Stephen McNally plays Sam Leeds, a worldly gambler, quick on the draw, not quick to put in a good day’s work, but quick to criticize those who do.
He’s run out of the town of Sebastian Boot by Mayor Joe Madden (Willard Parker) after gunning down a man in a bar-room fight. As he’s riding away, he learns the Apaches are on the warpath, and the town he just left offers an inviting target.
He returns to warn the town and is reformed, so to speak, by the experience of fighting off the marauding redskins. Coleen Gray plays Sally, the woman who loves Leeds, though she knows she’d be better off with Madden. Arthur Shields plays the Reverend, who helps Leeds see the light.
Review:
Interesting low-budget Western, with a well-done climax that finds the townsfolk — Sally, Madden and Leeds included — holed up in a mission church while the Apache burn the town around them.
McNally is solid as the lead, and the film benefits from a better than average supporting cast.
James Griffith plays a supporting role in many a Western in the 1950s. Here, he does a nice turn as a cavalry lieutenant injured in the Apache attack who provides advice to the residents of Sebastian Boot on how to deal with the marauding Mescaleros .
Directed by:
Hugo Fregonese
Cast:
Stephen McNally … Sam Leeds
Coleen Gray … Sally
Willard Parker … Joe Madden
James Griffith … Lt. Griffin
Arthur Shield … The Reverend
Chito Guzman … Chacho
Armando Silvestre … Pedro-Peter
Georgia Backus … Mrs. Keon
James Best … Bert Keon
Clarence Muse … Jehu
Ruthelma Stevens … Betty Careless
Runtime: 75 min.
Memorable lines:
The Rev. to Betty, head of the dance troupe that’s being run out of town: “Woman, they name is Babylon and Abomination.”
Betty: “Don’t call me names. Just make me an offer on the building. And, remember, I won’t take a loss.”
Sam Leeds: “I like your notion, Reverend, that Apaches are just evils the Lord created to try honest men. I’m saved. I’m not an honest man.”
Sally, to Mayor Joe Madden: “It’s kind of a pity that I only like bad men, and want to make them good.”
The Reverend: “What is an oath to an Indian?”
Lt. Griffin: “A great deal more than to most white men.”F
){kind=link}