Caught this much under-rated film on a Jeanne Crain memorial day at TCM. Although the title suggests that guns were a prominent part of this lumberjacking drama, actually fists, dynamite, falling trees, a forest fire and angry words do most of the damage in the many confrontations between the loggers and local valley ranchers plus townies, and sometimes between loggers.
The plot is rather similar to that of the previous "The Big Trees" and its predecessor "Valley of the Giants". However, instead of the point of saving the trees merely because of their extreme size and age, the point here is to prevent gross soil erosion from clear-cutting a forest on a steep mountain slope. The ranchers and townies below realize that, without the trees, their pastures and town below will likely soon be destroyed by floods and the accompanying mud and silt. In this respect , the point of the film actually is much closer to that of the '37 "Gold is Where You Find It", which dramatizes the historical flooding and sedimentation of downstream towns and cultivated fields, after extensive blasting of gold-bearing CA river bluffs with high pressure water hoses. It also differs from "The Big Trees" in that, instead of the lumber baron giving up his logging life in favor of the simple life of the tree huggers, the horsewoman rancher(Jeanne Crain, as Laura Riley). who helped lead the opposition to the loggers, seemingly implausibly runs off with the lumber baron.
Jeanne Crain, in her mid-30s, is stunning looking, and quite charismatic as a dominant voice in the vehement objections of the valley people to the loggers, headed by Jim Hadley(Alan Ladd) and Monte Walker(Gilbert Roland). I'd much rather have Kirk Douglas("The Big Trees") or someone equally dynamic appearing and acting in the lead. Yes, it's rather difficult to imagine feisty Riley getting too excited in a romantic way over sleepy looking and often acting Ladd, as Jim, especially after their many hostile confrontations. Even during the height their fight over logging the trees, they incongruously steal a passionate kiss, as a hint of the possible future. I think we can rationalize her turnabout as due to a combo of 1) recognizing a very similar determined personality in Jim 2)Jim's belated changed attitude toward logging the disputed forest, 3) his concern for her badly injured adopted son from a tree fall, 4) his heroic rescue of badly injured partner Monte from the forest fire. Perhaps she was also attracted to a move-around life, after a life stuck on her ranch and little town. We see a similar transformation of Doris Day in a western setting, in "Calamity Jane", released the following year, and again in "The Ballad of Josie", with an implied message for contemporary women.
The drama between the valley folk vs. the loggers, and within the loggers, is well done and maintains interest. Yes, near the end,, it gets a little crazy, with people switching sides and undecided what to do. Gilbert Roland, as Monte, wants to keep on fighting after Jim decides further fighting isn't worth it and after Riley shows him a neighboring ghost town after the forest above was clear-cut. The only gun battle is near the end, when Monty and Jim duel after Monte uses dynamite to clear the trees that the valley people felled over the logging road. After Jim wounds Monte in the right shoulder, he runs into the forest and sets fire to some pine needles, which starts a fire. Monte must have realized that he would surely die in this fire, as he was now weak from loss of blood. Clearly, he momentarily wanted to destroy this forest by fire, thus extracting vengeance on the hostile valley people. Then, Jim risks his life trying to find and carry Monte out of the fire, even knowing Monte might shoot him. After his apparently successful rescue, Monte soon died anyway, probably mostly from blood loss. Monte's death symbolizes the end of mindless government-approved short-term forest exploitation, as applied to this area. It also symbolically opens up the possibility of a new partner for Jim, in the person of Riley(We can see a similar symbolism in many other films, for example: "The Big Trees" and "The Far Country").
Frankie Avalon, then a heart throb on the rock and roll scene, is included to hopefully attract more teenagers in the audience. He mainly plays Riley's adopted orphan son, who becomes the loggers only semi-friend. In fact, he says he would like to become a logger, despite his small body frame. After nearly killed by a falling tree, Jim talks him into staying on his family's ranch. He has one rock and roll scene, which looks totally out of sync with the rest of the film, which clearly is scripted to be before the advent of motor vehicles. He also has a solitary love song relating to his girlfriend Jane(Alana Ladd). His acting is a bit stiff. He would return for a part in the classic western "The Alamo", before costarring in an endless series of beach and bikini musical romantic comedies.
