Four Faces West (1948)

Joel McCrea plays Ross McEwen, a cowpoke who rides into the town of Santa Maria and promptly borrows $2,000 from the bank at gunpoint while renown sheriff Pat Garrett is giving a speech down the street.

Oh, yeah, and he writes the bank owner an IOU, signing the name Jefferson Davis.

Naturally, this makes McEwen a very wanted man, not only by the law but by Garrett. And that embarrassed banker has placed a $3,000 bounty on him, dead or alive.

But as he’s fleeing the law and trying to make it back home — the $2,000 was to bail his dad out of some sort of jam — two things happen that change McEwen’s life.

He meets a nurse (Frances Dee as Fay Hollister) n a train. She treats his snakebite; he finds himself oddly attracted to this woman who isn’t finding the West quite as romantic as it was supposed to be.

They fall in love, though she suspects he might be the bank robber everyone is searching for.

But before long, McCrea is forced to run from the law again. This time, he tries to buy a horse from a Mexican family, only to discover the father, mother and two sons are all gravely ill.

He hangs around to care for them; at one point he even takes the sulfur out of the bullets in his gun to make medicine. He also builds a fire to summon help.

Help arrives in the form of Garrett and his deputy. More help arrives in the form of a doctor and a nurse, Fay Hollister, of course.

That leaves McEwen with a choice — keep running or turn himself in and hope his good deeds outweigh the bad with a judge and jury.

Joel McCrea as Ross McEwen, about to make a large bank ‘loan’ in Four Faces West (1948)

Frances Dee as Faye Hollister, the traveler who catches Ross McEwen’s attention in Four Faces West (1948)

Review:

A more sophisticated Western than most, with the emphasis on characters and their relationships with one another rather than action. Though at one point, McEven tames and hops aboard a bull when he needs a ride across the desert. You won’t find that in every Western.

This marked the third and final film McCrea and Dee made together; they were real life husband and wife for nearly 60 years, having met while filming “The Silver Cord” in 1933. Their other film together was also a Western, “Wells Fargo” (1937).

The oddest role here is that of Joseph Calleia. He plays Monte Marquez, a Mexican businessman who operates saloons and gambling houses near the border. He realizes early on that McEwen is on the run from the law. Instead of turning him in for the reward, he helps McEwen at several turns along the way.

And you might not recognize him, but that’s a young William Conrad in one of his earliest roles as Sheriff Egan. He’d later become the star of TV’s “Cannon.”

Charles Bickford as Pat Garrett, on the trail of an unusual bank robber in Four Faces West (1948)

Joseph Calleia as Monte Marquez, the rich businessman who takes a liking to Ross McEwen in Four Faces West (1948)

Directed by:
Alfred Green

Cast:
Joel McCrea … Ross McEwen
Frances Dee … Fay Hollister
Charles Bickford … Pat Garrett
Joseph Calleia … Monte Marquez
William Conrad … Sheriff Egan
Martin Garralaga … Florencio
Raymond Largay … Dr. Eldredge
John Parrish … Frenger
Dan White … Clint Waters
Davison Clark … Burnett
Houseley Stevenson … Anderson
Eva Novak … Mrs. Winston
George McDonald … Junior

Runtime: 89 min.

William Conrad as Sheriff Egan, meeting the legendary Pat Garrett in Four Faces West (1948)

John Parrish as Frenger, the banker Ross McEwen ‘borrows’ $2,000 from in Four Faces West (1948)

Memorable lines:

Frenger, the banker, after McEwen has asked for a loan of $2,000: “For a loan of that size, the bank demands pretty good collateral.”
McEwen: “Oh, I’ve got the best collateral in the world.” He draws his six gun. “Right here.”

Fay Hollister, looking over a poster or the wanted bank robber: “Dead or alive? What kind of laws do you have out here? He only stole $2,000. It doesn’t make sense.”
Monte Marquez: “I think maybe the bank means to prove it is more profitable to catch a bandit than to be one.”
Fay: “Well, of course, crime must be punished. But to kill a man for stealing …”
Ross McEwen: “You’re in the West now, Miss Hollister. It seems everybody gets law abiding when there’s a reward at stake.”

Martin Garralaga as Florencio, the man who relies on Ross McEwen to help save his wife and children in Four Faces West (1948)

George McDonald as Junior, the troublesome youth who might be able to identify a bank robber in Four Faces West (1948)

Raymond Largay as Dr. Eldredge, the man Fay Hollister travels West to work for in Four Faces West (1948)

Charles Bickford as Pat Garrett, William Conrad as Sheriff Egan and Dan White as Clint Waters, on the trail of an outlaw in Four Faces West (1948)

Frances Dee as Fay Hollister, learning the truth about Ross McEwen’s recent past in Four Faces West (1948)

Joel McCrea as Ross McEwen, coming face to face with an adversary in Four Faces West (1948)