Backlash (1956)

Richard Widmark plays Jim Slater. He’s a man on a mission. Years earlier, six men were at Gila Valley with $60,000 in diggings from a mine.

One man ran out on the other five, leaving them to die at the hands of the Apache.

Slater’s dad was among the dead; now he’s searching for the man who left him to die.

Karyl Orton (Donna Reed) wants information about what happened at Gila Valley, too.

Her husband died there, and she figures she’s entitled to a portion of the $60,000.

Their search leads them through a scrape with the cavalry against the Apaches, a showdown with two brothers of a man Slater killed and into a range war.

One by one, Slater and Karyl discovered the identity of the men buried at Gila Valley, until only one body isn’t accounted for, either his father or her husband.

Slowly, Slater begins to realize the man he’s been hunting, planning to kill, might be his own dad.

Karyl, meanwhile, has fallen for Slater, and begs him not to continue his quest, but to start a new life with her instead.

Richard Widmark as Jim Slater, the man determined to solve the mystery of Gila Valley in Backlash (1956)

Donna Reed as Karyl Orton, searching for the gold her husband might have left behind in Gila Valley in Backlash (1956)

Review:

Well done Western by firector John Sturges, who keeps the action coming fast and furious as Jim Slater and Karyl Orton get closer to the truth about the mystery both are trying to solve.

The ending is particularly good, with Slater dashing outside to fire a warning shot to ranchers who are about to ride into an ambush, only to discover his dad has given him an empty gun. That sets the stage for a climatic game of cat and mouse between father and son among adobe ruins.

Widmark is solid, as usual. The only off-key performance comes from William Campbell, who’s more than a little over-the-top as a hot-headed young gunslinger named Johnny Cool. He sure tries to be.

This marked the last in a series of Westerns Donna Reed appeared in before becoming star of her own “Donna Reed Show,” which ran for 275 episodes.

John McIntire as Jim Bonniwell, coming face to face with Jim Slater in Backlash (1956)

WIlliam Campbell as Johnny Cool, a Bonniwell man eager to test his six-gun against Slater in Backlash (1956)

Directed by:
John Sturges

Cast:
Richard Widmark … Jim Slater
Donna Reed … Karyl Orton
John McIntire … Jim Bonniwell
Barton MacLane … Sgt. Lake
William Campbell … Johnny Cool
Harry Morgan … Tony Welker
Robert Wilke … Jeff Welker
Roy Roberts … Maj. Carson
Jack Lambert … Mike Benton
Edward Platt … Sheriff J.C. Marson
Robert Foulk … Sheriff John F. Olson
Phil Chambers … Deputy Sheriff Dobbs
Gregg Barton … Sleepy
Fred Graham … Ned McCloud
Frank Chase … Cassidy

Runtime: 84 min.

Barton MacLane as Sgt. Lake, a cavalryman who finds his patrol surrounded by Apache in Backlash (1956)

Jack Lambert as Mike Benton, the Indian agent who’s stirred up the Apache in Backlash (1956)

Memorable line:

Sheriff J.C. Marston, about the Welker brothers after Jim Slater gunned down their sibling: “When they hear about this, they’re going to come looking for you.”
Jim Slater: “Seems logical.”

Sgt. George Lake to Jim Slater: “I figured you for a good soldier. I should have known better. Good soldiers never volunteer.”

Jim Slater: “Oh, no, not again. You know, a man can get awful tired of being shot at?”

Harry Morgan as Tony Welker, one of the brothers searching for Jim Slater in Backlash (1956)

Donna Reed as Karyl Orton with Jeff Welker (Robert Wilke), a man looking to even a score with Jim Slater in Backlash (1956)

Jim Bonniwell: “I knew I kept you alive for some reason. Normally when Johnny Cool goes for his gun, I don’t interfere. But last night, something said, ‘Don’t let that man die.’ And I was talking about my own son.”

Jim Slater: “I’ve spent six months looking for a killer. What do you do when he turns out to be your father?”

Jim Bonniwell: “It’s the old, old story of dog eat dog. I’ve got what they want; they want to take it away from. I’m not gonna let ’em. Does that make me a killer?”

Jim Salter: “Sometimes, living’s not that important.”

Richard Widmark as Jim Slater, a man looking for the killer of a father he never knew in Backlash (1956)

Robert Foulk as Sheriff John F. Olson and Phil Chambers as Deputy Dobbs, stuck between factions in a brewing range war in Backlash (1956)

Edward Platt as Sheriff J.C. Martin, urging Jim Slater to leave Silver City as soon as possible in Backlash (1956)

Richard Widmark as Jim Slater and Donna Reed as Karyl Orton, after finding Bonniwell in Backlash (1956)