Rod Cameron is Will Ballard, foreman of the Hatchet Ranch. When a blizzard claims the life of the owner and a large part of the ranch’s herd, smaller ranchers, jealous over the Hatchet success, begin closing in.
That leaves Ballard to save the ranch almost single-handedly. And not everyone associated with the ranch thinks it’s worth fighting over. The former owner’s brother, John Evarts, favors trading away pieces of the ranch in return for peace. So does Sam Danfelser (Forrest Tucker), finance of the former owner’s daughter, Celia.
But Celia has a mind of her own and isn’t anxious to see everything her father built trampled under. When John is murdered, she begins leaning more and more toward Will Ballard’s way of thinking. And if that means a fight with the enemies of Hatchet … well, she’s got faith that Ballard can handle that, too.
Others anxious to see Ballard dead include neighboring rancher Bide Marriner and whiskey/horse trader Red Courteen. Barbara Britton plays Lottie Priest, the other woman in Ballard’s life.
Review:
Adapted from a Luke Short story, a deep cast makes this an enjoyable 1950s Western, even if the outcome — at least where Will and Celia are concerned — is pretty predictable.
In addition to the leads, the cast includes Chill Wills as Ballard’s sidekick, Brian Donlevy, Jim Davis, J. Carroll Naish and Paul Fix. This actually marked one of the last film roles for Ella Raines, who retired four years later to raise a family.
Directed by:
Joseph Kane
Cast:
Rod Cameron … Will Ballard
Brian Donlevy … Bide Marriner
Ella Raines … Celia Evarts
Forrest Tucker … Sam Danfelser
Barbara Britton … Lottie Priest
Chill Wills … Ike Adams
J. Carroll Naish … Sheriff Kneen
Jim Davis … Red Courteen
Paul Fix … Ray Cavanaugh
Taylor Holmes … Lowell Priest
James Bell … John Evarts
Al Caudebec … Mel Young
Roydon Clark … Jim Young
Roy Barcroft … Russ Schultz
Runtime: 90 min.
Memorable lines:
Ride Marriner, hearing of Bill Everis’ death: “What do you think of that? Bill Evaris finally met up with something that wouldn’t take orders from him — a blizzard.”
Red Courteen to Mr. Priest, plotting a way to get back at Hatchet and Will Ballard : “I’m a black sheep, but the color don’t rub off.”
Celia Evarts, hearing that more ranch hands have quit Hatchet: “Oh, let ’em go. If they’re that chicken-hearted, we don’t want them.”
Ike Adams: “Honey, they could have chicken hearts and lilly livers, and we’d still want ’em.”
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