Clay Phillips (Robert Sterling) and his young brother Steve (Claude Jarman Jr.) need to get a string of prize horses from Aspen to Sonora.
They face two obstacles. First, they learn a man Clay tracked down, wounded and tossed in prison has just broken out and is likely looking for vengeance.
Second, they stumble upon a broken-down wagon filled with ladies of the night who’ve just been kicked out of Aspen. They agree to rescue the women — including Gloria Grahame as Mary Wells — and take them as far as the next ranch.
Mary immediately begins using her blond charms to try to convince Steve to take them all the way to their destination. She also befriends younger brother Steve and begins tutoring him on how to read.
Pretty soon, young Steve is ready to accept Mary as a mother figure. Clay’s a little less comfortable with his attraction to Mary. As for Mary, she’s admittedly waiting for someone t o put her back on the pedestal she’s fallen from.
Then there’s Lednow (John Ireland), the convicted killer, who has two fellow escapees along to do his bidding. And they’ve already killed two people during their getaway. It isn’t long before Clay discovers that, just as he suspects, Lednow is trying to track him down.
Review:
Nicely done little film. In a neat twist, the plot doesn’t have the bad men chasing Steve and the women. The good guys are lagging behind on the trail and constantly in search of alternate routes to keep it that way. And Clay’s party gets whittled down, but not because of violence.
A boyfriend shows up and whisks one woman (Martha Hyer as Marcia) off to get married. Elaine (Jeff Donnell) decides she’s tired of living on the wrong side of the street when reunited with her parents, who just happen to own the ranch house where Clay stops. And Helen Carter (Myrna Dell) decides the future might be brighter with a miner on the verge of striking it rich than in Sonora.
There’s also more vim and vigor than usual in the sparks that fly between Clay and Mary, though the latter comes off as the worst wagon driver you’re likely to find in a Western, wrecking two over the course of a 90-minute film.
Grahame and Jarman are probably more recognizable to Western fans than Sterling, who appeared in just one other, 1950’s “The Sundowners.” Married to two actresses — Anne Jeffreys and Ann Sothern — over the course of his life, he’s best remembered for starring in the TV series “Topper” with Sothern.
Grahame, meanwhile, created a scandal with her fourth marriage when she wed her stepson Anthony Ray. She was in her late 30s; he was 13 years young. But the marriage lasted nearly 14 years and they had two children together.
Directed by:
Mark Robson
Cast:
Robert Sterling … Clay Phillips
Claude Jarman Jr. … Steve Phillips
Gloria Grahame … Mary Wells
John Ireland … Lednov
Jeff Donnell … Elaine Wyatt
Myrna Dell … Helen Carter
Martha Hyer … Marcia
Sara Haden … Ma Wyatt
James Bell … Pa Wyatt
George Cooper … Jim Clayton
Jeff Corey … Jed Graham
Sean McClory … Fowler
Robert Williams … McCall
Steve Savage … Peters
Ed Cassidy … Sheriff Gardner
Runtime: 88 min.
Memorable lines:
Jed Graham: “There’s nothing to it once you know how. Trouble is, there was never a woman who knew how to handle a team (of horses). Shouldn’t let ’em loose on the road. No disrespect meant, Miss Wells.”
Steve Phillips, as he and his brother keep finding women’s clothing along the trail: “This keeps up, we can start a store.”
Steve Phillips, after he and his brother come across Mary Wells’ disabled buggy: “Were you driving?”
Mary Wells: “I was at first. Then I was hanging on.”
Steve Phillips, as Mary tries to teach him to read: “Making sense of these words is harder than tracking weasel after rain.”
Clay Phillips to young Steve: “When you get older, you’ll understand things a lot better. Like men and women. Just because a man kisses a girl doesn’t mean he … well, he can kiss her and not want to have her around all the time.”
Mary Wells, in a fit of fury: “I’m not raising horses or kids for anybody. I’m opening up the slickest gambling house in California with a crystal chandelier — the biggest you ever saw. And gaslights. And a dance hall. And a big bar. And cash registers with bells on them. And a couple of boys with arm bands just to keep ’em ringin’.”
Mary Wells to miner Jed Graham: “If there were more men like you, there wouldn’t be so many of us.”
Jeb Graham, having decided to settle down with Mary’s colleague Helen: “Thanks.”
Mary: “It’s nice to meet a man who doesn’t want to own a man from the day she was born. I never had the luck. The only kind I run into are tramps or dirty-minded hypocrites.”
Clay Phillips: “She’s aimin’ at me, but her aim’s bad.”
Clay Phillips to Mary Wells: “Over that hill’s a stage road. And when we hit it, you’re going to get dumped into the first one that comes along.”
Clay to Mary, when they reconnect in town: “Where ya goin’?”
Mary: “Back to the other side of the street.”
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