The Man from God’s Country (1958)

George Montgomery plays Dan Beattie, the marshal who tamed the town of Yucca but now finds his quick gun isn’t appreciated.

Soured because he’s put on trial for killing a cowboy in self defense, he gives up his badge and heads to a town called Sundown, hoping for a reunion with an old war buddy named Curt Warren. They dreamed of someday owning a ranch together.

But Sundown isn’t a very friendly place. Beau Santee runs the town with an iron fist.

More than anything else, he doesn’t want to see the iron horse come to Sundown. It would ruin his freight hauling monopoly.

Santee and his hired gun named Mark Faber suspect the stranger named Beattie might be a rail agent.

Beattie is in for a surprise of his own. The boy he befriended on the cattle drive to Sundown is the son of his old best friend.

And that best friend is mixed up with Santee, more out of a sense of debt than anything. Santee helped him out when he arrived in Sundown broke and with a sick son years earlier.

Beattie has two women to deal with, too.

Nancy Dawson is Santee’s girl; she works in his saloon. But she’d rather be a rich widow than Santee’s wife, and thinks Beattie might be able to make that happen.

Mary Joe Ellis has been raising Curt Warren’s son and wouldn’t mind settling down with Curt. She’s hoping Beattie can free him from Santee’s grip.

George Montgomery as Dan Beattie getting a warning from the suddenly helpful Nancy in The Man from God’s Country (1958)

Frank Wilcox as Beau Santee comes face to face with Dan Beattie while Nancy (Randy Stuart) looks on in The Man from God’s Country (1958)

Review:

A decent Montgomery Western. He turns in a likeable performance, and Randy Stuart adds some zest to the proceedings as the now more wordly wise saloon girl whose number one concern — at least at first — is making sure she gets a big payday from the time spent with Santee.

Beattie’s grand plan to protect Curt Warren includes kissing his girl so his friend will beat him up in a jealous rage. That nearly backfires when Santee gets Warren drunk, hoping he’ll gun down Beattie at first sight.

Kim Charney, who plays Curt’s son, was 13 when the film was made and racked up 41 credits as a child actor. He later became a surgeon, according to IMDb.

Susan Cummings as Mary Jo Ellis, Curt’s longtime girlfriend, becoming inpatient in The Man from God’s Country (1958)

Randy Stuart as Nancy Dawson, a woman who wants to make sure her relationship with Beau Santee pays off in The Man from God’s Country (1958)

Directed by:
Paul Landres

Cast:
George Montgomery … Dan Beattie
Randy Stuart … Nancy Dawson
Frank Wilcox … Beau Santee
House Peters Jr. … Curt Warren
Kim Charney … Stony Warren
Susan Cummings … Mary Jo Ellis
Gregg Barton … Col. Miller
James Griffith … Mark Faber
Phillip Terry … Sheriff
Al Wyatt Sr. … Henchman

Runtime: 72 min.

George Montgomery as Dan Beattie and House Peters Jr. as Curt Warren have their reunion interrupted in The Man from God’s Country (1958)

Kim Charney as Stony Warren, ashamed of his father Curt in The Man from God’s Country (1958)

Memorable lines:

Dan Beattie to Stony Warren: “Ain’t good for a man to be hungry. Makes him short-tempered.”

Dan Beattie: “Just how did you get in here?”
Nancy Dawson: “I have a way with doors. They open easily for me.”
Dan Beattie: “So it seems.”

Nancy Dawson, as Dan Beattie shows her out of his room, though she’s willing to stay: “You know, I must be slipping. This is the first time I’ve ever been thrown out of a man’s room. But I’ll tell you what, if you change your mind, just holler.”

James Griffith as Mark Faber, Santee’s henchman, setting an ambush for Dan Beattie in The Man from God’s Country (1958)

Phillip Terry as the sheriff, warning Dan Beattie he’s putting his life in jeopardy in The Man from God’s Country (1958)

Mary Jo, fearful of a potential gunfight between Dan Beatty and her beau, Curt Warren: “Look at the street. Deserted. And look at the windows. Crowded. What do they think this is? A circus?”
Sheriff: “This raw country, Mary Jo. Gun country. And when two grown men face each other to settle a difference of opinion with guns, the result is called self-defense.”
Mary Jo: “And you’ll stand around, watching a thing like that happen.”
Sheriff: “I stand around to see that it happens fair and above board, especially if I think it’l clear up a lot of other things.”

Dan Beattie, when the gun smoke has cleared: “Sorry about those chestnuts. Looks like you won’t be a rich widow after all.”
Nancy Dawson: “That’s alright, Dan. I never looked good in black dresses anyway.”

Frank Wilcox as Beau Santee, asking his lover Nancy Dawson (Randy Stuart) to get information from Dan Beattie in The Man from God’s Country (1958)

George Montgomery as Dan Beattie and Gregg Barton as Col. Miller, wondering who took a shot at the former in The Man from God’s Country (1958)