Stage to Thunder Rock (1964)

Barry Sullivan is Sheriff Horne, sent to track down two outlaws who robbed $50,000 from his town’s bank.

The town fathers doubt Horne’s commitment to the task — seems the bandits were sons of Ross Sawyer (Keenan Wynn), the man who raised him.

So they hire their own gun, Sam Swope (Scott Brady) to capture the outlaws. And if he guns down Horne in the process, oh, well, that’s fine with the town fathers, too.

As for Swope, he isn’t eager to use his gun, but he needs the reward money to care for a blind daughter.

Everyone congregates at a stage station, where Henry Parker (Lon Chaney) and his wife Myra are trying to scrape up enough money to get out of debt and stay in their home. Seems the stage is about to make its last run through these parts.

The family also includes young Julie, who dreams of traveling to more exciting places; and her older sister Leah, who’s been to those more exciting places and wound up selling her principles and her body in order to survive, though she told her parents she was teaching school.

Leah has a thing for Horne. In fact, she sees him as a chance to start living the type of life she’s dream of.

But he’ll have none of it until after his fateful showdown. That’s if someone in the stage station doesn’t turn on him and help the prisoner — or help themselves to the $50,000 — first.

Barry Sullivan as Sheriff Horne, a lawman carrying $50,000 in recovered loot and facing a possible showdown with the man who raised him in Stage to Thunder Rock (1964)

Scott Brady as Sam Swope, a hired gun looking for a big payday in order to get treatment for his blind daughter in Stage to Thunder Rock (1964)

Review:

There’s very little of the romantic West in this film. In fact, the tone is persistently downbeat. Very few of the characters are happy with the way their lives have turned out.

Nevertheless, it just might be the best of the many low-budget Westerns A.C. Lyles produced in the 1960s. Unlike many of those films, the plot seems plausible and the stories of several main characters are neatly interwoven.

Marilyn Maxwell and Laurel Goodwin are particularly convincing as the sisters, one of whom has seen the world and returned home looking for a fresh start, the other oh, so eager to get a taste of life beyond the confines of the small ranch where she’s lived all of her life.

Maxwell was a veteran actress, 44 when this film was released, with a career stretching back to the early 1940s. Goodwin was 22, had made her film debut in the Elvis Presley vehicle “Girls, Girls, Girls” and had credited roles in just three more films, this one included.

Marilyn Maxwell as Leah Parker, a woman in love with Horne and hiding a secret from her family about the way she’s been making a living in Stage to Thunder Rock (1964)

Laurel Goodwin as Julie Parker, a young woman bored with life at the stage station and eager to explore the world in Stage to Thunder Rock (1964)

Directed by:
William Claxton

Cast:
Barry Sullivan .. Sheriff Horne
Marilyn Maxwell … Leah Parker
Scott Brady … Sam Swope
Keenan Wynn … Ross Sawyer
Lon Chaney Jr. … Henry Parker
Anne Seymour … Myra Parker
Wanda Hendrix … Mrs. Swope
Ralph Taeger … Reese Sawyer
John Agar … Dan Carrouthers
Laurel Goodwin … Julie Parker
Allan Jones … Mayor Ted Dollars
Robert Strauss … Bob Acres
Robert Lowery … Deputy Sheriff Barrington

Runtime: 89 min.

Keenan Wynn as Ross Sawyer, a man determined to free his wounded son Reese from the grip of Sheriff Horne in Stage to Thunder Rock (1964)

Ralph Taeger as Reese Sawyer, a wounded bank robber caught by Sheriff Horne and willing to use blackmail to escape in Stage to Thunder Rock (1964)

Memorable lines:

Leah Parker, to the town leaders: “I thoroughly enjoy knowing you’re wallowing in filth, because that’s exactly where you belong.”

Sheriff: “Sorry you couldn’t have hung around longer, Mrs. Parker. We might have gotten to know one another better.”
Leah Parker: “I’m far too expensive.”

Julie Parker: “You’re my papa.”
Henry Parker: “I know, Julie. I’m right sorry about that.”

Leah Parker: “When are you men going to stop shooting one another?”
Sheriff Horne: “When are you women going to stop being women?”

Henry Parker: “I just sat here, month after month, and let the world whip me. You can’t do that. You’ve got to fight every minute. Otherwise, there comes a day when you know there was a fight, but you lost it before you even knew you were in it.”

Lon Chaney Jr. as Henry Parker, a man dealing with financial hardship, a nagging wife and a rebellious young daughter in Stage to Thunder Rock (1964)

Anne Seymour as Myra Parker, a woman disappointed with her lot in wife and looking for any way possible to raise the $200 needed to save her home in Stage to Thunder Rock (1964)

John Agar as Dan Carroughers, the stage driver who has fallen in love with Julie Parker in Stage to Thunder Rock (1964)

Allan Jones as Mayor Ted Dollar, wondering if it isn’t time for find someone to replace Sheriff Horne as his town becomes more civilized in Stage to Thunder Rock (1964)

Robert Strauss as Bob Acres, the local banker, offering Sam Swope an offering to make a small fortune in reward money in Stage to Thunder Rock (1964)

Robert Lowery as Deputy Sheriff Seth Barrington, determined to see Julie Parker doesn’t embarrass the town leaders in Stage to Thunder Rock (1964)

Wanda Hendrix as Mrs. Swope, wife of hired gun Sam Swope and mother of their blind daughter in Stage to Thunder Rock (1964)

Morgan Britanny (aka Suzanne Cupito) as Sandy Swope, blind daughter of gunman Sam Swope, disembarking the stage in Stage to Thunder Rock (1964)

Argentina Brunetti as Sarita, Ross Sawyer’s Indian wife, watching Sheriff Horne show up looking for the Sawyer boys in Stage to Thunder Rock (1964)

Barry Sullivan as Sheriff Horne and Marilyn Maxwell as Leah Parker, wondering if they can salvage a future together in Stage to Thunder Rock (1964)