edwagreen A definite run of the mill western where Sally Forrest is ready to get on with life after giving birth to an illegitimate child. She keeps who the father is a secret and this angers her two brothers who vow revenge.In the midst of all this, she is taken in by friend Joanne Dru whose husband is Robert Walker. Guess what the relationship of Walker is to Forrest?Walker is the son of the wealthy cattle business person Ray Collins and the latter took in Burt Lancaster as a child as his own.Walker is definitely the heavy here as he convinces his father to make him a half-partner so that he can run off with the money and start life anew.Walker turns on Lancaster and there is the inevitable shootout involving the two brothers and the brothers of Lily-Sally Forrest.The film is only 83 minutes long and lacks stronger character development, especially the Lancaster part.

Robert J. Maxwell It's springtime here in the Old West and the cattle is bein' brung down from the snowy mountains. Robert Walker and his adopted brother Burt Lancaster is two of the cowboys that's been gone all winter.The first thing they do is head towards the local pub where nothing much has changed while they've been gone -- except for one thing. Sally Forrest, the saloon gal, was pregnant and has done give birth out of wedlock. Nobody knows who dunner but whoever dunner, it's a big disgrace. Why Old Doc wouldn't even go out to the ranch to lend a hand in the birthing.Lancaster rides out to the ranch with a sack full of food and some five hundred dollars for Lilly and her baby. He finds his sister-in-law, Joan Dru, has been helping out, and Sally Forrest's brothers, Hugh O'Brian and John Ireland, has rid in from out of town too -- angry as disturbed wasps and ready to gun down the father, as soon as somebody knows who it is.Actually it doesn't look too promising, the kind of Western in which every well-dressed cowboy must wear an open vest, no matter how ragged his clothes. Yet, it's reasonably well written. There are small conversational exchanges that are unusual in a typical Western. (A man who just lost a fist fight can't "sit a horse until I get this hand fixed." His "hand". Not the kind of line you'd expect.) The musical score is pedestrian but the location shooting shows a Colorado that's colorful and inviting. Some nice footage of quarter horses at work.The two leads do well enough. Lancaster was an ambitious actor but never bravura. In a way his dramatic performances improved with age. I admired his casual walk, a half-crouch, arms wide, fingers apart, as if ready to leap on something.Robert Walker is the better actor but he's miscast. He's not a cowboy. He's Bruno, the half-mad and very urban psychopath. He's excellent at suggesting disdain and disbelief. He lies incandescently. But he's no cowboy. Sorry.The plot's been described elsewhere. Lancaster, the adopted son, is always covering for Walker's peccadilloes, until Walker goes too far. The dynamic was taken to excess in "The Man From Laramie," in which the Walker figure (Alex Nicol) is a snarling, vindictive, lying coward.It occurs to me, amid all the jokes about cooking, that those cowboys must have eaten a lot of beef. I wonder how they fixed it? I've had steaks from range cattle and they fought me back. They had the texture of white walled tires. I wonder if them cowboys has ever heard of beef bourguignon. Stroganoff?

whitec-3 I didn't read many westerns growing up, but more devoted readers of the genre spoke well of writer Luke Short, on whose novel this film is based (screenplay by Irving Ravetch). Another reviewer points out that Short was a city boy who didn't know the west, but the movie is full of cattle ranching and driving lore (more than the otherwise superior Red River).Above all the story has an impressively complicated plot--lots of moving pieces, with a large cast of characters variously related. A nice surprise was the voice-over narration by a somewhat marginal character who is nonetheless present at many crucial scenes. Add an outstanding cast: Burt's always a convincing action stalwart; Robert Walker plays just the kind of attractive weasel that people fool themselves into believing; John Ireland brings an air of implacable menace to the heavy; Joanne Dru and Sally Forrest make you want them to be on screen more often.The limits of the film's running time squeeze the women out from fuller development especially at the end, but their issues drive the plot with surprisingly adult themes: Dru's character raises questions about what the Old West did about divorce, and Forrest's character Lily finds a way to raise her illegitimate child even while her no-good brothers make trouble.The direction of the cattle drives against spectacular outdoor scenery and some good riding scenes are the film's best testimony for director Richard Thorpe. Otherwise the direction seems by-the-book, and the story concludes in a gun showdown that violates what we've learned of the characters involved. Other reviewers are correct that MGM's bland production values prevail. But within those limits, the various parts of the plot worked together well, and the excellent acting added depth and urgency.

MartinHafer In this western, Lily Fasken has just had a baby with no father. When a nice guy (Burt Lancaster) helps her, her two no-good brothers think it's because the baby is his...but it actually belongs to one of Lancaster's friends (the no-goodnick played by Robert Walker). Yet, despite the brothers trying to kill Lancaster, Walker still says the child isn't his--mostly because he's a coward and doesn't want his new wife to know about his formerly wild ways. And, he even goes so far as to go behind Lancaster's back--trying to get him killed! Why?! See this film and see what becomes of this horrible man and our hero.While Burt Lancaster worked out well in this film because of his great physique, casting Walker was just plain strange. While I liked Walker in such films as "Strangers on a Train" and "The Clock", I just felt that he was completely out of place in a western--as was his motivations. I am sure that audiences of the day felt much the same way. In addition, you really wondered why Lancaster as well as the two female leads in the film all kept Walker's secret for so long--he certainly didn't seem to deserve or inspire such loyalty. In addition, the added narration seemed out of place and unnecessary--like it was added later to try to tied the film together...unsuccessfully. Despite these serious problems, the film is entertaining and watchable...but certainly NOT especially memorable.