Noblesse Oblige

"Noblesse Oblige" features one of the last performances of lovely Gail Russell, whose aged countenance shows the ravages of alcohol that claimed her life at a too young 36. Johnny Yuma is robbed at gunpoint by a stranger who takes his gun, and rides into the town of Fair Oaks to visit his former Confederate Major, Quincy Bannister (Kenneth Tobey). The title refers to the entire Bannister clan, not well thought of in Fair Oaks, their sense of entitlement propped up by the powerful Quincy, who lives with younger brother Asa (Robert Vaughn) and sister Cassandra (Gail Russell). The Bannisters have a $1000 bounty out on Newt Scofield (N. J. Davis, last of two) for the murder of a local townsman, Johnny identifying Scofield as the same man who stole his gun. At no time is Yuma convinced that Scofield is a murderer, and with all the Bannisters under suspicion it's not long before the killer is revealed. Gail Russell's appearance is actually quite brief, Robert Vaughn, still four years away from THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., is well cast as the upper crust Asa, the unscrupulous bounty hunters played by Robert Swan (third of five) and Mike Masters (first of three). Earl Parker would be back on four occasions.