It’s the last year of the Civil War, and Confederate prisoners are being given an option: rot away in a Union prisoner of war camp or serve the Union out West.
And so Lee Travers (Howard Keel), former Confederate officer, opts for the latter and is sent to Colton, Ariz., to take over as marshal.
He’s riding into a corrupt town run by saloon owner Tom Rile (Scott Brady). And, being a Southerner, he’s not very welcome, especially by deputy San Shelby (John Ireland), who lost the use of one arm fighting for the Union.
What the folks of Colton don’t know is that Travers is still working for the Confederacy as a spy, trying to recover a cache of guns and ammunition hidden in the town.
Also working as a spy is hat shop owner Jill Wyler (Yvonne de Carlo), the woman Shelby is sweet on.
Travers’ plan includes finding a way to shut down Rile’s saloon so that the gunmen who frequently spend their evenings in Colton no longer have a reason to do so.
Meanwhile, Rile has been selling off some of those guns Travers hopes to smuggle to a band of renegade Indians.
Howard Keel as Lee Travers, a riverboat gambler turned Confederate turned lawman in Arizona Bushwhackers (1968)
Yvonne DeCarlo as Jill Wyler, pleading her case with Deputy Dan Shelby in Arizona Bushwhackers (1968)
Review:
Below average, even for a 1960s A.C. Lyles quickie Western. Keel walks around with a puffed out chest and sense ambushes from miles away in an unbearable performance.
And there’s all sorts of mixed motivation on the part of several characters. Marilyn Maxwell plays Molly, the saloon girl who works for Rile but doesn’t seem to mind a bit that Travers wants to shut him down even though it will put her out of a job.
Shelby is always snooping around pretty Jill Wyler and reveals her as a spy, yet they wind up arm in arm at the film’s conclusion.
And then there’s the question of why Travers is even needed in Colton to recover those precious guns. Jill knows where they are. She knows how to signal Confederate agents outside of town to pick them up. So what does she need Travers for?
The title tune might be the best thing about this oater. Oh, and this marked the final film directed by Lesley Selander. And the only film appearance for Roy Rogers Jr. He plays a young man headed off to the Civil War and eager to lay his eyes on a Rebel before he starts shooting at them.
John Ireland as Dan Shelby, a deputy suspicious of the new ex-Rebel sheriff in Arizona Bushwhackers (1968)
Marilyn Maxwell as Molly, the saloon girl who takes a liking to Colton’s new sheriff in Arizona Bushwhackers (1968)
Directed by:
Lesley Selander
Cast:
Howard Keel … Lee Travers
John Ireland … Dan Shelby
Yvonne de Carlo … Jill Wyler
Marilyn Maxwell … Molly
Scott Brady … Tom Rile
Brian Donlevy … Mayor Joe Smith
Barton MacLane … Sheriff Grover
James Craig … Ike Clanton
Roy Rogers Jr. … Roy
Regis Parton … Curly
Eric Cody … Bushwhacker
James Cagney … Narrator
Runtime: 87 min.
Scott Brady as Tom Rile, the gambler Lee Travers would like to run out of town in Arizona Bushwhackers (1968)
Brian Donlevy as Joe Smith, the mayor eager to welcome a new sheriff to Colton in Arizona Bushwhackers (1968)
Memorable lines:
Molly to saloon owner Tom Rile: “Why don’t you have your Apache renegade friends arrange a quiet little ol’ one-man massacre of Lee Travers. Then there won’t be any suspicions our sheriff is behind it?”
Sheriff Grover to Rile: “Do you know some renegade Apaches?”
Rile to Molly: “Always opening your big mouth, ain’t ya?”
Tom Rile to Sheriff Grover: “You know, you look a lot healthier with that usual dumb look on your face.”
Lee Travers: “I don’t want to be bushwhacked.”
Ike Clanton: “Who’d do a thing like that? I don’t understand where you got such an idea.”
Lee Travers: “Through a pair of binoculars.”
Mayor Smith: “I admit it is a little unusual for us to have an ex-Confederate as a sheriff. But most of our able-bodied men are off at the war. These are trying times.”
Lee Travers: “Then tell your citizens they have to try a little harder.”
Roy Rogers Jr. as Roy, a young man eager to get to the Civil War and kill some Rebels in Arizona Bushwhackers (1968)
Barton MacLane as Sheriff Grover, the crooked lawman Tom Rile has under his thumb in Arizona Bushwhackers (1968)
James Craig as Ike Clanton, a would-be bushwhacker trying to lure Lee Travers into a trap in Arizona Bushwhackers (1968)
Regis Parton as Curly, a would-be bushwhacker planning an ambush for Lee Travers in Arizona Bushwhackers (1968)
Howard Keel as Lee Travers, trying to run Tom Rile out of business and out of Colton in Arizona Bushwhackers (1968)
John Ireland as Deputy Dan Shelby, his suspicions aroused by the interest Jill Wyler (Yvonne DeCarlo) shows in the new sheriff in Arizona Bushwhackers (1968)
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