chipe This movie is a waste of time. I wanted to like it, but couldn't. The only positive things I could say about it is (1) the mountain/dessert scenery, which unfortunately was in black and white, and (2) Brian Keith's performance, which is the only thing that brought the movie to life. Clint Walker's performance was pleasant, not a great recommendation.Along with other reviewer's, I also noticed the well-directed scene where Virginia Mayo had been fished out of the river by Clint Walker, and is seen (obviously naked) under her blanket. The good direction is how she awakes and slowly realizes the situation (undressed by Walker). The point I want to make is that it was a good scene, but an obvious, easy one, and that so many would take the time to draw attention to it reveals how listless the rest of the production is.***spoilers galore***** What prompted me to write this review is to draw attention to some remarkably implausible scenes, maddeningly implausible even for a B-Western: (1) early on, Walker comes upon the lone woman and son in an isolated ranch house during an Indian uprising. A dozen Indians with rifles attack the ranch house with only Clint and the boy shooting their rifles through windows. That the Indians couldn't finish them off, attack from all sides, climb up on the roof, set the place on fire, etc., drove me to distraction. Then later in the darkness, Clint strangles an Indian and the three ride away. Yeesh! (2) later on, white townsfolk in wagons outrace Indians on horseback to a fort. Yeesh! (3) finally, later on, Clint leaves the fort, alone, to go for help and just happens to come across Brian Keith with a few dozen repeating rifles. OK! But he then saves the day by riding alone with some pack horses (packing the rifles) through the Indians surrounding the fort, to save the day. Yeesh, again! (I also disdained the stock action footage.)

carolnell OK, up front, I'm a huge westerns fan & I've always loved Clint Walker. A lot of these reviews have focused on a comparison with John Wayne's "Hondo". Well, when "Hondo" was made, Wayne had been starring in films for almost 20yrs, so please - guys - cut Clint some slack, OK? He had been plucked from an everyday life only 3yrs before, with no previous acting experience, & this was his first starring role in films, in the lead no less. I think he carried it off pretty well. It's full of good action sequences, the scenes with Clint & child actor Richard Eyer are sweet & the tension between Clint & Brian Keith is pretty cool. The budding "romance" between Clint & Virginia Mayo doesn't come off so well, but I remember reading elsewhere that she wasn't too happy about being cast opposite a TV actor & that there was some resulting tension on the set. All in all, I found this to be a pretty good entry in the western pantheon; well worth watching. As usual, tho, it's too bad Warner skimped & didn't film in color. What a waste of gorgeous scenery, both landscape & their leading man!

dougdoepke Fugitive Gar Davis (Walker) flees from posse across hostile Comanche territory with woman and small boy (Mayo & Eyer), and encounters old foe, the gun-running Clett (Keith).Fine eyeful of parched southwestern scenery—I counted only one interior (the "hospital" scene) for the entire movie. Sure, Big Clint (not Eastwood) has only one "Yes, ma'm, No, ma'm" demeanor for every scene, but that's okay, even if he didn't get to be the next Gary Cooper. Putting old-pro Gordon Douglas in charge was a shrewd move. Note the stages the awakening Mayo goes through in discovering that, yes, Walker has stripped off her wet clothes. Note too how Douglas gets that infernal glint in Mayo's eyes when she first suspects Clint of murdering her husband—it's almost scary. I also like the way the Indians are credited with some military sense when overturning the wagons to make shooters' barricades. Most important, Douglas knows how to integrate the picturesque terrain into the storyline—catch that great framing of the Walker-Keith shoot-out.Fortunately, Warners got Burt Kennedy to do the script— and on the eve of his outstanding work with the Boetticher-Scott ,(Ranown), cycle of Westerns. I suspect Bryan Keith's charming villain was Kennedy's inspiration since likable baddies was a standard Ranown feature. Yes indeed, Keith steals the show with his easy-going charm—a real contrast to the uptight Walker. At this early stage, Keith was an interesting actor, best at squinty-eyed cowpokes as Sam Peckinpah knew when casting him as lead in Peckinpah's brilliant but short-lived TV series The Westerner (1960).The movie itself may have been a hurry-up job—probably that's why there's no Technicolor despite the great scenery, and probably why we get a recycled plot line from Hondo (1953). I guess the hurry-up was to take advantage of Walker's TV popularity. Still, the movie's a very watchable action-filled adventure. What's more, I don't care if the luscious Mayo was pushing 40, she could put her saddle on my horse any day.

NewEnglandPat This western follows a familiar genre theme of a loner who comes to the aid of a woman and her son and guides them to safety through Indian country. The plot is spare with a twist of mistaken identity thrown in as an innocent man on the run scrambles to escape a hanging posse hot on his trail. Clint Walker is the reformed gunfighter whose reputation places him on the sheriff's wanted poster as fate takes him to a woman's ranch in the midst of an Indian uprising. Virginia Mayo is the widow and reluctant trail companion of Walker along with her son as they make their way to Fort Dobbs. Brian Keith steals the film as an unsavory gun runner whose rifles play a large part in the Indian attack on the fort. The film is not a polished feature but is a straightforward, no-frills drama and is worth watching.