The Wild Westerners (1962)

James Philbrook stars as Jim McDowell, marshal of Virginia City, and he finds himself with two problems early on in this low-budget Western.

First, someone’s been robbing gold shipments and killing miners right and left. Second, his bride-to-be has sent him a Dear John letter on the eve of their wedding.

Rose Sharon (Nancy Kovack) offers salvation from embarrassment on the second count. She offers to pose as Jim’s bride-to-be at their wedding dinner, then announce that she just can’t stand life in the West and won’t go through with the wedding.

Only she changes her mind in the middle of dinner. Next thing Jim McDowell knows, he’s getting married to a woman he barely knows, a woman desperate for a fresh start after her traveling dance troupe went bankrupt.

Meanwhile, the gold keeps getting stolen. Before long, Jim begins to suspect Sheriff Plummer and his right-hand man, the dressed-all-in-black Johnny Silver.

He’s more equipped to handle that problem than the dilemma posed by his marriage, especially since Rose is winning over lots of admirers, for both her bravery and beauty.

James Philbrook as Marshall Jim McDowell, beginning to appreciate the woman who tricked him into marriage in The Wild Westerners (1962)

Nancy Kovack as Rose Sharon, struggling after being tied up by Johnny Silver in The Wild Westerners (1962)

Review:

Fun in a campy sort of way, and best when it’s focusing on the relationship between Rose and our good marshal rather than relying on stock footage to flush out some downright laughable action scenes. The ending is an unintentional hoot.

As for our cast, deputy Clint Fallon is played by Duane Eddy, who scored a string of instrumental hits as a guitarist in the 1960s, when he also made a brief foray into acting. He wound up in the rock and roll hall of fame.

Nancy Kovak would score her most memorable role the next year, starring as Medea in “Jason and the Argonauts.” She appeared in two other Westerns, the Three Stooges vehicle “The Outlaws is Coming” and as Libby Custer in “The Great Sioux Massacre.”

This was one of only three feature films directed by Oscar Rudolph, though he was responsible for three dozen episodes of “Batman” and more than two dozen episodes of “The Brady Bunch.”

Guy Mitchell as Johnny Silver and Marshall Reed as Sheriff Henry Plummer, the men behind the gold robberies in The Wild Westerners (1962)

Duane Eddy as Deputy Marshal Clint Fallon, a man who discovers Rose Sharon’s secret in The Wild Westerners (1962)

Directed by:
Oscar Rudolph

Cast:
James Philbrook … Marshal Jim McDowell
Nancy Kovack … Rose Sharon
Duane Eddy … Clint Fallon
Guy Mitchell … Johnny Silver
Hugh Sanders … Marshal Reuben Bernard
Marshall Reed … Sheriff Henry Plummer
Elizabeth MacRae … Crystal Plummer
Nestor Paiva … Gov. John Bullard
Harry Lauter … Jud Gotch
Bob Steele … Deputy Casey Banner
Lisa Burkett … Yellow Moon
Terry Frost .. Ashley Cartwright
Hans Wedemeyer … Wasna
Don C. Harvey … Hann
Elizabeth Harrower … Martha Bernard

Runtime: 70 min.

Hugh Sanders as Chief Marshal Reuben Bernard, trying to help McDowell bring the outlaws to justice in The Wild Westerners (1962)

Bob Steele as Deputy Marshal Casey Banner, under attack by Cheyenne Indians in The Wild Westerners (1962)

Memorable lines:

Marshal McDowell: “Well, you’ve tricked me until I’m committed up to my fool neck. Why me? What do you want?”
Rose Sharon: “I felt sorry for you. You needed a soft shoulder to cry on and I had two to give for my country.”
McDowell: “I could have borrowed a pair at Lulu’s Bar, with no strings attached.”

Townsman, after being told Jim’s wife is sleeping off a hangover: “Champagne’s like an Indian. Sneaks up on you, then boom.”

Blue Moon, upon finding bedding on the marshal’s couch: “Tall one sleep here? Tall one’s squaw sleep in there.”
Nora: “That’s the way Tall One wants it.”
Then she looks at Jim “Tall One” McDowell. “That oughta fix your reputation with the Cheyenne.”

Rose to Jim, after her true identity has been revealed: “Think I should pose for that statue in my dance hall costume?”

James Philbrook as Marshal Jim McDowell, stood up and listening to a possible solution from Rose Sharon (Nancy Kovack) in The Wild Westerners (1962)

Ilse Burkert as Yellow Moon, the Indian woman who has benefited from the marshal’s generosity in The Wild Westerners (1962)

Harry Lauter as Jud Gotch, a holdup man for Plummer who could hold the answers to the marshal’s questions in The Wild Westerners (1962)

James Philbrook as Marshal Jim McDowell and Duane Eddy as Deputy Clint Fallon, preparing for a showdown with the bad guys in The Wild Westerners (1962)