Man Without a Star (1955)

Kirk Douglas plays Dempsey Rae, a cowpoke fleeing the barbed wire and range wars that cost his brother his life in Texas.

So he hops a train bound for Wyoming, winds up adopting a greenhorn for an understudy (William Campbell as Jeff Jimson) and takes a job on the Triangle Ranch.

The job gets more appealing when lovely ranch owner Reed Bowman (Jeanne Crain) arrives on the scene.

But she has plans sure to cause trouble with the neighboring ranchers — plans to bring in more cattle than the grange land can support.

So the neighbors start stringing wire to protect their grass. Even though Reed’s willing to offer her top gun just about anything to stay on as foreman, Dempsey figures it’s time to hit the trail.

Problem is, Reed now has young Jeff under her spell. And she’s recruited a new foreman, gun-happy Steve Miles (Richard Boone), who just happens to be an old enemy of Dempsey’s.

So instead of leaving, Dempsey joins the other side — the side stringing the wire.

Review:

Well done film that benefits from the reckless charm Douglas brings to the lead role. At one point, lovely Reed asks him how much money he wants to become her foreman. He takes a pen from her and writes the word “you” in her tally book.

And she’s not his only woman. He’s a favorite of a dance hall girl named Idonee (Claire Trevor), who accepts his saddle as an advance on her favors. Turns out she also has a whole closet of gun belts and six-shooters from cowpokes who wanted a poke they couldn’t afford.

As for the film’s title, it has nothing to do with a sheriff’s badge, but with an early exchange between Dempsey Rae and young Jeff. Dempsey tells Jeff every man needs to select his own star to follow. Asked which star he’s following, Dempsey laughs and says he hasn’t taken time to pick one yet.

The film alos features Jay Flippen as a Triangle Ranch foreman who wants no part of the violence Reed’s determined to stir up and Mara Corday in a cameo as one of Trevor’s fellow dance hall girls.

Directed by:
King Vidor

Cast:
Kirk Douglas … Dempsey Rae
Jeanne Crain … Reed Bowman
Claire Trevor … Idonee
William Campbell … Jeff Jimson
Richard Boone … Steve Miles
Jay Flippen … Strap Davis
Myrna Hansen … Tess Cassidy
Eddy Waller … Tom Cassidy
Roy Barcroft … Sheriff Olson
Mara Corday … Moccasin Mary
Sheb Wooley … Latigo
George Wallace … Tom Carter
Paul Birch … Mark Tolliver
William Phillips … Cookie

Runtime: 91 min.

Title tune: “Man Without a Star”
sung by Frankie Lane

Memorable lines:

Dempsey Rae: “You’re as pretty as an Indian blanket and twice as comfortable.”
Idonee: “Especially on a cold night.”

Idonee: “Decent?”
Dempsey Rae: “That’s debatable.”

Dempsey Rae: “You’re not bad with horses.”
Reed Bowman: “I’m not bad with anything.”

Dempsey Rae: “How far will you go to keep a foreman?”
Reed Bowman: “I don’t know. I might even marry you.”
Dempsey: “Oh, slap a Triangle brand on his rump.”

Reed Bowman: “How low can a man get?”
Dempsey Rae: “I wouldn’t know about a man. But I’ve seen how low a woman will go to get want she wants. And on you, it don’t look good.”

Steve Miles: “What’s the matter, Dempsey? You look sick.”
Dempsey Rae: “It’s what I’m looking at that makes me sick.”

Mara Corday as Moccasin Mary and a fellow saloon girl check out the latest cowboy offering to trade a saddle for companionship in Man Without a Star (1955)

Claire Trevor (right) as Idonee, treating Reed Bowman (Jeanne Crain) and Jeff (William Campbell) to a piece of her mind in Man Without a Star (1955)