Yuma (1971)

Nice effects though.

good back-story, and good acting

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Admirable film.

Ted Post directed this Charles A. Wallace story which was created most likely as a pilot for a T.V. Series. I suppose that's why Clint Walker was selected. He looks tall and Majestic in the saddle. The story as Wallace wrote it has Marshal Dave Harmona (Clint Walker) arriving in town and no sooner does he arrive, when a couple of rowdies challenge his authority. Unable to talk one cowboy out of his gun, the Marshal is force to kill the other which does not sit well with the older brother. (Morgan Woodward) In addition to taking charge of the law in town, Harmon is given a murder mystery to solve and some restless Indians who are threatening to go on the warpath to placate. Finally, there a hotel owner who is set on winning a place in the marshal's heart. All in all the series would have begun as part western, part who-done-it, had the option been picked up. As it is, the movie moves into the what-if category and Walker rides into the sunset. It would have been interesting to see the film pan out as several other notables were included in the cast. Such actors as Barry Sullivan, Edgar Buchanan and Peter Mark Richman as Major Lucas. Otherwise, it's a good movie which never ever matured. ****

It quickly becomes clear that the Aaron Spelling made for TV movie "Yuma" was really a disguised pilot for a prospective television series. The movie never lead to a series, maybe because westerns around this time were starting to die out, but more likely because this pilot simply isn't that good. The biggest problem with the entire movie is that it is really bland in several key areas. Clint Walker doesn't seem very enthusiastic, maybe because his character is written to reveal very little about him. He is more or less a stock character, which goes for most of the other characters in the movie. The story is pretty boring, with most of the movie devoted to characters speaking and very little in the way of action (and what action there is is not the least bit exceptional.) While this movie is easy to find thanks to its copyright not being renewed, leading to many DVD labels devoted to public domain movies putting it out, even westerns addicts should turn down the opportunity to see it.

Here's a neat little TV Western that gets interesting following a fairly standard set up. A new Marshal arrives in town just in time to confront a pair of rowdy brothers and winds up killing one in self defense. Then he hears about how he'll have to pay once big brother hits town along with all of his trail hands. The hotel clerk (Kathryn Hays) even asks for her ten dollar room rent in advance, knowing that the life expectancy of a Yuma town marshal isn't all that great.What made the story interesting for me was how a number of innovative elements were used that I haven't seen in a Western before. Like Marshal Dave Harmon (Clint Walker) using ketchup to fake a gunshot wound to a murder suspect from earlier in the story, when the perpetrator is already dead! The ruse is used to smoke out the partner who's still at large. And how about Harmon shooting the gun right out of Sanders' holster when he's slow to cooperate in answering the marshal's questions? The best is probably when the real villain masterminding the cattle resale scheme is uncovered by Harmon; how many times do you get to see Edgar Buchanan as the bad guy?!Here's another one, and I thought I was hearing things, but when Harmon is surprised and surrounded by the Indian tribe the first time, the chief calls him 'Star Man' in deference to his marshal's badge. That just made perfect sense.All in all, a quickly paced story with a good supporting cast including Barry Sullivan (bad guy), Morgan Woodward (bad guy), Robert Phillips (bad guy), and Peter Mark Richman as an Army major (thought he'd be a bad guy, but another twist to prevent the clichéd outcome). I'll also give the picture credit for not stereotyping the expected romantic angle to play out between Harmon and Julie Williams. There was a hint of that at the finale, but you can draw your own conclusions.

Following his lengthy run on "Cheyenne", Walker found fairly steady work in a series of TV movies, usually of a western variety. In this one, he's a no-nonsense US marshal, fresh into the town of Yuma with instructions to sustain order. The previous marshals only lasted about a week apiece, but Walker is so confident that he pays his hotel bill in advance for a month. This is after, of course, he's already shot down one troublemaker mere moments after entering the town! Unfortunately, the man he shot is the younger brother of fat cat rancher Woodward who is ready to blow Walker away for it, especially after his other brother is mysteriously killed as well. However, there's much more going on towards complicating things. Someone is cheating the local Indians, led by chief Diaz, out of their treaty-arranged beef and this ties into Yuma's deep-seeded corruption. Walker, a towering hunk of a man whose voice alone would make anyone feel safe and warm, has a decent role to play here with several stand-offs in which he shows his determination and some more tender moments with spunky Mexican orphan Alejandro and pretty hotel owner Hays. The cast includes several well-known faces such as Sullivan as the owner of a freight carrier, Buchanan as the local porch-sitting gossip, Kerr as an Army lieutenant and Richman as his superior. Produced by Aaron Spelling, who was always quick to use pals from old Hollywood and directed with assurance by Post, it's a decent little western with a mild twist ending. Spelling crony Nolan Miller designed Hays' dresses. She would, soon after this, join the cast of "As the World Turns" and stay there until the present. The music is by Charles Duning who composed the theme for "The Big Valley" and that series' house servant, Whiting, appears here in a brief, but amusing cameo.