The Kansan

In Broken Lance, Kansas, John Bonniwell averts the Jesse James gang from holding up the town bank, but is severely wounded in the process. When he awakes in the hospital, he finds that he has been elected town marshall, with high recommendations from the bank owner and leading citizen, Steve Barat. Bonniwell accepts the job (especially after getting an eyeful of the hotel owner Eleanor Sager) even though he knows that he was only appointed to become a pawn in Barat's scheme to bleed Broken Lance, and the Kansas, dry. Bonniwell's position is put to the test when Barat sues Bonniwell's friend Waggoner for running his cattle without paying the $1 a head toll enforced by Barat. When he sees that Bonniwell isn't going to be controlled so easily, Barat has Bonniwell's enemies go after him followed by an attempt by Barat's gambling brother, Jeff (who seems to be playing both sides of the standoff, while in love with Eleanor). Bonniwell then starts to rid Broken Lance of Barat's influence without losing his life, or anyone else's, in the process. Very good western with an excellent script, direction, characterization, and performances by everyone. Dix is right at home as Bonniwell, even though he seems awkward at times. Jory gives one of his best performances as Jeff, and his characterization is very surprising and different from others in the genre. The movie also contains one of the biggest barroom free for alls in any western, with everyone getting into the fracas. Only flaw was the climax was not as action packed as other sequences in the movie, but still a winner all the way. Rating, based on B westerns (this may count as a B+ however), 9.

This probably doesn't deserve the "B Movie" sobriquet. The production values are pretty high and it is quite heavy on the movie stars. This looks to me like it would have taken the A spot on a bill. Dix is good but Victor Jory nearly steals the show. The high point is likely one of the most over-the-top barroom brawls I've ever seen on celluloid. The script is also fine, although nothing too original. The low point in the movie....aside from a really unfortunate racial caricature.... is probably represented by a really ghastly World War II style showgirl routine based around "When Johnny Comes Marching Home". All in all, a satisfying show.

No need to recap the plot. Though conventional in most respects, this western does have some imaginative wrinkles. The Victor Jory character (Jeff) is a real novelty for the western format. Unlike most oaters, we can't tell where his loyalties lie. His intentions remain something of an enigma, which adds greatly to the plot since we can't be sure what he'll do next. With his unusual looks, Jory is perfectly cast. Then there's the super slick Albert Dekker who uses his extraordinary business guile instead of a six-gun to take over the town. All in all, it's a fine cast of colorful movie veterans, especially the froggish Eugene Palette.

I get the feeling someone in production was aiming for an epic scale western. Consider features like the host of extras, the big shootouts, the massive barroom free-for-all, the cattle stampede that's not all stock shots, along with the well-mounted musical numbers. The trouble is they spent all their money on big events but filmed in the very un-epic LA area scrublands, which gives the visuals a flat, pedestrian appearance. The story may be grandly conceived but the canvas is ordinary, at best. All in all, it's an interesting, slightly offbeat western.

Richard Dix finds himself elected sheriff of a small town run by land baron Albert Dekker after helping foil a robbery in this B-Western from the '40s. Dekker's the one who had him elected in the expectation that he would become just another of his puppets - but this is Dickie Dix we're talking about, and he's not about to be any man's doormat, even if he does look a little careworn at this stage of his career (death from heart attack was only 6 years away). The widely under-praised Victor Jory plays Dekker's brother, a gambler whose uncertain allegiance to either side makes him by far the film's most interesting character.

The producing/directing team of Harry Sherman and George Archaimbaud who turned out a couple dozen Hopalong Cassidy movies moved away from Hoppy and the Bar 20 to give us The Kansan, an independent film from United Artists. This western stars Richard Dix as the Shane like character who takes a hand in stopping a bank robbery by the notorious James gang. Dix gets good and shot up for his troubles, but while he's on the mend he finds he's been elected town marshal.

Engineering his election is town banker Albert Dekker who has many interests, legal and extralegal and he'd like a gun-hand like Dix as marshal to look after those interests. Dekker has cause for regret as Dix takes the job very seriously. Dix also starts courting Jane Wyatt the local innkeeper.

That doesn't sit well with Victor Jory who is Dekker's brother. But Jory plays a lone hand in life as the film unfolds.

Dix's best years on screen were way behind him when he did The Kansan, but he could and does contribute a solid western characterization and gets solid support from the cast. Eugene Palette as a visiting cattle baron looks a bit lost in the western garb, but he works through it.

Western fans will recognize some distinct plot elements the Cecil B. DeMille classic Union Pacific. If you do you know exactly how The Kansan will end.