zardoz-13 Seasoned western leading man Rory Calhoun plays a cow hand named Santee who embarks on a different career as a bounty hunter hen he learns he can pick up $3-thousand for catching a Mexican bank robber who sports those eponymous spurs. After he guns down El Pescadore (Robert Carricart of "Fun in Acapulco"), Santee appropriates the black spurs of the title that the Mexican wore. Meantime, Santee's prospective bride, Anna (Terry Moore of "Mighty Joe Young"), who abhors his change of profession, leaves him before he can marry her. Anna lectures him at one point that the $3-thousand is "easy" money. This theme of "easy money" permeates this oater. "Johnny Reno" director R.G. Springsteen's "Black Spurs" was one of several westerns that venerable Paramount producer A.C. Lyles produced during the 1960s with actors and actresses whose careers were fading into obscurity. The interesting but formulaic Steve Fisher screenplay adheres to the old school of westerns where bounty hunters were reviled for their cynicism. Actually, Santee doesn't gun down every man that he stalks like those ruthless bounty hunters in Spaghetti westerns; Santee allows one or two to live. Later, he refuses to pursue the bounty on a man's head until it totals over $500. The black spurs that he took from the Mexican serve as a metaphor for what Santee has become. The first major turning point of the film occurs when Santee the bounty hunter decides to turn into a full-fledged villain. He cuts a shady deal with a notorious, well-heeled, land owner, Gus Kile (Lon Chaney, Jr.), who wants to attract the railroad to the town that he owns. Naturally, Kile's town is named Kile, and the land around it is worth about ten cents an acre. Were the railroad to locate in Kile, Kile's acreage would increase to as much as $10 dollars an acre. Instead of running their line through the town of Kile, the railroad has chosen to lay tracks through the nearby town of Lark. Santee learns that the railroad discriminates against lawless, wide-open towns. Santee and Kile set out to transform Lark into a town so wild that the railroad will relocate to Kile. Santee convinces a local Lark saloon owner, Pete Muchin (Richard Arlen of "Wings"), to go into business with him. Santee imports gambling machines and girls to Lark. Straight-up, honest, lawman, Sheriff Ralph Elkins (James Best of "The Dukes of Hazzard"), tries without success to evict Santee from town, but he doesn't have enough support from local citizens to run him out. Reverend Tanner (Scott Brady of "$"), baits Santee into brawling, but the parson loses to our protagonist. Santee learns that Tanner is not you're your ordinary, everyday gospel minister. At the same time, Tanner doesn't let Santee alone and struggles to appeal to his conscience. Meantime, villainous Bill Henderson (Bruce Cabot of "Big Jake") arrives with Shifty (Joseph Hoover) and his wagon load of slot machines. Sadie (Linda Darnell of "Forever Amber") brings her dance hall girls to town. Pretty soon the town of Lark is wide-open. Santee encounters Sheriff Elkins's wife, and the woman turns out to be none other than Anna. She insists adamantly that Santee clear out of town. Eventually, Sheriff Elkins stirs up too much trouble for Henderson's taste. Henderson and his cronies tar and feather the scrupulous lawman without Santee's approval. Santee learns the terrible truth about Anna and why she couldn't wait for him after he went in pursuit of the "easy money" on El Pescadore It seems that she got pregnant, and the ladies of the town shunned her business because they regarded her as a tramp. Santee learns that the little boy, Chad, is really his own son. Santee's conscience prompts him to back out of his deal with Kile. In a bizarre reversal of roles, Santee appropriates Elkins' badge and cleans up the town.Springsteen stages several okay shoot-outs, and "Black Spurs" doesn't wear out its welcome. The gunfight involving Deforest Kelly as a crooked lawman who wants to kill Santee is rather slick. Kelly gives two prisoners in his jail a choice. They are about to swing on the gallows, but he will let them conveniently escape from jail, if they were cut down Santee in the street when they make their big break. Predictably, everything goes wrong, and Kelly pays for his treachery. Aside from some scenes set on the trail, most of the action in "Black Spurs" transpires in town. The film chronicles the changes that occur in our hero's life, and we see Calhoun go full circle until he is back on the side of law and order. Although it came late in Calhoun's career, "Black Spurs" contains more plot that most of his westerns that he made during his heyday in the 1950s.

