After the bank in Poker Flat is robbed, the good citizens decide to kick troublemakers out of town.
Those troublemakers include a gambler named John Oakhurst (Dale Robertson), a woman named Cal (Anne Baxter) with an outlaw for a husband, a saloon girl known as Duchess and an old drunk.
But as they travel across a mountain on their way to the next town, the small band gets caught in a blizzard.
Trapped along with them are a young rancher named Tom and his pregnant girlfriend Piney. They were en route to Poker Flat, in search of a preacher who could marry them.
The group takes refuge in a small cabin, with two days rations and the snow piling up outside.
Oakhurst is considering striking out on his own; the rest of the band might be able to rely on a rescue party from Poker Flat.
Tom has headed to town with $500 of the stolen bank loot, promising the rescuers the rest when they arrive at the cabin.
Turns out Cal has all of the stolen money. Outlaw gang leader Ryker (Cameron Mitchell) slipped her the $9,800 from the robbery on his dash out of town.
Then Ryker shows up at the cabin and puts everyone under his pistol orders. The situation only gets worse when he realizes part of the money he’s stolen is missing.
But with their horses scared off and Ryker claiming all the rations for himself, the situation outside the cabin looks as bleak as the desperation inside it.
Dale Robertson as John Oakhurst, the gambler who bets against the odds to help strangers in The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1952)
Cameron Mitchell as Ryker, the outlaw who finds his woman and his stolen loot trapped in a blizzard in The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1952)
Review:
The film is based on a Bret Harte story that also served as the basis for a 1937 film starring Preston Foster, Van Heflin and child actress Virginia Weidler. Surprisingly, about the only similarity in the plots is the fact that a small band of people wind up stuck in the mountains in a blizzard, in danger of freezing and starvation.
Where the 1937 film took time to let viewers get to know the characters before placing them in danger, this version has them snowbound in a heartbeat. The result is a far less interesting film, even if you do have to root for Cal to break free of her brute of a lover. She’s hoping the gambler Oakhurst might help her make that break, though he’s always been careful not to get too close to people.
There is a neat twist involving a six-gun used to help vent a snow-clogged chimney. And you might not recognize him, but that’s Craig Hill as Tom — Piney’s boyfriend — in one of his earliest film roles. More than a decade later, he’d wind up starring in a host of Spaghetti Western.
Anne Baxter as Cal, warning her fellow travelers of Ryker’s vicious nature in The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1952)
Miriam Hopkins as The Duchess, fondly remembering her younger years in The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1952)
Directed by:
Joseph M. Newman
Cast:
Dale Robertson … John Oakhurst
Anne Baxter … Cal
Cameron Mitchell … Ryker
Miriam Hopkins … The Duchess
Craig Hill … Tom Dakin
Barbara Bates … Piney
Billy Lyon … Jake
Dick Rich … Drunk
Runtime: 81 min.
Billy Lyon as Jake, wondering her drank his precious whiskey in The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1952)
Craig Hill as Tom Dakin (center), planning to walk to town for help in The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1952)
Memorable lines:
The Duchess, upon being kicked out of Poker Flat: “If there’s one thing that turns my stomach, it’s respectability.”
Cal to Oakhurst, after they’ve been kicked out of Poker Flat: “You don’t think we should stick together?”
Oakhurst: “Why? We just got run out of town together. We didn’t get married.”
Jake Watterson: “A fella told me once, he said ‘Jake, if you ever get a hold of a good horse and a good woman, don’t let go.’ I got a good horse.”
Duchess: “You better quit while you’re ahead.”
Cal: “You can’t scare me with a snowstorm. Only one thing could ever scare me again. And I’m going to run so far, he’ll never find me.”
Cal: “I can’t figure you out?”
Oakhurst: “Maybe because I’m a gambler, not a crook.”
Oakhurst: “You can’t shoot your way out of this one.”
Ryker: “I’m gonna get out of here.”
Oakhurst: “No you’re not. You’re going to stay here and starve to death with your belly in a knot, just like the rest of us. Go on out and shoot yourself some snow.”
Barbara Bates as Piney and Miriam Hopkins as The Duchess, wondering how long it takes to starve in The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1952)
Dale Robertson as John Oakhurst, the loner who finds himself trying to help a motley group survive a blizzard in The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1952)
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