside this early inconsistence, all upcoming events implied they as true assassins, Landon on leading role is good enough, however I rather the Country Boy (Jack Hogan) who steal the show, a persuasive Mississippi's accent, also the most relevant acting coming from him, the dreadful final expose a dysfunctional and so implausible plot, sorry for the bad screenplay!!

Resume:

First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD-R / Rating: 6.25

I have just seen this film on TV last night, it is the first time I have seen it, and although not a classic, it does have a certain amount of charm and given that it was a cheaply made 'B' movie I thought it was well acted and well directed. It certainly held my attention and kept me entertained for the 90 minutes or so that it was on for. I would certainly like to watch more films like this one than the majority of the films that are made now. I notice that several reviewers have stated that it is not historically accurate in a few details, maybe that is so, I couldn't say, but whether it was accurate historically or not is of small consequence to me, I watch a film to be entertained not to have a lesson in factual history. Others have said that it is too much like an episode of "Gunsmoke" and uses the same sets, as "Gunsmoke" was one of the longest running and best western series ever aired on TV I would have thought that was not a bad thing and a plus rather than a negative.

I'm surprised how many of the reviews here trash this movie...

Okay, first the bad stuff. Maybe there is some historical inaccuracy to the guns people were using in the movie for that era, and I'll say I agree that the 'Tom Dooley' song doesn't really fit with the plot other than the character's name and that he might be hanged. For all I know the army uniforms didn't have the right number of buttons. For a general entertainment film such as this, sometimes you have to grin and bear the small flubs to enjoy the rest of the film, and that's true here.

But now let's get to the good stuff and it's considerable. The story begins when Tom Dooley (Michael Landon) and Country Boy (Richard Rust) kill someone in the line of following their orders as soldiers. Unfortunately the war has ended but they weren't told - and nobody is going to cut them any slack. While they thought they were just doing their jobs, now they are called murderers and try desperately to get out of this mess alive.

This movie has a few things that really hooked me. First off, the main characters played by Landon and Rust were likable types you could care about what happens to. If you don't care about the characters, then what interest is the story? But here, that's no problem - you can't help wanting to see them come out okay. And they got into this mess by accident, through no fault of their own, and every other person they encounter calls them 'murderers' and says they will hang for their crime. Here, the 'bad' guys are really the good guys, and the 'good' townspeople and sheriff etc. are the bad ones. I found Rust's character of Country Boy to be better-played than Landon's Tom Dooley, but both were quite good.

Part of the story is that Landon and Rust might get away, but Landon insists on going back to get his girl so she can come with them. That complicates things tremendously and contributes to the final outcome.

This movie moves along at a good pace and stays interesting from the beginning to the end. It has engaging characters caught in a tough situation. No, you can't count on it for historical accuracy, and the occasional playing of the Tom Dooley song in the background is not the best idea, but really - it is much better of a movie than many I've seen which got good ratings. I usually prefer Westerns by far to Civil War movies, but this one I like.