Border Feud (1947)

Pretty Good

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Did you people see the same film I saw?

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

PRC earned its reputation for bad movies, but "Border Feud" is from "The New PRC" and actually is pretty good.Director Ray Taylor was usually capable and, except for some script supervising or directing errors, this runs pretty smoothly.Al "Fuzzy" St. John would have been funnier -- seriously, he seldom makes a move that isn't at least a little funny -- if he hadn't been quite so intrusive, which is not his fault but that of the script or director.Most of the characters are played by competent to even talented actors, even though most of them never became stars.Except Al "Lash" La Rue, as it is spelled in the credits on this movie.He seldom gets the compliments I think he deserved. Really, he is more than competent although, as another commenter said, there should have been more whip work.La Rue and St. John were both very good cowboys, and "Lash" seems to have done most of his own stunt work.The score wasn't always appropriate but it was always nice music and composer Albert Glasser should have been given screen credit.To those of us for whom there is hardly such a thing as a bad western, "Border Feud," despite a misleading and pointless title, is a good one.My copy is on a disk from "The Treasure Box Collection," and, except for being a few generations too old, is in pretty good shape.There is also another Lash La Rue film, "Ghost Town Renegades," on the back side of the disk, although he is "LaRue" in that film's credits.

I remember seeing only one Lash LaRue film as a kid growing up, but the image of the black clad cowboy brandishing a bull whip has remained with me ever since. Seeing one of these "B" Westerns some sixty years after they were made is a neat exercise in nostalgia, and only goes to show how far films have come since the good old days.As far as shoot 'em ups go, this one has a lot of them, about every ten minutes between different factions. Like many (most?) of these oaters, the title doesn't really have much to do with the story, though this one comes close. But instead of "Border Feud", why couldn't it have been the "Blue Girl Gold Mine Feud"? That would have made more sense and better described the action.Lash LaRue's character is Marshal Cheyenne Davis, helping out Sheriff Fuzzy Q. Jones (Fuzzy St. John) sort out the differences between two feuding families over gold mine rights in the town of Red Gulch. However there's a third party interested in keeping hostilities going; Jack Barton (Bob Duncan) and his backer Doc Peters (Ian Keith) plan to move in when the families wipe each other out. It might have worked too, but with a cute Condon sister (Gloria Marlen) romanced by the opposing family's Bob Hart (Kenneth Farrell), the truth will have to make things right.You can tell this PRC picture (Producers Releasing Corporation) film is an entirely low budget affair. Watch for a scene in the second half when Fuzzy shoots one of Barton's bad guys, he repositions himself ever so slightly so he can continue to fall down a stairway - no time for do-overs."Border Feud", along with most of these era Westerns are great for a one hour diversion, as long as they're not taken too seriously. What I'd like to know though, is how is it that no matter where Cheyenne is at the start of a gunfight, he can always find a way to sneak up behind the shooters?

This is not too bad for a B-Western, mostly because it has enough going on to hold your interest despite the low production values. The story is put together from fairly routine plot elements, but it does move along at a reasonable pace, and it packs a fair amount of action into an hour or so.The story starts with a feud between two mine owners, and has Lash LaRue as a Marshal who comes to help out the local sheriff (Al St. John) try to keep things from getting out of hand. A lot of what follows is fairly predictable, but enough happens to hold your attention. LaRue doesn't do too much besides look tough, but St. John, as usual, offers some amusing moments. Overall, although it really doesn't have many strengths, it doesn't work too badly.

Just watched this on cable for the first time in about 40 years. As a really little kid I was a big fan of Lash LaRue. This was probably because his all black outfit and whip tricks were sooo Cool. He also looks and even sounds like (minus lisp) another favorite of mine Humphrey Bogart. This is your standard PRC "B" Oater of the era. Goes through all of the cliches: bad guy tricks friends into a feud for his own benefit, the feuding families have a member on either side who are secretly in love with each other, the real identity of the "evil overlord" is not revealed to the audience till near the end, the bad guy spouts lines like "now this is my plan"...and the film jump cuts to another location,guns fire forever without reloading, and on and on. The acting is up to (down to??) the usual PRC standards. Fuzzy StJohn is funny, but then he's been at this stuff since the Keystone Cops days. Lash is especially wooden in this one. Since he is given no opportunity to use his whip, there just isn't much use in having him in the movie. The plot is fairly dense for the short running time. Oddly it was written by a woman, which must have been fairly unusual for a Western at that time. All in all not a great film and not one of Lash's best outings. Still, if it's on cable and you have an hour to waste, give it a watch.