Rory Calhoun is Hemp Brown, a cavalry officer leading a payroll and an officer’s lover back to the fort. A former fellow officer, Jed Givens (John Larsh) appears along the roadside. Brown agrees to let him ride on the wagon.
Next thing you know, bandits have stolen the money and killed the woman and every member of the patrol; only Hemp survives, for a reason. Givens, who has plotted the whole job, wants him to take the blame.
Upon returning to the fort, Hemp avoids a hanging, but is court martialed. He spends the rest of the film tracking down Givens to clear his name. Along the way he runs into and befriends a dancer (Beverly Garland) traveling town to town with a snake-oil salesman (Fortuno Bonanova).
Review:
Entertaining film with a few unusual plot twists.
For instance, when Calhoun’s Hemp Brown finally catches up with Givens, he’s in jail, about to be tried for a murder he didn’t commit.
Calhoun finds himself in the bizarre situation of needing to prove the innocence of his mortal enemy so that enemy can live long enough to clear Hemp’s name. It all leads up to a frantic finale.
One of the members of Givens’ gang is Russell Johnson in the role of Hook, a one-handed killer; he later gained fame as the Professor on Gilligan’s Island.
Directed by:
Richard Carlson
Cast:
Rory Calhoun … Hemp Brown
Beverly Garland … Mona Langley
John Larsch … Jed Givens
Russell Johnson … Hook
Fortuno Bonanova … Serge Bolanos
Allan Lane … The Sheriff
Trevor Bardette … Judge Rawlins
Morris Ankrum … Bo Slauter
Addison Richards … Col. Ford
Runtime: 80 min.
Memorable lines …
Hook, admiring a piece of stolen jewelry: “You can dangle this in front of a girl and she oughta do just … hey, what’s this … Love, to Nancy from Floyd. Now why do people have to go engraving things. What am I supposed to do? Find a girl named Nancy and say I’m Floyd?”
Mona Langley, explaining who she is to Hemp Brown: “I’m pretty a little bit. I can sing a little bit, dance a little bit … Put them all together, and you don’t get a woman, not really. You don’t get a wife or a mother. You just get somebody who’s traveling in Bolanos’ fifth-rate show. That’s me. Did you ever try it? Looking at yourself.”
Hemp Brown: “I don’t like mirrors.”
Mona Langley: “I don’t even know your name. I won’t know who to look for in the obituary column.”
Hemp Brown: “Don’t look. Just stick to the front page.”
Hook, to Hemp Brown, as he tries to solve the mystery: “Now, mister, don’t go building a whole house out of a box of matches.”
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