The Redhead from Wyoming (1953)

Great Film overall

good back-story, and good acting

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

That redhead is no deadhead, as Maureen O'Hara proves, in this entertaining range war drama. The screenplay is brilliant, providing a variety of shifting alliances to keep us guessing. Maureen's character, Cattle Kate(so nicknamed) is actually from Texas, not Wyoming, to which she has recently migrated, at the beckoning of the second most visible character: Jim Averell(William Bishop), whose historical namesake was married to Cattle Kate for a few years. He is a mysterious complex man with a Stalin complex. Stalin's game plan was to be a benchwarmer while the Fascist and non-fascist governments of Europe destroyed each other in warfare. Then, the USSR would roll over all of Europe with little effective opposition, with the arsenal they would build up in the meanwhile. Of course, the Germans upset his plan by overrunning most of Europe in record time and with minimal destruction. Well, Averell tells Kate that his ambition is to become governor, and buy up most of Wyoming. Toward this goal, he sought to ally himself with the small ranchers against the big bully ranchers, who had seen to it that legislation was passed that favored them. Another part of his scheme is to incite a range war between The large and small ranchers, who would mutually destroy each other, and leave their ranches for him to pick over. Reece Duncan(Alexander Scourby)would represent the local big owners.Clearly, Averell is a wealthy man, but the source of his wealth is not apparent. He seems to have lots of time to meddle in the affairs of the ranchers, without actually owning any cattle himself. He sets up Kate with a cattle buying business, as well as a saloon business to cater to her traditional employment, with the rational that they will probably marry eventually. But, actually he plans to use her toward his agenda. Yes, he's a snake! She, not he, takes the risk of being accused a cattle rustler, if her hands brand some mavericks that Duncan considers are his, or rustle somebody's branded cattle. He arranges for her branding logo to closely resemble that of Duncan's, so that it can be applied over Duncan's brands which are then hidden. Kate herself wouldn't approve of that, but her hands might be tempted. An incident happens where Duncan's foreman is murdered on the range at night when some cattle go missing, and one of Kate's branding irons is found near his body. The cattlemen are of a mind to string her up, so she is put in jail, with several deputies as guards, partly for her safety. It seems awfully careless for one of Kate's hands to leave that branding iron as incriminating evidence. This mystery is resolved partly by facts and partly by logic.I haven't yet mentioned Sheriff Blaine: recently appointed essentially by Averell, as meeting his specification of someone he thought would be malleable to his interests. Blaine's Texas family was wiped out in a range war, and he doesn't want to get involved in another, so he's thinking of resigning soon. Yet, he doesn't easily back down when confronted with a difficult problem. He hires a bunch of deputies when he thinks it's necessary.Averell, Duncan, and Blain are all single, so which, if any, is Kate going to marry? Why do you think she made this choice? I'll let you view the film to find out(Film currently available cheaply as part of an 8 pack of westerns.) The real Averell apparently had no ambition to be governor nor own the whole of Wyoming. He and Kate were lynched together for supposedly rustling some cows. Probably, it depended on what all was included in the concept of rustling, as pointed out in this film.Included is an obligatory cattle stampede, consisting of mavericks. Also, a huge, complicated, street brawl as the climax.Of the main characters, Maureen and Bishop(as Averell) have plenty of charisma, which is lacking for Scourby(Duncan) and Nicol(Sheriff). That's not to say that these others weren't adequate in their roles. I think the picture would be much more popular if "name" actors had taken the place of the latter two. Also, a humorous sidekick, such as Andy Devine or Gabby Hays would have been nice.Thank goodness it was shot in color, or we would have missed Maureen's flaming hair to match her tongue and action! For other good, but little known, color films that feature Maureen as a domineering wildcat, I recommend "Comanche Territory" and "Against All Flags", she being a pirate captain in the latter.

... thanks to a good story, a stunning cinematography (whooaahhoo Maureen's dresses in Technicolor), fast paced direction and editing (the fights are real tough like in movies directed by Anthony Mann, Ray Enright or Phil Karlson), and above all Maureen O'Hara surrounded by a good cast.Maureen O'Hara is so sexy and her interpretation is always subtle, she shines in every scene. And the great surprise is that she can be as tough as a man. The perfect woman in Technicolor.And the other success of that so entertaining western is the interpretation of William Bishop, one of my favorite actors in B movies (Thunderhoof, The Texas Rangers, The White Squaw, ... and that unknown noir crime Breakdown with terrific boxing sequences). Such an athletic silhouette and determined face. Each time I see a movie with William Bishop, I'm never disappointed.

I guess I'm used to my Fifties B Westerns in glorious black and white. This one was just a bit too colorful, perhaps offered as a distraction from the idea that it was meant to be an A-list feature. Story wise, it's been said and done before, with open range men about to scrap with settlers over rustled cattle, with a would be politician (William Bishop as Jim Averell) thrown into the mix to stir up trouble. About the most interesting part of the story was the tutorial on how Averell's henchmen changed the Bar-Double-Check brand into the K-Bar-M, an effort that was repeated a second time to make sure we all got it. That, and the almost comical side view of Maureen O'Hara at one point in which her over ambitious figure is profiled to the point of caricature. She's wearing the yellow dress with the white top, but believe me, you won't miss it.Alex Nicol is second billed here as the laconic sheriff Blaine, developing a romantic interest with O'Hara's character, but he just doesn't look the part. I wonder, could it be because his first name was Stan? What Western writer names his top gun Stan? Better to have left him just plain Blaine. Sorry, couldn't help it.One interesting take away here is Dennis Weaver in an early role as one of the feisty Jessup Brothers. The other is the frequent, to the point of over use, of the term maverick to describe a steer without a brand on open range. If I didn't know better, I would think this one of John McCain's favorite Westerns.

