Trouble is brewing in Questa, Texas, where the Hastings Syndicate has purchased a large swath of public land but the Texas cattle ranchers already there are refusing to leave.
Judd Hastings (Ray Teal) pleads with the governor for help. The governor sends Mike McGann (Dennis Morgan) with orders to keep the friction between Hastings and the ranchers from turning into a shooting war.
McGann also immediately stumbles upon Hastings’ men taking the cattle herd of Ben Curran (Philip Carey), arguing that Curren didn’t vacate Hastings’ land quickly enough.
It doesn’t take long for McGann and sidekick Shiloh to see through the ruse. Hastings wants not only the land, but the cattle owned by the departing ranchers too.
And so the man sent to Texas to help Hastings finds himself siding with Curran and the other small ranchers, all the while trying to keep his word and prevent gunfire. To do that, he buys every gun for sale in Questa in the name of Texas.
He even finds time to flirt with the daughter of a Mexican rancher (Rita Moreno as Queli) and Hastings’ pretty daughter
Marian (Amanda Blake), who doesn’t always agree with her father’s methods.
Dennis Morgan as Mike McGann, dispatched to Questa, Texas, to stop a range war in Cattle Town (1952)
Ray Teal as Judd Hastings, a rich man determined to drive ranchers off land he’s claimed as his own in Cattle Town (1952)
Review:
Morgan sings and slugs his way through a range war in a decent Western that could have and should have been better given the cast.
The gun purchase is a neat plot device. There’s a spirited barroom brawl. But there’s also one of the silliest rescues during a stampede you’re ever likely to see.
George O’Hanlon provides comic relief as McGann’s sidekick Shiloh. Western regulars Robert J. Wilke and Shed Wooley play Hastings’ lead henchmen.
But the film is a novelty because of other members of the cast, which includes future Gunsmoke star Amanda Blake in an early role, Rita Moreno in her first Western and Merv Griffin in his very first film appearance.
Blake actually made her film debut two years earlier when still a teenager in “Stars in My Crown,” a Joel McCrea Western. She started her “Gunsmoke” role in 1955.
George O’Hanlon as Shiloh, Mike McGann’s often bumbling sidekick, summoning him for the governor in Cattle Town (1952)
Amanda Blake as Marian Hastings, finding herself siding against her father in a dispute over stolen cattle in Cattle Town (1952)
Directed by:
Noel Smith
Cast:
Dennis Morgan … Mike McGann
Philip Carey … Ben Curran
Amanda Blake … Marian Hastings
Rita Moreno … Queli
Paul Picerni .. Pepe
Ray Teal … Judd Hastings
Jay Novello … Felipe Rojas
George O’Hanlon … Shiloh
Robert J. Wilke … Keeno
Sheb Wooley … Miller
Charles Meredith … Texas governor
Merv Griffin … Governor’s secretary
Runtime: 71 min.
Philip Carey as Ben Curran, a Texan determined to hold onto his herd if not his land in Cattle town (1952)
Jay Novello as Felipe Rojas with his pretty daughter Queli (Rita Moreno), among the displaced Texans in Cattle Town (1952)
Memorable lines:
Mike McGann: “You hadn’t be crowdin’ a man before his breakfast.”
Keeno: “Well, don’t have supper on Hastings land.”
Keeno to his boss, Judd Hastings: “The bullets in my gun don’t stop just because they see a badge.”
Pepe, translating Queli’s insult for Mike McGann: “She says you’re very handsome, for a clumsy donkey.”
Mike McGann to Queli: “Not even Texans know how big Texas is yet.”
Judd Hastings to daughter Marian: “Why don’t you take a ride out to the Miradero (one of his properties). An hour in the saddle might pound some sense into you.”
Robert J. Wilke as Keeno, one of Judd Hastings’ hired guns trying to take control of the cattle range in Cattle Town (1952)
Sheb Wooley as Miller, Keeno’s sidekick in Hastings’ attempts to drive small ranchers from their land in Cattle Town (1952)
Charles Meredith as the governor of Texas, vowing cooperation with Judd Hastings in Cattle Town (1952)
Amanda Blake as Amanda Hastings with Dennis Morgan as Mike McGann in Cattle Town (1952)
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