Four saloon girls are kicked out of Beecher City because one of them helped a former member of Quantrill’s Confederate raiders break out of jail. When their coach breaks down, they find themselves stranded at a stage station run by Lorn Crawford (Hugh Marlowe), a man hiding from his past.
Lorn’s younger brother Dewey is thrilled to have the company, especially the company of four pretty women (including Coleen Gray as Jeannie and a young Angie Dickinson as Sally). Lorn wants them gone, as soon as possible. Their presence means the Black Legs — the name now assigned to Quantrill’s former raiders — are nearby.
Turns out Lorn served as Gen. Lee’s adviser to Quantrill during the war and has never forgiven himself for the terror he helped unleash. He eventually deserted his post.
Well, his past catches up with him. Turns out the stage station is a rendezvous point for the escaped gang member and the other Black Legs, now savage outlaws. The gang is led by John Murdock (Paul Richards), who wields a black whip with relish.
Now, the women are in danger. His younger brother is in danger. And Lorn — a man who has tried to isolate himself, particularly from violence, since the war — has to decide whether to cooperate with the gang’s plans to kidnap the governor at his stage station or fight back.
Review:
Mediocre, largely due to a wooden performance by Marlowe in the lead role and the improbable romance between him and Jeannie, whose parents were killed in Quantrill’s raid on Lawrence, Kansas.
Paul Richards takes to him role as the gang leader with relish. There’s a particularly memorable scene in which Dewey demands a showdown with him. As he draws his gun, Richards’ character unleashes his black whip.
Directed by:
Charles Marquis Warren
Cast:
Hugh Marlowe … Lorn Crawford
Richard Gilden … Dewey Crawford
Coleen Gray … Jeannie
Angie Dickinson … Sally
Strother Martin … Thorny
Paul Richards … John Murdock
Patrick O’Moore … Gov. Harrison Andrews
Charles Gray … Chick Hainline
Adele Mara … Ruthie Dawson
John Pickard … Sheriff Persons
Dorothy Schuyler … Delilah Wae
Runtime: 77 min.
Memorable lines:
Saloon girl Ruthie: “What’s a black leg, Mr. Persons?”
Sheriff: “They’re something a man and his family go down in the cellar to wait for them to pass, pray for them to pass. They’re what’s left of Quantrill’s guetrillas. They move at night and they got no where to go. They’re animals. Depraved. They kill to live and they kill on sight because they know they’ll be killed on sight.”
Sally to the deputy, as she and the other girls are being kicked out of town: “Did I thank you for the new stockings?”
Jeannie: “I’ve fallen in love with you, the last man on earth I’d want to love. And there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Lorn: “I’m sorry for you.”
Jeannie: “Oh, don’t be sorry. You didn’t do it. I did. I saw you out there in the barn, trying to fix that wheel, and needing somebody as much as anybody was ever needed. First time in my life, and it has to be with you.”
Lorn: “Now you see, it isn’t worth it.”
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