"Tarzan's Magic Fountain" director Lee Sholem's Technicolor western "The Redhead from Wyoming" qualifies as a thoroughly predictable but nevertheless entertaining, horse opera about a range war between trigger-happy cattlemen and homesteaders in the 1880s, with Maureen O'Hara at her fiery best. Indeed, Scholem's oater modified the Johnson County War which was immortalized later in the notorious, big-budget debacle "Heaven's Gate." Mind you, the 1929 and the 1946 versions of "The Virginian" and "The Ox-Bow Incident" (1943) dealt with the Johnson County War, too. "The Redhead from Wyoming" appropriates one real life participant James Averell as its villain here. Furthermore, Averell's conspirator is his girlfriend. Like Averell's real-life wife, both were accused of cattle rustling. The Maverick law, true-life, old West legislation, ignited the conflict. "Mrs. Parkington" scenarist Polly James, with an uncredited assist from Herb Meadow, who penned 1956 "Lone Ranger" movie, wrote the screenplay from her own story. The dialogue ripples with memorable lines. James and Meadow don't squander a melodramatic second sic-king the heroine, the sheriff, the cattle baron, and the villain at each other. Sholem orchestrates the action with unobtrusive aplomb. Lensed by three-time Oscar-winning cinematographer Winton Hoch of "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," "The Redhead from Wyoming" bears a rough-hewn, frontier look despite being shot on the Universal Studios backlot. This medium budget oater boasts an adequate amount of gunplay during its larcenous, 81-minute running time."The Redhead from Wyoming" unfolds with the following narration that sets the stage for the showdown between both factions. "When the territories of the great west were thrown open, men of all kinds rushed in. Most came to settle peaceably, lured by free land, gold, cattle. A man could begin a herd with a maverick, an unbranded stray on the public range. By putting his brand on it, he owned it. The cattle barons had started their great herds with mavericks. Now, they fought each settler who tried to do the same. They fought to keep the settlers off the public lands, drive them from their homes, destroy their towns. Vast ranges became the battlegrounds of cattle wars. When the Wyoming big ranchers found guns were not enough, they used the Maverick Law, a law through which they appointed themselves commissioners with power to rule on the ownership of every maverick branded. A commissioner's ruling could declare the settle a rustler, outlaw his brand, make his mavericks illegal to sell. Of course, there was no shortage of sharp-witted men who were quick to take advantage of the law." Sholem backs up the narration with action footage before he shifts the scene to the town square of Sweetwater, Wyoming, where city slicker clad Jim Averell (William Bishop of "The Walking Hills") campaigns for the high political office of governor. Watching from horseback on the fringe is big-time cattle baron, Reese Duncan (Brooklyn-born Alexander Scourby of "Affair in Trinidad"), and he doesn't like a word that Averell utters. "The Maverick Law," Averell avers, "was designed to protect us all against cattle rustling. There is nothing in the law that says new settlers can't pick up unbranded cattle and call them their own. When a cattle commission was appointed to watch over brands and cattle that was for our protection, too." Duncan has had enough of Averell's speech and blasts a hole in his city slicker's hat. Sweetwater Sheriff Stan Blaine (Alex Nicol of "Gunfighters of Casa Grande") fires his gun and calms down everybody. This scene opens up when our leading lady, Maureen O'Hara, arrives by stagecoach with a gaggle of other fancy saloon girls. Kate Maxwell (Maureen O'Hara of "The Quiet Man") learns she is a part of Averell's grand scheme to infuriate Reece Duncan. Averell announces his plans to turn ownership of the saloon that he has been renovating over to Kate. Now, everybody can enjoy music, high-kick dancing, and "the straightest card game in Wyoming." Averell promises the homesteaders that they will have the bucks to blow, too. He adds with a dastardly gleam in his eyes, "Kate's a cattle buyer now. She aims to buy up every maverick you can lay a rope on. Kate's got her own brand, and not some outlaw brand. She'll market your mavericks for you and there's nothing that Duncan and his Cattlemen's Association can do about it." Kate is already suspicious. The last time that she saw Averell was "running out of Abilene like a jack rabbit" leaving her to hold the sack. Duncan rides up and warns Kate not to buy any of his cattle. "Anything you take from me has lead coming after it." As everybody disperses and Averell escorts Kate over to her saloon, they meet Blaine. Averell accounts for Blaine to Kate. "He's just a drifter. Doesn't make any trouble, doesn't want any." In the saloon, Averell draws Kate a sketch of her brand: K Bar M. Kate wonders if the world isn't coming to an end. "Not only is Jim Averell giving things away, but he's paying his debts." Indeed, Averell wants to woo Kate back into his arms. He explains if Reese Duncan is eliminated, he will become governor. Brags Averell: "I'm going to make the whole territory of Wyoming my own private range." Meantime, the nefarious Averell incites anarchy. He hires his own desperadoes to rustle Duncan's livestock. Eventually, Kate learns the truth but is powerless. Kate and Blaine meet. He explains he started drifting at age 13 after his entire family died in a deadly range war. Kate takes a shine to him. She tries to warn Duncan about Averell. James and Meadow provide everybody with an interesting back story. This good, old-fashioned western is a treat, especially the big finale in Sweetwater as well as in the saloon with Kate, Averell, and Blaine shooting it out.