classicsoncall It's always cool for me to catch one of my favorite TV Western cowboys show up in a movie like Rory Calhoun did here. His run as 'The Texan' during the 1958/1960 season would have overlapped Scott Brady's tenure as 'Shotgun Slade' airing from 1959 to 1961. 'The Texan' was the better of the two shows and had that rousing theme music at the end of each episode. Stephen King must have thought so too because he wrote Rory Calhoun into his novel 'The Regulators'.Right out of the box though, I had to wonder about the name of Santee's (Calhoun) first bounty target. The Mexican outlaw was called 'El Pescador', which translates as The Fisherman, so I was a little puzzled by that. That doesn't sound very villainous to send shivers up your spine. But his character had those black spurs that gave meaning to the title, which Santee confiscated to bolster his image and reputation.The picture reminded of the 1959 Audie Murphy Western "No Name on the Bullet" in as much as when Murphy's character Gant arrived in town, it aroused a lot of town folk suspicion that they were the one he was after. There sure were a lot of guilty citizens in Kile, Kansas when Santee came on the scene. With 'No Name', Gant was content to let the town people take each other out over their suspicions, so his work there was made that much easier.I guess the turning point for Santee here had to be the revelation that old flame Anna's (Terry Moore) son was his as well. You can see the gears slowly turning in Santee's mind about what's important in life and what's not, like turning the civil society in Lark into a hotbed of sin and debauchery. The tar and feathering of Anna's sheriff husband Ralph Elkins (James Best) also played it's part, but you know, I had to laugh when Ralph wanted to lend a hand during the gunfight against the baddies. He looked like The Mummy in one of Lon Chaney's earlier films in which he portrayed the bandaged one ("The Mummy's Tomb" and "The Mummy's Ghost"). It was really kind of comical.Well besides the principals already mentioned, there was cool support here from the likes of DeForest Kelley, Bruce Cabot and Linda Darnell in a final film appearance, although her second billed status is questionable since she only appeared in a handful of scenes and wasn't really prominent in the story. Oh, and can't forget little Manuel Padilla Jr. who gave Santee something to think about when he told him - "It's sad to be a bad man".

Michael_Elliott Black Spurs (1965) * 1/2 (out of 4) A ranch hand named Santee (Rory Calhoun) grows tired of being poor so he decides to turn into a bounty hunter so that he can collect some big rewards. After being successful at this he decides to move in on a local town to take it over because he knows a railroad is about to come through. BLACK SPURS has a very interesting cast but sadly that's about the only thing the movie has going for it. This is a pretty strange Western to watch and especially when you consider it was 1965. By this time most Westerns like this weren't being made anymore as the story, structure and overall feel of this makes you seem like it would have been better fit in the 1940s. I think the main reason people are going to come to this film are for the stars. Calhoun isn't very well known today but he has a strong devoted group of fans who will probably be the only ones wanting to watch this. He's pretty good in the film as he has no problem playing rough and later on more soft-hearted. The supporting cast includes some very familiar faces including Linda Darnell and Scott Brady as well as the likes of Lon Chaney, Jr. and Bruce Cabot. Those coming to this film to see Chaney and Cabot might be disappointed to see their roles so small but both actors are still good. BLACK SPURS features some rather routine gunfights that never get too exciting and we're also treated to a sidestory between Calhoun and Darnell that really doesn't add up to much and the big twist is something you'll see coming from a mile away.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) Black Spurs was a routine western, but the fact that so many famous veteran actors were in the cast gave it a special interest. Rory Calhoun, Terry Moore, Patricia Owens and DeForest Kelley don't even look old. Linda Darnell, Scott Brady, Lon Chaney Jr, Bruce Cabot and Richard Arlen are all perfect for their parts. The story, about Santee (Calhoun) who becomes a bounty hunter and wears black spurs is very well built up up to the end which I felt could have been better. It is good to see all these actors, the excellent final shootout, and also to enjoy this type of western that used once to be routine but nowadays has disappeared.