im Davis is Capt. Angus Clyde McKane, who attacks and takes over a hacienda at the conclusion of the Mexican American War.
Rather than kill the owner, Don Miguel Sebastian, he has him sign over ownership of his massive land grant and has three of his fellow officers — Damon Pardee (Lee Van Cleef), Timothy Boyle (Marty Robbins) ad Scott Johnson witness thee transaction.
Fast forward a couple of years and McKane has set himself up as the law in these here parts, chasing off any Mexican families who had settled in the area and are in his way.
Johnson soured on the scheme and has started a nearby ranch of his own. But McKane still has Pardee and Boyle as two of his henchmen.
That’s where Judge Ward Young and his son, Marshal Faron Young, enter the picture.
Word of land disputes in the area have reached the East, and they’ve come to investigate.
Johnson hesitates to help them out for fear McKane’s men will harm his wife Julie (Arleen Whelan).
Then they discover the truth about Don Miguel; he didn’t die at the end of the war as reported.
But can they reach him before McKane’s gunmen do?
Jim Davis as Angus Clyde McKane, a man determined to establish a personal kingdom in Raiders of Old California (1957)
Lee Van Cleef as Damon Pardee, McKane’s vicious henchman in Raiders of Old California (1957)
Review:
Marty Robbins and Faron Young in a Western together? And not a guitar to be seen or a song to be heard?
The result is a run-of-the-mill low-budget Western, though it’s world’s better than a couple of the Westerns Robbins would appear in later in his career.
Jim Davis gets top billing here, but Young as the sheriff and Lee Van Cleef get the most screen time. In fact, this was an unusually prominent role for Van Cleef, who played the heavy in dozens of 1950 Westerns. Here he shows some of the cold-blooded tendencies that were to serve him so well in his Spaghetti Western career, at one point smashing a man’s hands with a rock so he’ll fall off a cliff to his death.
Oh, and the film opens with a unique battle scene. Davis’ men attack Don Miguel’s home/fort, which is defended by Mexican soldiers wearing Mexican-American War era uniforms. Only Davis’ men are dressed as though they’re fighting the Civil War.
Faron Young as Marshal Faron Young, a brash young lawman out to restore rightful ownership of land claimed by Angus McKane in Raiders of Old California (1957)
Louis Jean Heydt as Judge Ward Young, determined to find out if former landowner Don Miguel Sebastian is really dead in Raiders of Old California (1957)
Directed by:
Albert C. Gannaway
Cast:
Jim Davis … Angus Clyde McKane
Arleen Whelan … Julie Johnson
Faron Young … Marshal Faron Young
Marty Robbins … Timothy Boyle
Lee Van Cleef … Damon Pardee
Louis Jean Heydt … Judge Ward Young
Harry Lauter … Scott Johnson
Douglas Fowley … Sheriff
Lawrence Dobkin … Don Miquel Sebastian
Bill Coontz … Turk
Don Diamond … Pepe
Rick Vallin … Burt
Tom Hubbard … Emmet
Runtime: 72 min.
Arleen Whelan as Julie Johnson, threatened by Angus McKane and his men in Raiders of Old California (1957)
Lawrence Dobkins as Don Miguel Sebastian, surrendering to U.S. troops, including Lt. Scott Johnson (Harry Lauter) in Raiders of Old California (1957)
Memorable lines:
Marshal Faron Young, talking about protecting Mrs. Johnson: “We can deputize the county, if necessary.”
Scott Johnson: “Deputize the county? McKane owns the county.”
Hired hand: “Look, McKane, there’s no stopping that trial. We gotta think about scootin’.”
McKane: “I don’t run from nobody, you understand? Now I’m gonna teach the law not to stick their nose in my bailiwick.”
McKane, to the men he’s trying to recruit with promises of land grants: “This land is mine. All mine. We’ll draw a circle around it and let America grow on past us.”
Marty Robbins as Timothy Boyle with another of McKane’s men, waiting to help ambush Marshal Young in Raiders of Old California (1957)
Douglas Fowley as the sheriff, demanding order in the court as McKane’s trial begins in Raiders of Old California (1957)
Lee Van Cleef as Damon Pardee, prodding town drunk Pepe (Don Diamond) for information in Raiders of Old California (1957)
Louis Jean Heydt as Judge Ward Young and Julie Johnson (Arleen Wheelan) with her badly wounded husband in Raiders of Old California (1957)
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