Randolph Scott is Vance Cordell, a former Texas ranger who sells his ranch with plans to head to California with his lady love (Jacqueline White as Madge) and her son Johnny (Gary Gray).
But first he needs to participate in the Oklahoma land rush in an effort to set up Madge’s bank owning father (Gabby Hayes) on a prime piece of real estate in the new town of Guthrie.
Before that can happen, bandits posing as investors rob the bank Braxton. They’re led by the Sundance Kid (Robert Ryan), Wild Bill Doolin (Robert Armstrong) and his hard-nosed niece Cheyenne (Anne Jeffreys).
The Sundance Kid and Wild Bill make their getaway; Cheyenne is wounded and nursed back to health with the help of Cordell.
He doesn’t turn her in, though. He thinks the law will go softer on her if she does that herself and returns the stolen loot. She reluctantly agrees.
Then it’s off to Guthrie where the cavalry patrol assigned to keep the peace during the land rush is about to move out, leaving no one to enforce the law in a town bulging with thousands of new residents.
Cordell is recruited for the task, which postpones is wedding. Madge’s first husband was a lawman who died in the line of duty; she refuses to go through that again.
But it also puts Cordell in the position to offer a telegrapher job to Cheyenne when she’s paroled and goes back to using her given name, Jeanie McBride, determined to live a life on the right side of the law.
Before long, she’s vying with Madge for Cordell’s attention. But by that time, most of his attention is focused on stopping a new all-star gang of hoodlums Will Bill and Sundance have formed, thinking the newly settled territory is ripe for the picking.
Review:
A fun Randolph Scott Western in which a fine cast and lots of action help gloss over some historical and plot silliness.
The all-star gang the Sundance Kid and Wild Bill Doolin assemble at the beginning of the film includes Billy the Kid, though he died years before the Oklahoma Land Rush. Of course, the Sundance Kid and the Doolins never collaborated either.
As for the plot silliness, the bad guys somehow get a buggy filled with hay into the saloon they’re hiding in just so they can set it ablaze and roll it out the saloon doors in an effort to flush the posse members out into the open. Then there’s the final showdown, where Cordell has the drop on the Sundance Kid, but decides to slug it out with him before making an arrest.
That said, Gabby Hayes is as delightful as ever as a banker not quite sure why he ever got into the banking business. And it’s fun watching two lovelies — Anne Jeffreys and Jacqueline White — duel over Randolph Scott. The ending will leave you smiling too.
This marked the final film in 14 years for Anne Jeffreys, who had also starred with Scott, Ryan and Hayes in “Trail Street” (1947) and appeared in a number of B Westerns in the 1940s. She’d marry actor Robert Sterling and star alongside him as the “ghostest with the mostest” in the TV comedy “Topper” from 1951 to 1953.
And this marked the first substantial role for Gary Gray, who plays Madge Allen’s son Johnny. He’d play a bigger part in “Rachel and the Stranger,” starring William Holden, Robert Mitchum and Loretta Young later the same year and in 1951’s “The Painted Hills” with the original Lassie.
Directed by:
Ray Enright
Cast:
Randolph Scott … Vance Cordell
Robert Ryan … Sundance Kid
Anne Jeffreys … Jeanie McBride, aka Cheyenne
Gabby Hayes … John J. Pettit
Jacqueline White … Madge Allen
Steve Brodie … Cole Younger
Tom Keene … Jim Younger
Robert Bray … John Younger
Lex Barker … Emmett Dalton
Walter Reed … Bob Dalton
Michael Harvey … Grat Dalton
Dean White … Billy The Kid
Robert Armstrong … Wild Bill Doolin
Tom Tyler … Wild Bill Yeager
Lew Harvey … Arkansas Kid
Gary Gray … Johnny
Walter Baldwin … Muley Wilson
Minna Gombell … Emily
Warren Jackson … George Mason
Robert Clarke … Dave
Jason Robards Sr. … Judge Harper
Runtime: 90 min.
Memorable lines:
Banker John Pettit: “You know, Muley, there ain’t much point in writing things down in books when most of the people you do business with can’t write themselves.”
Banker John Pettit, as the Bank of Braxton is being robbed: “You’re the most unethical ornery bandits I ever did business with.”
Vance Cordell: “Look, kid, there’s nothing smart about being outside the law. It just means you haven’t got the brains of the courage to keep in step with the rest of the people.”
Cheyenne: “We did alright yesterday.”
Cordell: “Sure, you did great. You got a little quick money and a bullet hole in your arm. Next time, you’ll pick up a little more gold and a little more lead. And, pretty soon, if you play your cards right, you’re going to be one of the richest outlaws buried on boot hill.”
Cheyenne, when Vance Cordell doesn’t reveal her whereabouts to the posse: “Well, why didn’t you turn me in?”
Vance: “I’ve got a better idea. I’m going to let you turn yourself in. You’ll get off a lot easier.”
One of the Daltons to Wild Bill Doolin: “Why don’t you get rid of him (the Sundance Kid)?”
Wild Bill: “He’s a good man. As long as you keep him in front of you.”
Emily, standing on the steps of her saloon in the ghost town of Braxton: “Kinda scary being the only people in the whole town.”
Wild Bill Doolin: “It’d be even more scary if we weren’t the only people in the whole town.”
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