Barbara Stanwyck plays Kit Banion, a former Southerner from Virginia who lost everything in the Civil War, incuding her parents. She headed West, then used all her feminine charms to amass a herd of cattle and open a gambling house. Being in alliance with the Wild Bunch didn’t hurt.
That means she’s also been romantically involved with the Sundance Kid (Scott Brady), but she’s now tired of that relationship and dreams of finding “a better man,” one like she knew back when she was living in Virginia.
That better man seems to arrive in the form of a man who calls himself Jeff Younger (Barry Sullivan), a former member of the Younger gang who’s just been released from prison. Since he isn’t known in the town of Rock Springs, Jeff agrees to help the Wild Bunch pull a train holdup by posing as a passenger.
But just who is this new man in town? Before arriving, he hooked on with a cattle drive led by Lucy Lee (Mary Murphy), introducing himself as Jeff Young. And his guns helped drive off Sundance and his men when they tried to rustle Lucy’s cattle.
Review:
Barbara Stanwyck found herself starring in a number of Westerns after she turned 40 and this one starts out strong, partly because of the sparring between Sundance and her character, Kit Banion.
But things get muddled somewhere in the middle of the film, when Sundance starts questioning whether the man who calls himself Jeff Younger really is an outlaw, and Kit’s willingness to throw everything away on a man who has pretty much double-crossed her doesn’t seem in keeping with the tough broad we’re introduced to early on.
The singer of the title song, Joni James, was a recording artist for MGM who scored 15 Top 40 hits, mostly in the 1950s.
Directed by:
Joseph Kane
Cast:
Barbara Stanwyck … Kit Banion
Barry Sullivan … Jeff Younger
Scott Brady … Sundance
Mary Murphy … Lucy Lee
Wallace Ford … Jamie
Howard Petrie … Butch Cassidy
Jim Davis … The real Jeff Younger
Emile Meyer … Malone
Walter Sands … Sheriff (Wilson)
George Keymas … Muncie
John Doucette … Loudmouth
Taylor Holmes … Pete Callaher
Pierre Watkins … McMillan
Runtime: 90 min.
Title song:
“The Maverick Queen” sung by Joni Jones
Memorable lines:
Lucy Lee, when the rustlers show up: “You must be Butch Cassidy.”
Sundance Kid: “No, sort of his right-hand man. Call me Sundance.”
Lucy: “Sundance. How colorful.”
Sundance, dismounting: “You know, you’re kinda colorful yourself.”
Kit to Sundance; “When I get to the top, I’ll leave you and your breed far behind. A few of the things I liked about you, Sundance. Very few. You’re the best I had a chance to meet in this territory. But somewhere along the way, sometime, I’ll meet a better man, like the kind of man I used to know. And when I do, I’ll drop your like a poisonous snake.”
Sundance: “You do that, Kit Banion, and I promise you — I’ll kill you.”
Kit: “I don’t think you will, Sundance. I said he’d be a better man.”
Kit Banion to Sundance, when he tries to kiss her: “Oh, for heaven’s sake, take a bath first. You smell like a combination brewery and horse stable.”
Kit Banion: “Some of the stories I’ve heard about the James Gang aren’t very pretty.”
Jeff Younger: “The James Gang learned their business during a war. War is never very pretty. War makes people forget the learning of 10,000 years. You get to be like an animal or you don’t survive.”
Outlaw band member to Jeff: “Sundance won’t like you. You may be younger, but you won’t be much older if you don’t watch out.”
Malone, the Pinkerton agent: “I must tell you, you have six hours to get out of town.”
Kit Banion: “This is a holdup.”
Malone: “Maybe it is. You should know about that.”
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