Randolph Scott plays Jackson “Sugarfoot” Redan, a Southerner who heads West to Prescott, Arizona, after the Civil War to restore pride in the family name.
Along on the same wagon train is Jacob Stint. He’s looking for a fresh start, too, but he’s not interested in hard work. And when he doesn’t find a handful of gold waiting for him in the Prescott gold fields, he’s willing to stoop to any level to turn a quick buck.
Redan finds a partner in Don Miguel Wormser, and they start a freight line together. Stint finds a partner in businessman Asa Goodhue, who’s already been tricked out of one wagon-load of supplies by Redan and his sidekick. The two sides are going to clash more than once.
Review:
Entertaining, but not one of Scott’s best films … those would come later in the decade.
Adele Jergens plays Reva Cairn, the saloon singer who turns Redan’s head and tries to chip away at his stubborn Southern pride in a more interesting than usual female role. Hank Worden plays Johnny-Behind-the-Stove, the man who watches out for her.
The film also features Arthur Hunnicutt is at his wise-cracking best as Redan’s right-hand man. The ending will make you go “huh?” but at least it’s a good deal of fun getting there.
Directed by:
Edwin L. Marin
Cast:
Randolph Scott … Jackson “Sugarfoot” Redan
Adele Jergens … Reva Cairn
Raymond Massey … Jacob Stint
S.Z. Sakall … Don Miguel Wormser — partner
Robert Warwick … J.C. Crane
Arthur Hunnicutt … Fly-Up-the-Creek Jones
Hugh Sanders … Asa Goodhue
Hope Landin … Mary
Hank Worden … Johnny-Behind-the-Stove
Gene Evans … Billings
Runtime: 80 min.
Saloon song: “He Looks Like He Might Buy Wine”
performed by Reva Cairn at 10:20
Memorable lines:
Jacob Stint, admiring the gold fields of Prescott: “Never another day of hard work for me.”
Jackson Redan: “When did you do your last day of hard work?”
Stint: “You’re a fine one to be sneering at me about work. You even had a slave to pull on your pants in the morning.”
Fly-Up-the-Creek Jones: “Mules are fortunate people. The only critters that don’t get distracted by women.”
Sugarfoot Redan: “We can’t go one fearing tomorrow while today slips by us.”
Reva to Sugarfoot: “If you were taken away from me, I’ll see to it that someone dies. Do you think I’m some tame, pampered girl from Alabama? I can hate as well as a man. And I would hate more dangerously than a man.”
Fly-Up-the-Creek Jones: “Them skunks. Them lava-jawed, slit-headed, poison-toothed skunks. Takin’ a shot at me after we just saved their lives. Now it’s our bounded duty to get ’em.”
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