The Tall Stranger (1957)

That was an excellent one.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Most reviews characterize this Louis L'Amour-based film as an average western. However, by me, no picture featuring Virginia Mayo, especially in several low-cut dresses, is going to be blah run of the mill fodder. We don't usually associate Virginia with Westerns, but this is the 5th western I've seen, in which she was the leading lady, and not simply a saloon floosy. She had her tomboy side, exhibited in some of these films, as well as her inherent talent as eye candy. Some years before this film, she costarred with Joel McCrea, as she does here, in the acclaimed "Colorado Territory". Here, as Ellen, along with her small son, she's part of a wagon train supposedly heading for CA. She helps revive saddle tramp Ned Bannon(Joel McCrea) who happened to stick is nose in the wrong place, discovering a small cattle herd, which he later surmised represented the 84 head missing from Hardy Bishop's spread, Bishop being his half brother. Nearly dead of a gunshot wound and thirst, Ellen nursed him back to health on a bed in her small prairie schooner. She later feeds Bannon a cock and bull story about her background as a Civil War widow. Much later, she admits that she never had a husband, and had been a saloon girl floozy, as oily Mexican rustler Zarata claims. Zarata encounters her bathing in the river, and tries to rape her as she dresses. Bannon happens along in the nick of time to break it up. Oily Mort Harper joined the train late but, with his charismatic extrovert personality, soon became the de facto leader of the train, rerouting it southward toward verdant Bishop Valley, Colorado Territory. He talks up the advantages of settling in this valley. In contrast, Bannon tells them this land is all taken and there's no through route westward, but they have deaf ears to that message. Clearly, Harper has some ulterior motive in talking up Bishop Valley. Later, we discover that Harper is in cahoots with the cattle rustlers, headed by oily Zarata. Apparently, their plan is to engineer a land war between Bishop and the wagoneers, hoping they will mostly kill each other off, then the rustlers will kill or intimidate the remainder to leave the valley for them. Clearly , the rustlers are taking a chance that their plan will pan out as hoped. Initially, Bishop hated Bannon, blaming him for the death of his no-good son, executed for his part in Quantrill's raiders. But, gradually, Bishop warms up to Bannon's strategies, realizing that Bannon is trying to diffuse the animosity between him and the settlers in a peaceful way. Eventually, there's a shootout between Bishops men + Bannon vs. the rustlers + some wagoneers. This isn't what the rustlers planned for themselves, and the leaders, along with others are killed. According to standard formula, Bishop and Zarata kill each other, albeit by different methods. Naturally, Bannon and Harper have a final confrontation. Since Bishop left no kin aside from Bannon, presumably, he is now the owner of this valley. He tells the wagoneers (and especially Ellen) that they can stay if they wish, conditions not specified.This film presently is viewable at YouTube.

When the film begins, Ned Bannon (Joel McCrea) is ambushed and shot. Before blacking out, he notices a very fancy gun used by the shooter. When he comes to, he's in a camp full of settlers heading west. They've treated his wounds and he's very grateful to them. However, they inexplicably are being led by some folks who are intent on leading them onto someone else's land! They know it...but convince the very gullible settlers that Bannon is either wrong or lying. So, Bannon goes to find the landowner and convince him to give him a few days...but the folks leading the settlers reject an offer to talk and simply attack! Soon it looks like a war is about to break out...when Bannon discovers one of the folks leading the settlers has that same fancy rifle!As usual, Joel McCrea is excellent--as he was in all his westerns. While never a sexy sort of leading man in the films, he was big, strong and very believable. I just wish they hadn't made the settlers THIS stupid and pig-headed! That is a big of a weakness of the film, as they are just too easily led...or misled. Still, even with this, it's a good story and worth seeing.

The Tall Stranger is directed by Thomas Carr and written for the screen by Christopher Knopf from a story by Louis L'Amour. It stars Joel McCrea, Virginia Mayo, Michael Ansara, George Neise, Whit Bissell, Adam Kennedy, Barry Kelley and Leo Gordon. A CinemaScope/De Luxe color production, film is filmed on location at two ranches in California, Morrison and Russell, with Wilfred M. Cline the cinematographer. Hans J. Salter scores the music. Plot sees McCrea as Ned Bannon, who has a run in with rustlers and left for dead. Luckily he is found in time by a wagon train heading for California. Nursed back to health, Ned becomes suspicious of two outsiders who are leading the group into a dead-end valley owned by his hostile half-brother. Ned must overcome family hostility to try and avert a range war from occurring.Solid mid 50's Oater boosted by the reliable McCrea and some dark shades within the writing. Running at just over 80 minutes, picture condenses enough old time punch ups and shootings into the story to stop the routine nature of the plotting dragging the pace down. There's even some messages in here to show the writers wanted something more than just a yeehaw production. Sadly the film is badly let down by the pan and scan process and the lifeless colour. There are very few reviews of the film about, but nobody makes mention of the bad print of the film? Certainly the current print doing the rounds for British TV is so bad it takes much away from the film. Cline's (The Last Wagon/The Indian Fighter) location photography is barely seen-is this really in CinemaScope?-and periphery characters are heard but chopped in half! Even the normally radiant Mayo looks washed out due to the tired looking De Luxe color. There's a half decent film in the mix, but even with the best of home cinema set ups to play with, it's nigh on impossible to fully immerse one self in the movie. 6/10

Joel McCrae and Virginia Mayo appeared together in the previous decade when directed by the great Raoul Walsh in the seminal Colorado Territory .The movie under review here is not as good -even close to being -as that wonderful picture but it is a sturdy B movie Western that will give genre lovers a lot of pleasure McCrae is Ned Barton , a Union army Civil war veteran who is shot and seriously wounded when stumbling across evidence of cattle rustling .He is nursed back to health by members of a wagon train moving to California.They are making for Bishop's Valley land they aim to cross without permission of its owner ,the authoritarian landowner Bishop (Barry Kelly).When the train's guide Harper (George Neise)encourages them to stay Harper fears a range war is inevitable -he is Bishop's estranged half brother and knows Bishop will not take kindly to this incursion on his land .Harper has an ulterior motive -he is in alliance with a bandit (Michael Ansara) and schemes for the two parties to kill each other and then use the bandit gang to move in.McCrae tries to act as a buffer between the two sides The movie is well shot and decently acted -especially by Leo Gordon is a rare sympathetic role as Bishop's top hand and with sharper direction would have been better .It is still an okay B Western and will please genre lovers