thinker1691 Ted Post directed this Charles A. Wallace story which was created most likely as a pilot for a T.V. Series. I suppose that's why Clint Walker was selected. He looks tall and Majestic in the saddle. The story as Wallace wrote it has Marshal Dave Harmona (Clint Walker) arriving in town and no sooner does he arrive, when a couple of rowdies challenge his authority. Unable to talk one cowboy out of his gun, the Marshal is force to kill the other which does not sit well with the older brother. (Morgan Woodward) In addition to taking charge of the law in town, Harmon is given a murder mystery to solve and some restless Indians who are threatening to go on the warpath to placate. Finally, there a hotel owner who is set on winning a place in the marshal's heart. All in all the series would have begun as part western, part who-done-it, had the option been picked up. As it is, the movie moves into the what-if category and Walker rides into the sunset. It would have been interesting to see the film pan out as several other notables were included in the cast. Such actors as Barry Sullivan, Edgar Buchanan and Peter Mark Richman as Major Lucas. Otherwise, it's a good movie which never ever matured. ****

zardoz-13 Former "Rawhide" TV director Ted Post helmed the ABC Made-For-TV movie "Yuma" with Clint Walker between the time that he called the shots for Clint Eastwood in "Hang'em High" (1967) and the second "Dirty Harry" thriller "Magnum Force" (1973). Aaron Spelling of "Charlie's Angels" fame produced this standard-issue, law & order oater about a tough, deep-spoken lawman who tames the town. Undoubtedly, this movie was a pilot for a series that failed, despite its slick production values, good acting, and occasional bloodletting.Dutiful David Harmon (Clint Walker of the "Cheyenne" TV series) finds his hands full the first sun-scorched day that he arrives in bustling Yuma, Arizona. The free-wheeling King Brothers steal an empty stagecoach from the depot, careen it onto Main Street, and turn it over, creating a nuisance and a hazard that Harmon refuses to tolerate. When our hero demands that Rol King (Bing Russell of "The Magnificent Seven") and Sam King (Bruce Glover of "Diamonds Are Forever") surrender their firearms in a local bar, Rol ignores Harmon's orders and starts shooting. Harmon lets Sam have both loads and the impact knocks the villain off the bar, down behind it and kills him. Rol survives the shoot-out, and Harmon lodges him in a cell in the marshal's office.Harmon checks into a hotel room and flirts with the apparent owner, Julie Williams (pretty Kathryn Hays of "Ride Beyond Vengeance"), when he gives her a month's rent in advance. She points out that the last two marshals didn't last a week. Meanwhile, Harmon makes friends with a young, homeless Hispanic teenager, Andres (Miguel Alejandro of "Badge 373"), gives him money for new clothes, and allows him to sleep at the marshal's office. Two men awaken Andres—Captain White (John Kerr of "Tea & Sympathy) and Saunders (Robert Phillips of "Hour of the Gun")—spring Rol from captivity and then let him escape, only to drop him with a shotgun blast on the street where he dies. They flee the scene, and Harmon shows up too late to catch them. Local cattle buyer Nels Decker (Barry Sullivan of "Forty Guns") finds Harmon holding the shotgun that killed Rol and accuses the new lawman of the crime. As it turns out, Andres clears Harmon of any wrongdoing. All Andres can remember is that one of the men wore shiny boots. Harmon deduces that the 'shiny boots' belonged to a U.S. Cavalry officer. He rides out to the fort and demands to see fort commandant Major Lucas (Peter Mark Richman of "Pool Hal Junkies"), but Lucas' orderly explains that the commander has retired for the evening. Nonplussed, Harmon draws his revolver and fires enough shots in the air to rouse every soldier on the premises. Harmon gets his interview with Lucas about Captain White. Later, Harmon learns from the local reservation Indians that they are being cheated in regard to the amount of meat that the Indians require. Eventually, Sanders and Harmon cross paths again when the lawman catches the killer sneaking into his office. Harmon literally shoots the six-gun out of Sander's holster when the villain tries to double-talk his way out of an arrest charge.Ted Post directs with competence and assurance. "Yuma" emerges as a neatly-made, but formulaic little western with enough twists and turns as well as a surprise ending that it ranks a notch above the usual "Gunsmoke" clone that it clearly was. The point of view shots during the opening scene when our hero rides into town are excellent. Clint Walker could walk sleep walk through this role. He gives his usual strong performance and his David Harmon differs significantly from the aimlessly drifting hero in "Cheyenne." Unlike Cheyenne who wore his six-shooter on his right hip, Harmon wears his Colt's .45 with the plow-handle turned backwards in a holster wore for an across-the-waist draw. Not surprisingly, violence is held to a minimum, since it was made for television. Harmon guns down Sam King in the opening scene and later he takes out both Sanders and Nels Decker. Barry Sullivan is adequate as scheming cattle buyer Nels Decker who cares not a whit what happens to the reservation Indians that he is cheating. Morgan Woodward is good as the elder King who wants vengeance. Edgar Buchanan is—as always—superb. Meantime, John Kerr is shamefully squandered in an inconsequential role as a corrupt cavalry officer.

Poseidon-3 Following his lengthy run on "Cheyenne", Walker found fairly steady work in a series of TV movies, usually of a western variety. In this one, he's a no-nonsense US marshal, fresh into the town of Yuma with instructions to sustain order. The previous marshals only lasted about a week apiece, but Walker is so confident that he pays his hotel bill in advance for a month. This is after, of course, he's already shot down one troublemaker mere moments after entering the town! Unfortunately, the man he shot is the younger brother of fat cat rancher Woodward who is ready to blow Walker away for it, especially after his other brother is mysteriously killed as well. However, there's much more going on towards complicating things. Someone is cheating the local Indians, led by chief Diaz, out of their treaty-arranged beef and this ties into Yuma's deep-seeded corruption. Walker, a towering hunk of a man whose voice alone would make anyone feel safe and warm, has a decent role to play here with several stand-offs in which he shows his determination and some more tender moments with spunky Mexican orphan Alejandro and pretty hotel owner Hays. The cast includes several well-known faces such as Sullivan as the owner of a freight carrier, Buchanan as the local porch-sitting gossip, Kerr as an Army lieutenant and Richman as his superior. Produced by Aaron Spelling, who was always quick to use pals from old Hollywood and directed with assurance by Post, it's a decent little western with a mild twist ending. Spelling crony Nolan Miller designed Hays' dresses. She would, soon after this, join the cast of "As the World Turns" and stay there until the present. The music is by Charles Duning who composed the theme for "The Big Valley" and that series' house servant, Whiting, appears here in a brief, but amusing cameo.

skoyles "Yuma" is hardly great art, nor even a great Western. It is a good TV Western, and a good TV mystery. The cast of stalwart TV regulars, a post-Cheyenne Clint Walker as well as the lovely Kathryn Hays (Gem of the odd Star Trek episode "The Empath" I believe)make for good viewing. Peter Mark Richman brings his unusual screen presence and the writing is rather good. Walker's character has a tragic back-story that supports his gritty determination. Morgan Woodward brings his usual strong Western presence (again a guest star from Star Trek). In many ways a cross between a fifties Western and a sixties mystery, "Yuma" is not at all a bad way to take a break from the challenges of everyday life in the 21st century. The kid is not all that irritating.