Unlike the other reviewers of this abysmal western, I have read the Louis L'Amour source novel, and I found this adaptation deplorable. "Beneath the 12 Mile Reef" director Robert Webb doesn't fare as well here as he did with one of the first Cinemascope films. Primarily, Aaron "Love Boat" Spelling is to blame for this mediocre adaptation. The license that he has taken is enough to rile any ardent Louis L'Amour aficionado. Spelling has added characters that never appeared in the novel. The pugnacious Gilbert Roland character Monte, who is partners with Ladd, didn't even exist in the novel. Furthermore, neither does Frankie Avalon's warbling errand boy who delivers merchandise for the local general store when his girlfriend isn't making life troublesome for him. Perhaps the biggest change that Spelling made was turning the dastardly lumberjack leader from the novel into the hero of the film. The cattle rancher and the town citizens have little respect for the Ladd hero. Actually, the timberjack character in the novel does everything but twirl his mustache. Indeed, he is thoroughly ruthless about getting the timber logged. Furthermore, Spelling has lightened the violence considerably. Cattle rancher Clay Bell is wounded in one scene and has to recover while two of his cow hands are beaten brutally in town. In the film, the Alan Ladd hero is named Jim Hadley, but in the novel he is named Jud Devitt, and he is an unsavory gent to the hilt. Interestingly enough, Spelling and "Proud Rebel" co-scribe Joseph Petracca kept rancher Clay Bell's name intact. Nevertheless, the Lyle Bettger character barely resembles his combative counterpart in the novel. Bell does stall the lumberjacks at the entrance to his property. Ladd is allowed a romantic interest (Jeanne Crain) whereas his evil counterpart in the novel lost the girl. Moreover, the Ladd hero knows what he is beaten in the movie and leaves town on a train with his lumberjacks with him.
Altogether, "Guns of the Timberlands" doesn't do justice to the Louis L'Amour novel, and it seems pretty lame for a horse opera. The premise is refreshing enough. Instead of cattlemen clashing with sheep herders, the cattle man tangle with timberjacks.
Altogether, "Guns of the Timberlands" doesn't do justice to the Louis L'Amour novel, and it seems pretty lame for a horse opera. The premise is refreshing enough. Instead of cattlemen clashing with sheep herders, the cattle man tangle with timberjacks.