Rails into Laramie (1954)

John Payne is Jefferson Harder, a cavalry sergeant sent to Laramie to get work started on the railroad again.

Seems a saloon owner is making a mint by having the railroad workers around, so he’s doing everything possible to spoil their appetite for work and stimulate their appetite for his whiskey and women.

When Harder reaches Laramie, he discovers the saloon owner is an old friend, Jim Shanessy (Dan Duryea). And the old friend is married to an old flame, Helen (Joyce Mackenzie).

Town leaders are doubtful of how effective one cavalry officer can be in fixing Laramie’s mess, but Harder sets to work, finding unlikely allies in a timid sheriff named Orrie Sommers (James Griffith) and Shanessy’s partner, the pretty blonde Lon Carter (Mari Blanchard).

Of course, Shanessy isn’t going to give up his ticket to fortune without a fight.

And he has the Winton brothers, Ace (Lee Van Cleef) and Con (Myron Healy), around to help do his fighting.

John Payne as Jefferson Harder, arriving in Laramie to discover an old friend, Jim Shanessy, is a big man in town in Rails Into Laramie (1954)

Mari Blanchard as saloon co-owner Lou Carter, getting a surprise visitor in her room in Rails Into Laramie (1954)

Review:

Standard fare, but, hey, it’s a John Payne film, so it’s worth watching.

It’s most memorable for two plots devices. When Payne’s character has trouble finding a fair male jury, Lou Carter suggests a jury of females, since territorial law permits it.

And the final showdown takes place as two trains plummet toward one another. Unfortunately, the result seems a wee bit anti-climatic.

This marked the final feature film for Joyce Mackenzie, who had one of her biggest roles in the 1950 James Stewart Western, “Broken Arrow.” Her role in this film is strictly secondary to Blanchard’s.

Dan Duryea as Jim Shanessy, the man behind the trouble with the railroad project in Rails Into Laramie (1954)

Joyce Mackenzie as Helen Shanessy, an old flame of Jefferson Harder, now married to his old friend in Rails Into Laramie (1954)

Directed by:
Jesse Hibbs

Cast:
John Payne … Jefferson Harder
Mari Blanchard … Lou Carter
Dan Duryea … Jim Shanessy
Joyce Mackenzie … Helen Shanessy
Barton MacLane … Lee Graham
Ralph Dumke … Mayor Logan
Harry Shannon … Judge Pierce
James Griffith … Marshal Sommers
Lee Van Cleef … Ace Winton
Myron Healey … Con Winton
George Chandler … Grimes
Alexander Campbell … Hibgy
Charles Hovath … Pike Murphy

Runtime: 80 min.

Song: “Laramie”
sung by Rex Allen

James Griffith as weak-willed Sheriff Orrie Sommers, holding a mirror so Jim Shanessy can shave in Rails Into Laramie (1954)

Lee Van Cleef as Ace Winton, Jim Shanessy’s hired gun, about to use his in Rails Into Laramie (1954)

Memorable lines:

Judge Pierce: “Are you trying to say General Auger sent only one soldier to clean up this town?”
Jefferson Harder: “It’s only one town, isn’t it?”

Hotel clerk: “Say, aren’t you the soldier fella who checked in around noon?”
Jefferson Harder: “Yeah.”
Hotel clerk: “Why aren’t you in your uniform?”
Harder: “I deserted.”
Hotel clerk: “I thought you were sent here to clean up the town.”
Harder: “That’s why I deserted. I like the town the way it is.”

Ace Winton: “I still say it’s a waste of time. Why don’t we just run him out of town?”
Jim Shanessy: “He won’t give us any trouble. Besides, he doesn’t run very good.”
Ace: “I can teach him.”
Shanessy: “Do me a favor and sign your insurance over to me just before you try.”

Hotel clerk to Harder: “You could do me a favor, though. Next time we have a conversation, stand about 10 feet away. Some of the people in this town ain’t very accurate shooters.”

Marie Blanchard as saloon owner Lou Carter, flashing a clue in a murder to Jefferson Harder in Rails Into Laramie (1954)

John Payne as Jefferson Harder, refusing to change course in his dealings with railroad workers reluctant to work in Rails Into Laramie (1954)

Stephen Chase as Gen. Augur, dispatching Jefferson Harder (John Payne) to Laramie to help a stalled railroad project in Rails Into Laramie (1954)

Douglas Kennedy as the telegraph operator in cahoots with Jim Shanessy in Rails Into Laramie (1954)

Lee Van Cleef as Ace Winton, a hired gun, with his boss, saloon owner Jim Shanessy (Dan Duryea) in Rails Into Laramie (1954)

Mari Blanchard as Lou Carter and John Payne as Jefferson Harder, getting to know one another better in Rails Into Laramie (1954)