Clint Walker is Jim Cole, a former lawman who wants to settle down on a farm with his wife Angela, their two children, an adopted niece named Meg and a former deputy named Sam Potts, who is Jim’s partner.
But they face plenty of obstacles. They have to pay off a large loan on the property, find it in disrepair and are immediately warned that a neighbor named Jed Curry, the richest man in town, wants their land.
Then there’s Old Satan, a grizzly that has been terrorizing the area for years. It’s not long before he strikes at the Cole homestead, killing their prized bull and forcing Jim to take out another loan.
When Old Satan goes on a killing rampage, a reward is offered for his death. Jim figures he needs that loan to get out of debt. Angela, tired of worrying about Jim’s safety when he was sheriff, finds herself worrying all over again. And the situation doesn’t improve when the bounty on Old Satan draws an old enemy — Cass Dowdy (Leo Gordon) — into the hunt.
Review:
Decent family Western, complete with a broad dash of humor, including a drunk rooster and a young daughter named Gypsy who goes chasing after what she thinks is a cat and winds up being banished from the Cole home for a while because she smells like skunk.
A little of the humor and acting seems a bit over the top, including the performance of Keenan Wynn as the businessman who covets Cole’s land and that of Nancy Kulp, later of Beverly Hillbillies fame, as a man-chasing storekeeper.
You’ll find lots of other familiar faces in the cast, including Ellen Corby as Hazel Squires, a woman who sells livestock to Cole. Years later, she would play the role of grandma on The Waltons.
Directed by:
Joseph Pevney
Cast:
Clint Walker … Jim Cole
Martha Hyer … Angela Cole
Keenan Wynn … Jed Curry
Nancy Kulp … Wilhelmina Peterson
Ellen Corby … Hazel Squires
Jack Elam … Hank
Med Flory … Duke Squires
Don Haggerty … Sam Potts
Kevin Brodie … Charlie Cole
Victoria Meyerink … Gypsy Cole
Candy Moore … Meg
Leo Gordon … Cass Dowdy
Sammy Jackson … Cal Curry
Rony Ely … Tad Curry
Regis Toomey … Cotton Benson
Runtime: 102 min.
Memorable lines:
Jim Cole: “Seen him (Old Satan)?”
Cotton Benson: “No, I’ve been lucky. But I’ve seen his work. He kills just for the wicked fun of it … If that beast isn’t Lucifer in person, he sure is first cousin.”
Sam Potts, after Old Satan has struck: “Old Duncan (a bull) is deader than a bee in a blizzard.”
Jim Cole: “Ain’t a man alive that doesn’t have trouble. How he handles that trouble is what counts.”
Angela Cole: “And how he goes looking for that trouble is what makes him a fool.”
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