Copper Sky (1957)

Jeff Morrow is “Hack” Williams, who has the misfortune of riding into Copper Sky just as an Apache is killed.

He fires a shot at the killer, and is found holding a rifle over the dead Indians.

Fearing retribution, the good folks of Copper Sky quickly put Williams on trial and sentence him to hang.

He’s tossed in jail. But before he can be hanged, the Apaches attack, killing everyone in town. W

ell, everyone but Williams. They didn’t see him sleeping off a hangover in the jail.

Soon after the massacre, a pretty young schoolteacher — (Coleen Gray) as Nora Haynes — arrives in town.

Now the two of them must find their way to safety through a countryside crawling with “red sticks” who would like to lift Nora’s pretty scalp.

It’s an uneasy alliance. Nora hails from Boston, a “lady” unfamiliar with the ways of the West, annoyed by Williams’ fondness for the bottle.

Meanwhile, Williams, an ex-Cavalryman, would just prefer to be left alone in an alcohol-induced haze.

She jabbers, he barely speaks. She’s quite ladylike; he refuses to stop when her hat blows off. He drinks way too much, so she dumps out his whiskey while he isn’t looking.

But as their plight becomes more serious, they come to rely on one another.

Coleen Gray as Nora Haynes, making Hack Williams promise not to look while she’s bathing in Copper Sky (1957)

Jeff Morrow as Hack Williams, promising on his one-time sergeant’s honor not to peek while Nora is bathing in Copper Sky (1957)

Review:

Basically, 1951’s “The African Queen” out West, with Coleen Gray in the role of Katharine Hepburn and Jeff Morrow in the role of Humphrey Bogart. In fact, they’re the only two people on the screen for most of the film.

This version of the story tends to drag in spots and come off as downright implausible in others. Early in the film, for instance, an entire Apache warband manages to ride into the middle of town without being detected.

There are a few charming moments, like when Colleen — looking very pretty — decides to take a bath and makes Hack promise not to look, on his “one-time sergeant’s honor.”

But they also seem like an unlikely couple to wind up with feelings for one another. At the time the film was made, Morrow was 50, Gray was 25.

Strother Martin as jailhouse guard Pokey, offering condemned Hack Williams (Jeff Morrow) his choice of dinner in Copper Sky (1957)

Paul Brinegar as Charlie Martin, wondering what brought school techer Nora Haynes (Coleen Gray) West in Copper Sky (1957)

Directed by:
Charles Marquis Warren

Cast:
Jeff Morrow … “Hack” Williams
Coleen Gray … Nora Haynes
Strother Martin … Pokey
Paul Brinegar … Charlie Martin
John Pickard … Trooper Hadley
Patrick O’Moore … Col. Thurston

Runtime: 77 min.

Title tune: Copper Sky

Coleen Gray as Nora Hayne, enjoying her bath and making sure Hack Williams isn’t peeking in Cooper Sky (1957)

Jeff Morrow as Hack Williams, arriving in Copper Sky and finding himself accused of murder in Copper Sky (1957)

Memorable lines:

Hack Williams, on whiskey: “Good for what ails you. Makes everything hazy. That’s the way I like it.”

Nora Haynes: “You can stop calling me lady.”
Hack Williams: “Aren’t you one?”

Nora Haynes, as she contemplates bathing in a stream: “Can I trust you to stay here?”
Hack Williams, rolling his eyes: “You can trust me.”
Nora: “On your one-time sergeant’s honor.”
Hack, rolling his eyes again. “On my one-time sergeant’s honor.”

Hack: “You’re not a woman. You’re a lady.”
Nora: “I’m a lady because I’m helpless? Because I know good manners when I see them? I’m genteel because I come from Boston? And I’m not a woman because I can’t cook on dirty sand? Because … because I don’t offer myself to you?”
Hack: “No, no, no. It’s because you prattle on and on and on, lady. Because you stick your teacher nose where it’s not wanted. Because you’re just like a green-horned first lieutenant, fresh out of West Point. — short on experience and full of … theory.”

Jeff Morrow as Hack Williams and Coleen Gray as Nora Haynes, forced to work together on an difficult journey in Copper Sky (1957)

Coleen Gray as Nora Haynes, reacing to narrowing escaping the grasp of an Apache warrior in Copper Sky (1957)

Jeff Morrow as Hack WIlliams, threatening to throw Nora Haynes off his wagon in Copper Sky (1957)

Coleen Gray as Nora Haynes and Jeff Morrow as Hack Williams, spotting an Apache ambush in Copper Sky (1957)