The Bushwhackers (1951)

Memorable, crazy movie

Excellent but underrated film

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Handsome John Ireland comes out of the civil war with a chip on his shoulder and ends up out west where he finds it doesn't take him far in a corrupt town. Having vowed never to handle a gun ever again, he finds that only brings him more trouble, ending up in jail for shooting a member of a ruthless gang of thugs (lead by veteran tough guy Lawrence Tierney, working for the ruthless land owner Lon Chaney Jr. and his evil daughter, Myrna Dell) which controls everything that goes on in the town. Falling in love with newspaper woman Dorothy Malone, he finds out that the road to righteousness isn't always paved with peace and resistance. This B western has its share of action, but made on a nickel, it shows. Chaney seems to be channeling Walter Huston in "The Furies" in his all-white hair, but for once, he isn't chewing the scenery. This might have had more emotional impact regarding Ireland's character had it dramatized more as to why he decided to leave the South rather than simply rushing him out west after the end of the war, only vaguely commenting on his life there afterwards. It ain't bad, but there's hardly any thing memorable.

Ah, The Bushwhackers, also known as The Rebel, a Western packed to the rafters with ever watchable actors, but unfurled like an amateur homage to Oaters a decade or so before.Co-written and directed by Rod Amateau, and starring John Ireland, Dorothy Malone, Lawrence Tierney, Lon Chaney Junior, Myrna Dell, Wayne Morris and Jack Elam, film finds Ireland as Civil War veteran Jefferson Waring, who has vowed to never pick up a gun in anger again. However, upon wandering into the town of Independence, Missouri, he finds a town awash with sinister rumblings as Lon Chaney's Don Vito Corleone figure - backed by Dell's nefarious daughter - is plotting to own all the local land because the Railroad is coming and there's going to be a high premium placed on said land.Cue Waring being pulled from emotional pillar to emotional post, with Malone batting her eyelids amidst a strong portrayal of feisty sexuality, until he takes up the good fight for the greater good in readiness for the finale that holds no surprises. There's a mean spirited edge to the plot which keeps things interesting and spicy, and although they are under used, having Tierney and Elam as thugs for hire is always a good thing, but it's directed and edited in such a cack - handed way there's little to no flow to the picture. Making it practically impossible to invest in the characterisations.Unfortunately the DVD print provided by Elstree Hill is a disgrace, not even up to the standard of a VHS copy of a copy! A shame because through the gloom and scrambled fuzz of the transfer, you can see Joseph Biroc's noirish photography trying to break out. The actors make it worth a watch, in that Western fans can tick it off their lists, but nobody should be fooled into thinking there's an exciting picture here, or that it has observational intelligence about a scarred war veteran, because it has neither and Amateau's subsequent "non" career in film after this tells you all you need to know. 5/10

Some films, like Citizen Kane, still look actual even though it was made in 1941. Others, like The Bushwhackers from 1952, seem older than those talkies of the early thirties. The reason? A very, very low budget and a director that really belonged to TV. The actors are excellent, and it is surprising to see them together in a western were obviously lowering the cost was so crucial. John Ireland is Jefferson Waring a man that after the civil war is over goes west because he does not want to use guns anymore. There he meets Dorothy Malone and her father, who print the newspaper and also Wayne Morris, the marshal. There is also a bad guy, Lon Chaney and his mean daughter Myrna Dell, not counting the notorious always mean Jack Elam. A very similar story made an excellent western some years later, "The Violent Men". I enjoyed "The Bushwhackers" because of the actors and also the amusing primitive, low quality type of film making, something rare in the westerns of the fifties.

At times this seems like two separate movies:the first half is a mature study of a disgruntled war vet-the second half degenerates into a routine shoot 'em up. Ireland is great as the brooding war vet, Tierney(as in "Resevoir Dogs")the sullen villain. Chaney is reminiscent of Barrymore as the wheel-chair bound cattle baron. Highlight of the film is Chaney's damning accusation "You lose, soldier. You lose again!" Once the fireworks begin,all is predictable. Morris shows flashes of real talent as the corrupt town sheriff; Dell is good as the vixen. This one almost seems to be a pimer for the Ireland directed "Hannah Lee" that was released the following year. Worth staying up for, or at least setting the VCR.