Cattle King (1963)

Robert Taylor is Sam Brassfield, a Wyoming cattle king who has decided the best way to preserve his ranch is to invest in his stock and fence his land.

That puts him at odds with businessman Clay Matthews (Robert Middleton), who is pushing the idea of AN open range and a national cattle trail from Wyoming to Texas.

Brassfield figures such a trail would lead to an overstocked range. And he figures the businessman will leave with their pockets full of money as soon as that range plays out.

Since he can’T win over Brassfield, Matthews tries to turn the rancher’s neighbors against him with the help of a hired gun named Vince Bodine.

He also tries to win over weak-willed Harry Travers, the drunken brother of the woman Brassfield hopes to marry. And President Chester Arthur during his official visit to Yellowstone National Park.

Brassfield tries to fight back with logic, good will and kindness toward one neighbor who tries to kill him.

But when Matthews and Boudine finally go too far, he straps on his gun. The showdown won’t be as personal as he’d like. He has his whole Teton Ranch outfit backing him.

Robert Taylor as Sam Brassfield, explaining his opposition to a national cattle trail in Cattle King (1963)

Robert Middleton as Clay Matthews, pushing for a national cattle trail into Wyoming in Cattle King (1963)

Review:

Supposedly, the film was shot in less than two weeks, and it looks and feels more like a made-for-TV quickie than the better Taylor Westerns from a decade earlier. It actually marked Taylor’s first big screen appearance after a three-year absence, during which he was filming “The Detectives” TV series.

William Windom has one of the better roles as Harry Travers, a man who wakes up afraid every day and doesn’t start anything because then he can’t fail by not finishing what he started. Joan Caulfield plays his sister, Sharleen Travers, the love interest of the piece.

If the casting of a cattle king with a fondness for fences is slightly unusual, the portrayal of Brassfield as a man who helps nurse his enemy back to health and who raises two teenagers for a wayward sister who died years earlier harkens back to the days when the good guys all wore white hats.

Joan Caulfield as Sharleen Travers, the woman Sam Brassfield plans to marry in Cattle King (1963)

William Windom as Harry Travers, Sharlene’s weak-willed, oft-drunk brother in Cattle King (1963)

Directed by:
Tay Garnett

Cast:
Robert Taylor … Sam Brassfield
Robert Loggia … Johnny Quatro
Ray Teal … Ed Winters
Joan Caulfield … Sharleen Travers
Virginia Christine … Ruth Winters
Robert Middleton … Clay Matthews
Richard Devon … Vince Bodine
Larry Gates .. President Arthur
Malcolm Atterbury … Abe Clevenger
William Windom … Harry Travers
Robert Ivers … Webb Carter
Maggie Pierce … June Carter
Woodrow Parfrey …. Stafford
Richard Tretter … Hobie Benton
John Mitchum … Tex

Runtime: 88 min.

Robert Loggia as Johnny Quatro and his lady friends watch the president arrive in Cheyenne in Cattle King (1963)

Ray Teal as Ed Winters, Sam Brassfield’s foreman on the Teton Ranch in Cattle King (1963)

Memorable lines:

Sam Brassfield of Abe Clevenger: “Like a lot of people in this country, he hates success.”
Ed Winters: “Seems like if a man fights for something little, he’s a hero. If he fights for something big, they call him a range hog or a cattle king.”

Johnny Quatro: “I don’t run this ranch. I don’t think I could. Lots of times, I would fight instead of wait. I talked to Ed about that once. You know what he said? He said, Johnny, the difference between Sam and you and me is that Sam knows that any fool can fight. A smart man, he fights only when he knows there’s no other way.”

Harry Travers: “I wake up every morning, scared. And if I don’t start something … well, at least I know I won’t fail finishing it.”

Larry Gates as President Arthur, trying to understand issues over grazing lands in Cattle King (1963)

Robert Ivers as Webb Carter, the nephew Sam Brassfield raised in Cattle King (1963)

Maggie Pierce as June Carter, Brassfield’s niece and Virginia Christine as Ruth WInters in Cattle King (1963)

Malcolm Atterbury as Abe Clevenger, the sheep farmer Brassfield wounds in self defense in Cattle King (1963)

Robert Middleton as Clay Matthews and Richard Devon as Vince Bodine, exerting pressure on Harry Travers in Cattle King (1963)

Robert Taylor as Sam Brassfield, prepared to protect his Teton range in Cattle King (1963)