MartinHafer The film begins with a group of townsfolk dragging John Cord (Joel McCrea) from a rope tied to a man's horse. Yes, their plan is to drag him to death. Apparently five years earlier, Cord and his gang of cowboys entered the town and tore the place apart and spread a lot of misery. Inexplicably, he's back as one of the leading citizens in the town has hired him to take the town's cattle to market. How could this be?! After all, he was convicted of standing by and doing nothing to stop his men from an orgy of destruction. And, why is Cord so angry?! After all, the dragging seems more than justified when year hear about all the hellish things his men did to the town! And, why does Cord agree to take the job?! None of this makes any sense....and that's okay. Just keep watching!! It will make sense by the end.This is a very good western...which isn't a surprise considering it stars Joel McCrea. Even the most ordinary of westerns were made better by his solid acting...and this is a decent film to boot. Well worth seeing...mostly because it is unique...and that's very rare with westerns.

TheLittleSongbird I wasn't blown away by Cattle Empire, however I do think it is worth the look. The production values are impressive, Joel McCrea is splendid, Gloria Talbott is a welcome presence and Charles Marquis Warren's direction is passable. Also the film starts brilliantly and the climax is pretty strong.What didn't do it for me though was the film's length, it is far too short. The story felt rushed and underdeveloped and the script is decidedly patchy. Less of an issue is the pace, but it is still an issue, if the film had slowed down a little more the characters, story and script could have done with more credibility.All in all, a decent film but nothing really to blow the mind. 6/10 Bethany Cox

ianlouisiana Mr Joel McCrea appeared in two of cinema's finest works at opposite ends of his career,"Sullivan's Travels" near the start and "Ride the high country" near the finish over 20 years later.In between,many of his roles were like that of John Cord in "Cattle Empire",a tarnished hero with a past.A trail boss wrongly convicted of allowing his men to wreck a town in a drunken orgy,Cord returns to Hamiltonville after being released from prison and is promptly arrested and dragged through the streets by horses ridden by irate townsfolk,only to be rescued by a former friend who was blinded in the incident that put Cord behind bars. Hired to take 5,000 head of cattle across unforgiving country to save the town from bankruptcy,Cord also agrees to take another herd in opposition to the original one,thus virtually guaranteeing to ruin Hamiltonville and gain his revenge. Directed by Charles M.Warren,also an experienced writer and producer, "Cattle Empire" is a bit of a journeyman's movie but is enlivened by Mr McCrea deciding to play the part of Cord as if he were John Wayne. As if that wasn't enough to peak our interest there are two brothers called George Washington Jeffery and Thomas Jefferson Jeffrey who run the chuckwagon and shave each other's beards,a pretty gal who dumped Cord when he went to prison and married the blinded man,and a villain racked with guilt who knows the truth about what happened in Hamiltonville five years earlier. The villain rides along at night singing "Streets of Laredo" in a shaky tenor as a tribute to an earlier Warren movie of that name that earned him a W.G.A. nomination in 1950. Ambitious neither in reach nor grasp,"Cattle Empire" is nevertheless a good example of the sadly long - defunct genre of the low - budget but thoughtful and well made western.And Mr McCrea is splendid in it.

Richard Burin This B-Western starts off brilliantly – despite unconvincing use of stock stuntwork – with 'murderer' Joel McCrea dragged through the streets by irate townspeople, then finally hauled, half-dead, onto the wagon of a man he once blinded. The script drops a few tantalising clues to the past, as McCrea encounters his old girl, his protégé and a mysterious local rancher... Then we're out on the trail and the low budget takes its toll, with a disappointing reliance on old footage. How many cows did the filmmakers actually have at their disposal? One? McCrea excelled in Westerns – I could watch them all day – but the plotting here is slack and the revelations far too contrived, leaving holes one could drive a herd through. Does McCrea intend to lead his old adversaries (and their cattle) to their doom? Will he steal the blind man's gal? And what really happened five years ago? You'll want to know, and then when you find out, you'll think: 'Is that it?' A strong action climax calls to mind 'Comanche Station', which is a far better film. Still, 'Cattle Empire' – for all its dead-ends and cattle shortages – remains a fascinating, idiosyncratic watch.(2.5 out of 4)