In conclusion, this film succeeds in making its point about the dangers of clear-cutting erosion-vulnerable forests, while providing an action-packed conflict story at the local level. The various character actors are all fine. Just, producer Alan Ladd should have found someone more dynamic-looking to play Jim. Also, the title is lousy.
The plot is rather similar to that of the previous "The Big Trees" and its predecessor "Valley of the Giants". However, instead of the point of saving the trees merely because of their extreme size and age, the point here is to prevent gross soil erosion from clear-cutting a forest on a steep mountain slope. The ranchers and townies below realize that, without the trees, their pastures and town below will likely soon be destroyed by floods and the accompanying mud and silt. In this respect , the point of the film actually is much closer to that of the '37 "Gold is Where You Find It", which dramatizes the historical flooding and sedimentation of downstream towns and cultivated fields, after extensive blasting of gold-bearing CA river bluffs with high pressure water hoses. It also differs from "The Big Trees" in that, instead of the lumber baron giving up his logging life in favor of the simple life of the tree huggers, the horsewoman rancher(Jeanne Crain, as Laura Riley). who helped lead the opposition to the loggers, seemingly implausibly runs off with the lumber baron.
Jeanne Crain, in her mid-30s, is stunning looking, and quite charismatic as a dominant voice in the vehement objections of the valley people to the loggers, headed by Jim Hadley(Alan Ladd) and Monte Walker(Gilbert Roland). I'd much rather have Kirk Douglas("The Big Trees") or someone equally dynamic appearing and acting in the lead. Yes, it's rather difficult to imagine feisty Riley getting too excited in a romantic way over sleepy looking and often acting Ladd, as Jim, especially after their many hostile confrontations. Even during the height their fight over logging the trees, they incongruously steal a passionate kiss, as a hint of the possible future. I think we can rationalize her turnabout as due to a combo of 1) recognizing a very similar determined personality in Jim 2)Jim's belated changed attitude toward logging the disputed forest, 3) his concern for her badly injured adopted son from a tree fall, 4) his heroic rescue of badly injured partner Monte from the forest fire. Perhaps she was also attracted to a move-around life, after a life stuck on her ranch and little town. We see a similar transformation of Doris Day in a western setting, in "Calamity Jane", released the following year, and again in "The Ballad of Josie", with an implied message for contemporary women.
The drama between the valley folk vs. the loggers, and within the loggers, is well done and maintains interest. Yes, near the end,, it gets a little crazy, with people switching sides and undecided what to do. Gilbert Roland, as Monte, wants to keep on fighting after Jim decides further fighting isn't worth it and after Riley shows him a neighboring ghost town after the forest above was clear-cut. The only gun battle is near the end, when Monty and Jim duel after Monte uses dynamite to clear the trees that the valley people felled over the logging road. After Jim wounds Monte in the right shoulder, he runs into the forest and sets fire to some pine needles, which starts a fire. Monte must have realized that he would surely die in this fire, as he was now weak from loss of blood. Clearly, he momentarily wanted to destroy this forest by fire, thus extracting vengeance on the hostile valley people. Then, Jim risks his life trying to find and carry Monte out of the fire, even knowing Monte might shoot him. After his apparently successful rescue, Monte soon died anyway, probably mostly from blood loss. Monte's death symbolizes the end of mindless government-approved short-term forest exploitation, as applied to this area. It also symbolically opens up the possibility of a new partner for Jim, in the person of Riley(We can see a similar symbolism in many other films, for example: "The Big Trees" and "The Far Country").
Frankie Avalon, then a heart throb on the rock and roll scene, is included to hopefully attract more teenagers in the audience. He mainly plays Riley's adopted orphan son, who becomes the loggers only semi-friend. In fact, he says he would like to become a logger, despite his small body frame. After nearly killed by a falling tree, Jim talks him into staying on his family's ranch. He has one rock and roll scene, which looks totally out of sync with the rest of the film, which clearly is scripted to be before the advent of motor vehicles. He also has a solitary love song relating to his girlfriend Jane(Alana Ladd). His acting is a bit stiff. He would return for a part in the classic western "The Alamo", before costarring in an endless series of beach and bikini musical romantic comedies.
In conclusion, this film succeeds in making its point about the dangers of clear-cutting erosion-vulnerable forests, while providing an action-packed conflict story at the local level. The various character actors are all fine. Just, producer Alan Ladd should have found someone more dynamic-looking to play Jim. Also, the title is lousy.