Wuchak "The Duel at Silver Creek" is a 1952 Western starring Stephen McNally and Audie Murphy as a sheriff and green deputy who are trying to track down a murderous gang of claim jumpers. Meanwhile the sheriff pursues a new hottie in town (Faith Domergue) while the deputy is interested in a teenage cutie (Susan Cabot). A 27 year-old Lee Marvin is on hand as one of the possibly shady characters.I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this old Western. Murphy is great as the youthful and likable fast-gun and McNally is effective as the sheriff. Domergue is beautiful, but duplicitous and even shockingly evil (e.g. the unexpected strangling scene). Cabot is a joy to watch and it's interesting to see Marvin so young.The story is interesting with McNally narrating and it easily keeps your attention at only 77 minutes, but what brings my rating down is the roll-your-eyes plot gimmicks (for lack of better word) typical of old Westerns. For instance, the sheriff's bad finger that makes it almost impossible for him to squeeze the trigger of his handgun and how this becomes a big secret. And then there's the way the deputy expertly grazes the sheriff's arm in order to take his place in a fast-draw duel (What if he was off by a couple of centimeters?). If it weren't for these types of lame aspects I'd give "The Duel at Silver Creek" a higher grade.The locations are good, shot at three California ranches -- Corrigan Ranch, Iverson Ranch and Janss Conejo Ranch – as well as Vasquez Rocks.GRADE: B-

weezeralfalfa As others have said, this is an entertainingly complex and action-packed western. While it includes many of the cliché features of western of this era, it also includes some unusual features. In addition to the boyishly handsome Audie Murphy, we have two gorgeous gals who often are included in scenes, in Susan Cabot and Faith Domergue(pronounced Dah mure). My only complaint is that they look too much alike. The occasional reviewer gets them mixed up. It doesn't help that my DVD jacket shows Faith and Audie, technically the leads, together, whereas actually it's Susan's character(Dusty) that Audie falls for. Dusty is your stereotypical Cinderella 'low maintenance' 'good girl': pretty and undemanding, but poor, plainly dressed, and otherwise undistinguished. She's right for young Luke(Audie), but initially pines for the much older, familiar, marshal('Lightning'), who considers her too young as a potential mate. Faith, as Opal(Brown Eyes to Lightning), is your stereotypical 'bad girl': high maintenance, with an extensive collection of fancy outfits and jewelry, supported by criminal activities of one of her admirers(Rod), which she occasionally aids(like strangling a dying victim while claiming to have nurse training!) In addition to her 'brother' Rod, who is actually her partner in buying stolen mine claims, she finds a new 'boy toy' in the irreverent young show off 'Johnny Sombrero' as well as the unsuspecting marshal, to whom she serves as bait to lure him where he can be easily dispatched or reveal important info. She's marked for eventual downfall when 'Lightening' finally discovers her complicity in the recent claim jumping racket, and she feels compelled to tentatively switch sides to save her skin. she suffers the fate of Ruth Roman ,in "The Far Country", who was in a rather similar situation, romancing both the villain and hero.Meanwhile, we have complicated relationships between Lightening, Johnny Sombrero, and Audie, who reinvents himself as 'The Silver Kid', in a distinctive outfit, after being a victim of the jumper gang. Lightening suspects Johnny is behind some of the recent killings, but can't prove it. He hires the equally flashy and irreverent Silver Kid as his deputy to help protect him, his right hand being suboptimal in function from a shoulder slug. Lightening is forced to engage Johnny in a classic 'high noon' showdown. But the Silver Kid interrupts the proceedings by shooting Lightening in the trigger hand(knowing its suboptimal functionality), then taking his place. That's the second time he's saved Lightening from a potential bullet. Johnny's dying words provide a key clue to Lightening implicating Opal's involvement in the jumper gang. During the finale shootout at Silver Creek, between the gang and a large posse, Audie does his most impressive stunt. His only thought is to rescue the bound and gagged Dusty, whom he surmises is stashed in the cabin as a hostage. He makes a running dive through the glass window, and does a triple roll, before shooting the surprised guard. Between these two stunts, the relationship between Lightening and the Silver Kid sometimes deteriorates, as the Kid keeps trying to interfere in Lightening's relationship with Opal, whom he doesn't like, later to be vindicated.Although Audie is first billed, and winds up with the remaining featured girl, clearly, Stephen McNally, as Lightening, is otherwise the lead male. With Audie as his young sidekick, it's Lightening who performs the obligatory finale horse chase and shootout with the fleeing prime villain. Apparently , it was felt that Audie simply looked too small and young to make a convincing leading man in these types of westerns.As previously pointed out, the central plot of a gang who make prospectors sign over their claims, then usually shoot them, doesn't seem to make practical sense when they want to remain anonymous. To make money, they would have to work the mine or hire someone to do so, or sell the doctored claim paper to some new prospector, all of which provide means of identifying them, unless they use pseudonyms, with an intermediate claim clearance buyer(Rod), which presumably is what they did.Susan Cabot would again be featured as Audie's love interest in the subsequent western "Ride Clear of Diablo", where Audie again becomes a deputy. Despite her lack of exotic looks, she was perhaps more often cast as in Indian maiden or other exotic. She was disappointed in the shallow roles Universal gave her.The somewhat older Faith was initially featured in films thanks to the infatuation of Howard Hughes. But, he finally gave up on her after several films failed to make a splash. I thought she was charismatic in this film.Stephen McNally never made it big as an actor, lacking a distinctive look or personality. He often played villains or supporting roles. I thought he did a good job here.Presently, part of a 4 '50s westerns collection on DVD, with one film each starring Randolph Scott, Jeff Chandler and Alan Ladd

