Fort Dobbs (1958)

Gar Davis (Clint Walker) kills a man in Largo in a dispute over a woman, though he knows the penalty might be a hangman’s noose.

He eludes a posse by trading coats with a dead man he finds along the trail with an arrow in his back, then stabs the arrow back into the body and kicks it over a cliff.

Next stop: The Gray ranch, where he tries to steal a horse, only to be nicked by a bullet fired by a young boy living there.

That young boy is Chad Gray. He lives there with his attractive mom Celia (Virginia Mayo) and they’re waiting for her husband to return from Largo.

Gar suspects he won’t make it; the Comanche are on the warpath and the hills between Largo and the ranch are filled with them. In fact, they’re already closing in on the ranch.

Gar helps Celia and her son escape with their lives and vows to take them to the protection of nearby Fort Dobbs.

Along the way, Celia discovers that Gar has her husband’s jacket, with a blood-stained hole in the back, tucked into his saddlebags.

She assumes he killed her husband. In truth, the jacket belonged to the dead man Gar found along the trail.

Other complications arise as well. There’s a menacing killer named Clett roaming the hills with 100 spanking new repeater rifles.

As for Fort Dobbs, when Gar and the Grays reach their destination, they discover it’s already been overrun by Indians, and offers little protection after all.

And that’s even when the sheriff from Largo shows with the refugees who have survived an attack on the town.

Review:

Clint Walker became a TV star on “Cheyenne” (1955-1962), but his film Westerns were hit and miss. This is his first, and one of the best. An efficient, action-packed feature, somewhat along the lines of the “journey” films Randolph Scott and Budd Boetticher made together.

Among the best scenes: When Gar, having been graced by a bullet, comes to, finding himself surrounded by a passel of hens. Shortly after that, Gar grabs Celia’s feisty son by the seat of his pants as the Comanches attack and hauls him into the cabin. All the while, the prone youth continues to fire away at the Indians.

Speaking of the youth, the part was played by Richard Eyler, perhaps best remembered as the young boy who was constantly being chased around by a biting goose in “Friendly Persuasion.” He had roles in a number of films and TV shows before retiring to become an elementary school teacher.

Directed by:
Gordon Douglas

Cast:
Clint Walker … Gar Davis
Virginia Mayo … Celia Gray
Brian Keith … Clett
Russ Conway … Largo Sheriff
Richard Eyer … Chad Gray

Runtime: 90 min.

Memorable lines:

Gar Davis: “You can sit there til morning feeling sorry for yourself, Mrs. Gray. The Comanches will like that.”
Celia Gray, as her home burns; “Haven’t you ever lost anything, Mr. Davis?”
Gar Davis: “Yes, ma’am, but I learned not to look back.”

Gar Davis, explaing the presence of his two traveling companions: “Takin’ her and the boy to Dobbs.”
Clett: “Takin’ the long was ’round, ain’t ya? Not that I blame ya. That’s a fine lookin’ woman. You’re doing alright for a dead man.”

Largo Sheriff: “I could have stopped him (from killing), Mrs. Gray. But how do you tell a man
his woman’s no good? How do you tell a man?”

Largo Sheriff, watching as Indians surround an undermanned fort. “What are we gonna do?”
Gar Davis: “The only thing we can do. Bury the dead and wait.”

Clett, when Gar Davis brings of the notion of borrowing his repeating rifles: “Gar, you got real lucky back there. Cause I got me a rule. I never fight a man over a woman. Figure it ain’t worth it. These Henrys are something else again.”

Clint Walker as Gar Davis, trying to keep Celia Gray (Virginia Mayo) silent with a Comanche war party nearby in Fort Dobbs (1958)

Richard Eyer as Chad Gray, learning the truth about his father in Fort Dobbs (1958)