Black Spurs (1965)

Rory Calhoun is Santee, a ranch hand ready to marry a pretty girl named Anna (Terry Moore), but tired of working for wages and eager to own something of his own.

So when the reward for a bandit named El Pescadore hits $3,000, he can’t resist the temptation to try to bring him in.

He succeeds and straps on the outlaw’s black spurs. More bounty rewards follow until Santee is one of the most feared guns in the West.

But by the time he returns to that small Texas town, Anna is gone, married to another man.

So Santee tries to pull off a scheme bigger than any bounty would bring.

He looks up an old friend named Gus Kile in the town of Kile, Kansas. Seems Kile has lost its bid for a railroad spur to the neighboring town of Lark.

But Santee figures that might change if Lark got a bad reputation for being a wide open town.

For a tidy sum, he offers to make that happen. He’ll bring women, gambling and his own henchmen to the once-tame town.

Who else happens to be in Lark? Anna and her new husband, Sheriff Elkins, the man who tamed the town.

And a reformed gunman turned preacher named Tanner who’s ready to stand up to Santee as well.

Rory Calhoun as Santee, arriving in Lark determined to turn it back into a wide-open town in Black Spurs (1965)

Terry Moore as Anna, about to receive an engagement ring from Santee in Black Spurs (1965)

Review:

One of the better of a series of low-budget Westerns A.C. Lyles produced in the 1960s thanks to a solid lead performance by Rory Calhoun, a plot that seems fresher than most and an ending that doesn’t wrap everything up into a neat, predictable conclusion.

Like most of the A.C. Lyles films from the early to mid-1960s, this one is littered with aging Western stars, some of whom — Jerome Courtland, for instance — do very little to add to the plot.

Among the actresses in the film, Linda Darnell got top billing though her part is less substantial than Terry Moore’s.

Darnell plays Sadie, boss of the saloon girls Calhoun brings to Lark. This marked her first big-screen appearance since 1957 and her last.

She died April 10, 1965, at age 41 of burns suffered in a house fire. This film wasn’t released until June 1 of the same year.

Lon Chaney Jr. as Gus Kile, the businessman behind efforts to lure the railroad from Lark in Black Spurs (1965)

Linda Darnell as Sadie, a madam who takes her girl wherever the money’s the best in Black Spurs (1965)

Directed by:
R.G. Springsteen

Cast:
Rory Calhoun … Santee
Linda Darnell … Sadie
Scott Brady … Rev. Tanner
Lon Chaney Jr. … Gus Kile
Bruce Cabot … Henderson
Terry Moore … Anna
James Best … Sheriff Ralph Elkins
Patricia Owens … Clare Gubbs
Jerome Courtland … Sam Grubbs
DeForest Kelley .. Sheriff in Kile
Joseph Hoover … Swifty
Robert Carricart … El Pescadore
Barbara Wilkin … Mrs. Rourke

Runtime: 81 min.

Title tune: “Black Spurs”
Sung by Jerry Cole

Scott Brady as Rev. Tanner, showing the scar around his neck from when he was nearly hanged in Black Spurs (1965)

James Best as Sheriff Ralph Elkins, trying to keep Santee from undoing everything he’s accomplished in Black Spurs (1965)

Memorable lines:

Santee to El Pescadore: “I’ve been tracking you for 10 months.”
El Pescadore: “What a waste of time. You’ve gone to a lot of trouble to die, senor.”

Anna: “Santee, Ralph’s a good man.”
Santee: “What’s good supposed to mean?”
Anna: “You say the word good, it’s like it was something obscene. Maybe the way you are these days, it is. Wherever you go, there’s death and violence. Please don’t bring it to Lark. People here have dreams.”
Santee: “Well, I had a dream once. And I had a diamond ring to prove it.”

Santee to Anna: “Every time someone in this town catches a cold, I get blamed for it.”

Anna: “Get out of our lives.”
Santee: “That might not be so easy.”
Anna: “That’s the trouble with you. You want everything the easy way.”

Rev. Tanner: “Have you ever heard the voice of an angry and righteous God, Santee? Have you? What would you do if you heard that, Santee? Shoot bullets at the sky?”

Rory Calhoun as Santee, wanting to know the whereabouts of his lady love in Black Spurs (1965)

Bruce Cabot as Henderson, the fast gun working alongside Santee to corrupt the town of Lark in Black Spurs (1965)

Joseph Hoover as Swifty, the man Santee brings in to run his gambling operations in Black Spurs (1965)

Manuela Padilla Jr. as Manuel Reese, finding trouble attracing customers now that Santee’s ‘entertainers’ have hit town in Black Spurs (1965)

DeForest Kelly as the sheriff in Kile, intent on robbing Santee of a chance to get rich quick in Black Spurs (1965)

Jerome Courtland as Sam Crubbs and Patricia Owen as Clare Grubbs, fearing their less than perfect past brought Santee to Lark in Black Spurs (1965)

Terry Moore as Anna and James Best as her husband Sheriff Ralph Elkins, fearful of Santee’s next move in Black Spurs (1965)

Rory Calhoun as Santee and Lon Chaney Jr. as Gus Kile, two men plotting the downfall of Lark in Black Spurs (1965)