Between his long running CBS series : "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Barnaby Jones", Buddy Ebsen sandwiched in this stand alone western farce, which is sort of a "Beverly Hillbillies" in reverse, as far as the women are concerned. Actually, a sequel was made a few years later, but lacked all of the original main character players , except for Jack Elam. This made-for-TV western reminds me of the prior "Wild Women", in that a number of disreputable women(being the most convenient to quickly acquire) are gathered together for a specific project, acting as imposters. In both films, they participate in the defining shoot out with the adversaries, at the end. Also, both films include a number of well recognized players.
Ebsen(as Joshua Cabe) is joined by frequent heavy in westerns: Jack Elam(Bitterroot) as his partner, living in a cabin on a small Wyoming ranch, where they also trade pelts for store goods. Elan had long cashed in on his apparent 'lazy' left eye, giving him a distinctive sinister look. He was blind in that eye: the result of a childhood fight. Here, he is quite tame . It's Leif Erickson and his 4 sons who are the trouble makers: the Wetheralls. They plan to take advantage of a shakeup in the land claims laws, which negate previous claims, thus opening up Joshua's ranch, as well as their own, for grabs. Since each of the 5 Wetheralls can file a claim for a separate section, they appear to have Joshua and Bitterroot outnumbered, as well as destroying their property, like burning down their barn. But, Joshua hatches a plan to find his 3 daughters, whom he long ago shipped to his sister in St. Louis to finish their rearing, after his wife, Martha, died young. Hasn't communicated with them for years, but tracts down one, now a sister in a convent in St. Louis. She says the others are married and living in NYC. Doesn't sound promising, since he needs them in a short while to file land claims.
Joshua happens to get involved in a hotel lobby altercation between a young prostitute(Mae) and her pimp, and winds up convincing her to pose as one of his daughters. Next, he's directed to the women's prison to look for 2 more imposters. and finds one eligible for parole in Charity(Karen Valentine). While looking for appropriate clothes for these 2, he befriends a fashionably dressed young woman pickpocket(Sandra Dee, as Ada), saving her from arrest, and convinces her to join him.
Joshua shows up in his Wyoming town with these fashionably dressed incorrigibles. The Wetheralls plan to make their stay very brief by making their 'fish out of water' experience even more traumatic by wrecking Joshua's cabin and stampeding his cattle through his dam building project. Joshua counters by promising the women they can keep their claimed land if they stay. Of course, there is a cat fight or two, and comedy relating to the women learning to do farm chores.
Eventually, Joshua decides he's had enough of the Wetherall's destruction tactics, and tells the women they can return to St. Louis. But, they will have none of that. One Wetherall son extorts a roll in the hay with Mae in the town livery stable, after receiving a letter from Joshua's daughter in St. Louis , telling about Joshua's imposter daughters(How would she know??). But the other Cabe clan members investigate and break up the proceedings, followed by a free-for-all between the two clans. The Wetheralls demand a street showdown 3:2 in their favor, not to mention a hidden son who plans to take out Joshua and Bitterroot before they get a chance to fire on his kin. But, the women steal some rifles from the general store to secretly participate in the standoff, and save the day for Joshua and Bitteroot.
All of the principals were well cast, with the possible exception of Lesley Warren as Mae. She did have an active career in various TV serials and films. However, she was not attractive to me. In fact, she often seemed rather spaced out, like she belonged in horror movies. Karen and Sandra were cute and sexy. The 4 Wetherall boys and their father were sassy and intimidating in their verbal and physical bullying.
The initial pickpocketing episode in the lady's dress shop looked very amateurish, with several obviously intentional jostlings involved in moving the contested money pouch around. Later, in the general store, Ada's skill comes in handy when she picks Amos Wetherall's pocket after learning that Joshua has no money to pay for their essential supplies. Similarly, the initiation of the cat fight between the 3, due to bumping into each other while doing chores, looked very contrived.
I still don't understand the point of the scene where Joshua and the others come to pick up Mae to take her to Wyoming, and she says she has changed her mind about going. Then, the 3 have a tussle with her pimp, who leaves, and she laughs like this was all an act for the benefit of her pimp!?
At the end, the 5 Cabe clan come out of the land office with only one land deed. I was expecting 5 deeds, one for each! Earlier, Joshua told the women they could keep their land. But it appears they will stick together as a family for a while, while the women get acquainted with the local bachelors. These women were very lucky to be in Wyoming, which, around this time, was the first state to enact a series of women's civil rights laws, including the right to own property.
Presently, part of an 8 TV westerns DVD pack by Echo Bridge.
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