Frank Sinatra is Johnny Concho, a young man who has everyone in Cripple Creek cowering in fear and catering to his every whim.
If he wants a prize saddle without paying for it, he takes it. If he wants to win a hand of poker, even though he has a losing hand, he declares himself the winner anyway.
He’s able to get away with it all because his brother “Red” is notoriously dangerous with a gun. And no one, absolutely no one, wants to make Red angry.
Then a stranger shows up in Cripple Creek. The stranger is named Tallman (William Conrad), and he has startling news: He’s gunned down Red Concho.
Suddenly, no one fears Johnny Concho. Least of all, the stranger named Tallman, who orders him out of town.
After all, Tallman plans to take over where Red Concho left off, and he has a sidekick named Walker to back up his play. He even goes a bit farther, proclaiming himself the law in Cripple Creek.
Review:
A refreshingly different Western, with Frank Sinatra in a most unusual role — as a sniveling coward forced into exile when his brother is killed.
Memorable scenes include the one in which Johnny is caught cheating at cards by Tallman and the one in which Tallman forces Johnny to admit he’s running away from a showdown with the gunman.
And it all leads up to an ending that doesn’t turn out the way you’d expect.
Phyllis Kirk is the woman who loves Johnny in spite of his bluster. The cast also includes Keenan Wynn as a former gunman turned preacher who helps Johnny. Leo Gordon and Claude Akins are gunmen who want to get even with the Concho brothers.
Sinatra would make two other Westerns, “4 for Texas” (1963), co-starring Dean Martin, and “Dirty Dingus Magee,” a 1970 comedy.
Directed by:
Don McGuire
Cast:
Frank Sinatra … Johnny Concho
Keenan Wynn … Barney Clark
William Conrad … Tallman
Phyllis Kirk … Mary Dark
Wallace Ford … Albert Dark
Dorothy Adams … Sarah Dark
Christopher Dark … Walker
Howard Petrie … Joe Helguson
Harry Bartell … Sam Green
Dan Riss … Judge Earl Tyler
Willis Bouchey … Sheriff Henderson
Robert Osterloh … Duke Lang
Jean Byron … Pearl Lang
Leo Gordon … Mason
Claude Akins … Lem
Runtime: 85 min.
Memorable lines:
Joe Helguson, the blacksmith, as Johnny Concho approaches: “One of these days, I think I’ll break about a yard of his neck.”
Townsman: “Not as long as his brother’s alive. You’ll do like all of us, Joe — smile and hate.”
Sheriff Henderson, looking at a knocked out Johnny Concho: “What happened to him?”
Joe Helguson: “He thought he was still Johnny Concho.”
Tallman to Albert Dark, about Mary: “She’s got a lot of spunk, that girl. You sure she’s yours?”
Johnny Concho to Mary Dark: “I can’t take care of me, let alone take care of you. No food, no money and the sign of a leper on me — is that what you want a part of?”
Johnny Concho, talking to Mary about his late brother: “I’m dead, Mary. I just ain’t got the guts to lay down.”
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