The Legend of Tom Dooley

Michael Landon is Tom Dooley, in charge of a Confederate cavalry unit who have just killed some Union soldiers.... only the war is over. This makes it murder, because no one believes him, except his girl, Jo Morrow, who marries him. But the law and the Union Army are still after him.

It's a decent little movie made to take advantage of the Kingston Trio's recording of the song, It was a popular North Carolina folk song by this point, but it was based on the murder of Laura Foster by Tom Dula; he, like Landon in this movie, was a Confederate veteran. The case attracted national attention as an early case of a crime of passion. Dula's lover, Anna Melton was implicated, but Dula, in a letter written just before his death, took sole responsibility.

It was Landon's fourth big screen appearance. He would make more over the years, but his career was consumed by television. He died in 1991, aged 54.

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!!

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

After a lot of tv works, Ted Post directed a first western (The Peacemaker) and then this "Legend of Tom Dooley", who looks like tv movie with same kind of light, casting and settings. But the hit song "Tom Dooley" by the Kingston Trio is here to serve the story (I have heard this song since the 60's when my father brought it back from Usa). The action is non stop, every scene is important. The main attraction of this movie is Richard Rust, he's so precise and threatening in all his main scenes (his arrest, his escape,...)(remember him as gus in "Underworld Usa"). The best scene of the movie is the violent fight between Tom Dooley (played by Michael Landon who can move fast, but with no charisma) and Grayson, in a Phil Karlson style.

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.

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.