If you have a choice of watching only one Western and want to catch a corral full of great character actors of the genre, this would be a good choice. Not so much for the story, but just to get to see Walter Brennan, Edgar Buchanan, Chill Wills, and Andy Devine all in one picture, with a little help from Edward Andrews, Jack Elam and Myron Healey. It might be pretty close to one hundred percent accurate to say that one of these guys appeared in almost every Western made during the '50's and '60's. The puzzler is having Pat O'Brien in charge of the good guys; I can't recall a single other Western he might have appeared in. The other interesting casting decision places Mr. and Mrs. Rick Nelson at the center of the story, with Rick's character Jeff Rose challenging crooked Mayor Lundy (Andrews) in the upcoming election.
The story winds up fairly predictable, made somewhat interesting by Nash Crawford's (Brennan) idea to pit the bad guys against each other via insinuation and innuendo. It was a little too convenient with Jack Elam's deputies knocking each other off, with Mayor Lundy and Tucker (Healey) skipping town when things got a bit heated. A little more thought could have gone into the story to come up with a more dramatic showdown between heroes and villains, but considering their ages, I'd say the good guys probably needed a pass just to finish the picture.
Not a lot of substance here, but for a good old fashioned story one could do worse. It's got a pretty good balance of humor amid the skulduggery, and old time fans of TV and movie Westerns will get a kick out of seeing all the Rangers in one place at one time. Brazos!
The story winds up fairly predictable, made somewhat interesting by Nash Crawford's (Brennan) idea to pit the bad guys against each other via insinuation and innuendo. It was a little too convenient with Jack Elam's deputies knocking each other off, with Mayor Lundy and Tucker (Healey) skipping town when things got a bit heated. A little more thought could have gone into the story to come up with a more dramatic showdown between heroes and villains, but considering their ages, I'd say the good guys probably needed a pass just to finish the picture.
Not a lot of substance here, but for a good old fashioned story one could do worse. It's got a pretty good balance of humor amid the skulduggery, and old time fans of TV and movie Westerns will get a kick out of seeing all the Rangers in one place at one time. Brazos!