Rebel in Town (1956)

Just perfect...

Beautiful, moving film.

Blistering performances.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

I just watched this movie on Netflix. Although I am a big western fan, I had never seen this movie with its wonderful cast. The general story line is about a nervous confederate man shooting a boy and then becoming more cowardly than ever, allowing his brother to take the blame. That's not what this movie is truly about. It is about the psychological effects people had as the Civil War ended. On one side, we have the heroic Northern officer who can't resist always assisting the law and his perspective of the Confederacy that he has passed on to his son. On the other side, we have five war-weary confederate soldiers, four brothers and a father, having just robbed a bank in a nearby town, but having a need for water. Three of them ride into town and one is involved with a shooting. The youngest brother feels guilt and wants to do the right thing. The father of the shooting victim wants revenge against the soldiers, regardless of the fact it was an accident. The story hinges on the tug and pull of the emotions and feelings people had, due to the War. If there was something I would criticize, it would be the writer finding the easy out by making the shooter become cowardly and unconcerned about anyone but himself. What made this western stand out to me was the material it covered. It was not a simple plot. The emotional content is what makes this story special, the right and wrong perspective idea consistently flows throughout this movie with only Ruth Roman being the voice of reason and logic. All the actors did great jobs with their characters and it was refreshing watching actors, normally portrayed as stereotypical heroes playing people with huge flaws that pinpointed their humanity. I would like to have seen more of Ben Johnson (side bar complaint). Very worthy of watching more than once.

"Rebel in Town" offers up an interesting character reversal with the portrayals of John and Nora Willoughby (John Payne, Ruth Roman), in that it's the wife's role to maintain a balance of composure and common sense when her only child is accidentally shot and killed when a trio of ex-Confederate soldiers makes it's way to the town of Kittreck Wells. One would expect the woman in the situation to become hysterical and call out for blind vengeance, but here she maintained the voice of reason long enough for the truth of the incident to reveal itself.The Mason clan was an interesting bunch I'd have to say. Led by Bible thumper Bedloe (J. Carroll Naish), the clan always took a vote when it came to important family decisions. Although I didn't catch any vote when Pa took a whip to bad boy Wesley (John Smith) for scheming against brother Gray (Ben Cooper). You know, I would have sworn that the part of Gray Mason was portrayed by Richard Thomas, except the math wouldn't have worked for the year the picture was released. Thomas would have been five years old, but if you pull up their pics on IMDb you'll see the resemblance.The movie eventually reestablishes your conventional norms by the end of the story, as John Willoughby realizes his wife's advice is sound and successfully dissuades the good folks of Kittreck Wells to lay down their hangman's noose. I always hate to see a young kid get killed in one of these old time Westerns, so that's my biggest downside for the picture. However it was satisfying that Pa Willoughby was vindicated, and didn't have to exact revenge with a restless gun.

This film show us a war that is supposedly over but some non conformed rebels are still using their uniforms and becoming bandits to survive. When a misunderstanding happens and a boy is killed there seems to be no way out for them. The importance of a woman, Nora (Ruth Roman), who even though her son is dead, makes all efforts for a peaceful solution, is the remarkable aspect of this western. What looks like a plain B movie at the beginning gradually becomes more meaningful, directed by Alfred Werker (Three Hours to Kill, The Last Posse). John Payne (Willoughby) and John Carrol Naish (Mason) are the heads of family and Ben Cooper (Gray Mason) is excellent as the son with good feelings. The tragedy of the film is caused by a boy using toy guns. In the fifties toy guns used to be popular, probably even more in the years before. Good thing you do not see them anymore.

Rebel In Town is set in the post Civil War west where the surrender at Appomattox hasn't ended conflict in the minds of some. One of those is John Payne who was a Union Army major in the war, but now has settled back on his ranch with wife Ruth Roman and son Bobby Clark. Payne feels we've got a big law and order problem with a lot of former Confederates turning outlaws to survive and is the first to volunteer for any posse to track them down.But when the Mason family, J. Carrol Naish and his four sons come riding into town for supplies it's a recipe for trouble. When little Bobby Clark shoots at the family from behind with a cap pistol, one of the Masons turns and returns fire killing the kid instantly. The Masons beat it out of town.The rest of Rebel In Town concerns the actions of Payne and the rest of the town in apprehending the criminals and the Mason family who are torn with what to do.The Masons are a whole lot like the Hannesseys in The Big Country. The budget for the B western Rebel In Town is a fraction of what The Big Country was, yet William Wyler seems to have been influenced by the relationship of family patriarch Naish with the most reckless of his sons John Smith in creating the characters that Burl Ives and Chuck Connors played in The Big Country.As for Payne, he's in his vengeance quest persona, something not seen in him since his highly rated performance in the noir classic Kansas City Confidential.Rebel In Town is no frills B western with some nice performances from the cast. John Payne's fans will like his work here.