The Proud Ones (1956)

Robert Ryan is Cass Silver, marshal of a town about to host its first cattle drive.

His town has been a peaceful one, and he’s freshly engaged to Sally (Virginia Mayo), a former saloon girl who now runs a cafe / boarding house.

But the first cattle drive brings two newcomers to Flat Rock, Kansas — Thad Anderson (Jeffrey Hunter) and John Barrett (Robert Middleton).

Anderson is looking for the man who killed his father, and that man is Cass Silver.

Barrett is an old nemesis of Silver’s; he ran him out of Keystone with claims that he was too quick to use his gun.

Cass manages to take Thad under his wing, hiring him as a jail keeper, then as a deputy, though the youngster remains suspicious of the marshal’s motives for quite some time.

Cass has less luck with Barrett, who’s determined to break the town wide open while hiding behind a cloak of respectability.

When all other attempts to scare Cass away fail, he has his henchmen break three cronies from prison, killing a jail keeper in the process.

What no one knows but Sally is that Cass is battling bouts of sudden blindness after taking a blow to the head in an encounter with one of Barrett’s men.

Review:

One of Ryan’s better Western roles of the 1950s, with Hunter taking another turn as the confused youngster and Mayo as the woman who tries to protect her man.

She succeeded in convincing him to leave Keystone before Middleton’s Barrett had him gunned down. Cass has always regretted that decision; so he’s not about to be scared out of Flat Rock.

Arthur O’Connell has a neat supporting role as a deputy with twins on the way. He’s keeps getting more nervous as tension mounts between Cass and Barrett until he finally quits, opening the door for Thad to take his place.

There are some neat little touches too, like the merchants quickly raising their prices to cash in on the cattle boom. And Ryan catching a card dealer marking face cards with his ring. Walter Brennan plays Ryan’s other jail keeper, a man who quietly keeps a watchful eye over the good marshal.

Directed by:
Robert D. Webb

Cast:
Robert Ryan … Marshal Cass Silver
Virginia Mayo … Sally
Jeffrey Hunter … Thad Anderson
Robert Middleton … John Barrett
Walter Brennan … Jake
Arthur O’Connell … Jim Dexter
Ken Clark … Pike
Rodolfo Acosta … Chico
George Mathews … Dillon
Fay Roope … Markham
Edward Platt … Dr. Barlow
Whit Bissell … Sam Bolton
Juanita Close … Helen

Runtime: 91 min.

Memorable lines:

Marshal Cass Silver, to trail crew: “Soon as anybody draws a gun, I’ve got to go to work. I don’t like hard work. My ambition is to be the oldest living marshal west of Kansas City.”

Marshal Cass Silver, on the new owners of the Palace; “They smell money and they’ll go right across the earth to get it. And some of them will wind up in the earth.”

John Barrett: “Keystone sure missed you Sally. Boys say the town’s never been the same.”
Sally, sarcastically: “Well, you tell the boys that I’m flattered speechless.”

Sam Bolton, as Cass is asked to resign: “I hope you don’t take this as a personal reflection on you.”
Cass Silver: “No, Sam, I don’t. I take it as a personal reflection on you. All of you. The minute you all smelled money, this town got an attack of larceny. I don’t blame that on Barrett. I blame that on you. You’re supposed to be respectable. You talk about law and order. You’d sell out for a copper penny. Every one of you. You’re robbing and stealing just the same as he is with you $50 boots and your $12 hotel rooms. If I was on this council, I couldn’t look in the mirror without vomiting.”

Cass Silver, during a gun battle in a barn: “Get out of here while you can.”
Thad Anderson: “I like it here. Besides, I got no place else to go.”

Virginia Mayo as Sally, who convinced Cass SIlver to flee danger once and wants him to again in The Proud Ones (1956)

Virginia Mayo as Sally and Robert Ryan as Cass Silver, watching a final showdown in The Proud Ones (1956)