Belle Starr's Daughter (1948)

So much average

good back-story, and good acting

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

First, a little historical background: Belle Starr did have a daughter. Originally named Rosie Reed, she later changed it to Pearl Starr. Unlike her mother, she didn't ride with the wolves, so to speak. Mostly, she became a prostitute, later owning several bordellos and other businesses. Evidently, she was a good business woman. In this film, she's called Rose and is played by Ruth Roman. For a brief period, she rides with the remnants of her mother's gang, after her mother's death. This film followed the 1941 film "Belle Starr", with leads Randolph Scott, and a young Gene Tierney. That was filmed in color, with the present one in B&W. ....... Rose has 2 sometimes suitors in George Montgomery, as Marshal Tom Jackson, and very tall Rod Cameron, as Bob 'Bitter Creek' Yauntis: a holdover from Belle's gang, who becomes the new leader of the small gang, upon Belle's death. The overriding question for Rose is : who killed her mother(It's never been agreed who killed the real Belle Starr). Bob and sidekick Yuma were the last members of her gang known to have been in her house, where she and Uncle Jim were shot, said to be found dead by Marshal Tom and his crew, who arrived not long after Bob and Yuma departed. Tom's bunch buried the two(a mighty quick decision), and burned her house, which didn't help Tom's plea that he didn't do the killing. The audience knows who killed Belle, as they saw the shooting. Belle was angry with Bob and Yuma because they had gone over to Antioch and killed the marshal. She said she would turn them over to the new marshal(Tom) for trial and punishment(probable hanging). Hence, Bob shot her to prevent this. Near the end of the film, a mortally wounded Yuma confesses to Rose that he saw Bob shoot her mother, something Rose doesn't believe at first. But, she never finds out why he killed her......This revelation causes a complete change in Rose's attitude toward Tom, whom she had assumed was the killer. Meanwhile, Tom has been chasing Bob and his 2 remaining gang members:Brone and Slim. With remarkable accuracy, while riding his horse, he shoots down the latter 2 , then mortally wounds Bob, who also falls off his horse. Bob, on the sneak, nearly kills Tom, wounding him in the thigh before dropping over dead. His last words were "You're wrong about one thing, Marshal. You'll never hang me". Wounded in both his shoulder and thigh, Tom initially acts hostile when Rose appears. But, she melts his icy reception with the news that she now regards Bob as her mother's murderer. Tom says he will have to arrest her and she will spend some time in jail. She expected that, and asks if he will wait for her. After a moment's reflection, he says "Yes", and they ride off together........The director was Lesley Selander, who had an extensive resume of westerns directed, albeit that most were B westerns. This film had the feel of something between an A and B film. It had an A running time of nearly 11/2 hours, but the B&W cinematography, and certain cheap performances made it feel more like a B picture. They must have been using black powder cartridges, there was so much smoke associated with firing their weapons! See it at YouTube.

Copyright 3 November 1948 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Globe: 8 January 1949. U.S. release: November 1948. U.K. release: 28 March 1949. Australian release: 2 June 1949. 7,760 feet. 86 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Colorful Western in which Belle Starr, a notorious Wild West bandit, is killed by Bob Yauntis, one of her own men, who lays the blame on a marshal. Belle's daughter, Rose, turns bandit in order to take vengeance on the marshal, until he proves his innocence. Rod Cameron gives an excellent performance as the bad man, with good work coming from George Montgomery and Ruth Roman.NOTES: A Fox release and follow-up to the highly successful BELLE STARR.COMMENT: A-grade western with an exciting script by W.R. Burnett (author of Little Caesar and The Asphalt Jungle) and direction by Lesley Selander that is far more slick and stylish than his usual standard. There's plenty of action and the pace is fast. Rod Cameron and Fred Libby contribute interesting character portrayals. Ruth Roman fills the title role quite agreeably, while George Montgomery lends some skilful horsemanship to the climactic chase. (A pity that his fist fight with Jack Lambert is so obviously staged with doubles). The supporting cast is strong and production values, including the atmospheric photography by William Sickner, excellent.

If George Montgomery has his way they'll be a person in the law enforcement community marrying into Belle Starr's family. Along during the action in Belle Starr's Daughter he takes a fancy to Ruth Roman. But Roman can't see him because she holds him responsible for the death of her mother played briefly by Isabell Jewell. There's a truce between the law and the outlaw. The former marshal of Antioch says if the outlaws stay clear of Antioch he'll not pursue them into their sanctuary. But one night one of those outlaws Rod Cameron murders the marshal. He then murders Jewell and her confidante Kenneth MacDonald. And then he tells Roman that it was Montgomery's posse that did the dirty deed. So Montgomery will certainly have a lot to overcome.Some good performances by players used to being home on the range compensate for a story that has quite a few holes in it. Of course this has nothing to do with the real Belle Starr any more than 20th Century Fox's big budget oater that starred Gene Tierney and Randolph Scott had to do with her. But imagine the outlaw queen having a law enforcement official as a son-in-law?

Whoever lived through the old westerns will remember how we were always looking forwards to break the clichés, to see something different. The movies used to flirt with us specially in the trailers, by making the heroes seem to be bad. But there was always a catch, and at the end all would go back to the standard plot. Perhaps this explains why I felt thrilled seeing the pretty Ruth Roman being a bandit and at a certain point wearing the handkerchief mask. Whoever would not recognize her without the mask would have to be blind! But it was charming, and worth it. I am sure that was part of the trailer. And what about Rod Cameron as the bad guy? That was a great idea and he gives the best performance of all his films that I have seen. I have a certain difficulty to accept George Montgomery's hairstyle popular in the fifties, but awkward in our present days, but he was an OK actor and I always enjoyed his films, specially this one. Belle Starr's daughter is an amazingly well done unpretentious western directed by the efficient Lesley Selander