MBunge The Duel at Silver Creek is a nice example of how much fun the Western used to be before the genre got all serious and realistic.In this story, claim jumpers are running wild near the town of Silver City. They're bushwacking people who have small claims around the gold rich Silver Creek, forcing them to sign over their claims and then killing them. But they get more than they bargain for when they try to jump the claim of a father and son. They do get the claim and kill the old man, but his son (Audie Murphy) kills three of the gang with his silver-handled revolvers. "Lightning" Tyrone (Stephen McNally), the marshal of Silver City, rounds up a posse to go after the claim jumpers but he ends up shot in the shoulder and the gang escapes. "Lightning" is taken to nearby Fort Lowell, where he's patched up but his shooting hand is crippled. He doesn't have the strength to pull a trigger anymore. While recovering at Fort Lowell, "Lightning" becomes infatuated with Opal Lacey (Faith Domgergue), a pretty lady in a pretty dress he takes to calling "brown eyes". But the audience soon discovers those brown eyes disguise a great many unpleasant things. "Lightning" returns to Silver City to find an old friend dead, shot in the back. He suspects Johnny Sombrero (Eugene Iglesias), the local bad man who happens to look like a Mexican Liberace, but has no proof. The marshal also runs into the son of the gold miner slain at the start of the film. Dubbed the Silver Kid now, the young man becomes "Lightning's" deputy and the two of them are pitted against the machinations of Johnny Sombrero, the claim jumpers and the beautiful Opal. Joining them is Dusty (Susan Cabot), a tom boy who's had a crush on the older "Lightning" for years. He doesn't see her as anything more than a little sister, but the Silver Kid has more romantic intentions toward her. The fast moving story has quite a few twists and turns before climaxing in a big gun battle between the claim jumpers and a new posse, which finally ends when one of the oldest and dumbest tricks in the book actually works.I liked this film a lot but I have to admit, it's a fairly generic 1950s Western. By modern standards it's corny with two-dimensional characters and unremarkable dialog. The plot is a bit more involved than you might expect, however this isn't a story with any great depth or meaning to it. It's a fairly basic Western with good men, a bad woman and guns getting shot out of people's hands. If you're looking for gritty realism and edgy storytelling, this isn't the movie for you.The Duel at Silver Creek is never anything more than a pleasant diversion and I don't think the filmmakers wanted it to be anything more than that. It moves at a brisk pace with plenty of traditional Western action. There's actually a great deal of stuff going on in the story, leading to simplistic but believable conflict between the characters. It's a great looking film with a couple of scenes that have a quite a visual kick to them. All of the actors do a good job for this sort of melodramatic tale. It's just a nice piece of entertainment.It's nowhere near being one of the great Westerns, but The Duel at Silver Creek is a good Western. If you can get past stuff like the claim jumpers leaving a ransom note and literally signing it "The Jumpers", I think you'll get a kick out of this movie.

bob the moo A small western town is surrounded by small mines and areas of land run by their owners. A gang of claim jumpers are forcing the owners to sign their claims over to them but then kill them anyway. When Marshall 'Lightning' Tyrone takes a party after the gang he leaves old timer Dan Music as Deputy of the town. Having failed to find the gang, Lightning returns to find to find that Music has been murdered (shot in the back). Lightning sets out to get to the bottom of the murder and has several suspects already before the deceitful Opal Lacy points him towards Luke Cromwell, known as the Silver Kid. Whenever the Kid proves it could not have been him, Lightning takes him on as a deputy.I came to this film on the basis of it being Don Siegel's first western and the first film he made in colour. The plot is pretty basic and doesn't live up to the suggestions of the opening – instead becoming rather focused on the actions of a few characters. As such, it works on a B movie level and that is pretty much what I expected it to do. This focused plot is improved by a good range of fun characters – with fancy names and exaggerated characters to match: the tough broad, the kid, the tough sheriff, the old coot etc. All the clichés are here but they are delivered with a slight sense of fun that helps it move smoothly. The colour is good and Siegel's direction is solid enough (although he would do much better later).Despite top billing on imdb going to Murphy, the real lead here is McNally and he does it well. His sheriff is tough, friendly and it is him we care about when the final shoot out comes. Murphy is good but his character has less meat on it and he has therefore less to do that really sticks in the mind. Domergue is given a good character and she convinces as a sort of Western femme fatale. Cabot has a much more standard role and is less interesting as a result. Aside from Domergue the 'baddies' are fairly unmemorable; when the film started they were tough and violent but eventually we are presented Mohr's words in place of this and it really isn't enough for a fun B-movie.Despite it's obvious flaws this is a really good fun B-movie western and you'll like it if you view it as such. The plot is basic but enjoyable with plenty of likable characters who are as bright as the Technicolor they are presented in. Siegel's first western is a fun film and should be enjoyed as such – it's far from his best and fans may only come to it because of the significance in his career but it is worth seeing if you're in the mood for this type of film.