The Sheepman (1958)

>Glenn Ford is Jason Sweet, a stranger who rides into a cattle town with a herd of sheep, a combination sure to put folks ill at ease.

He promptly shows off his quick draw and his quick wit, then picks a fight with the toughest man in town and whips him.

This, he thinks, will end opposition to his sheep.

He couldn’t be more wrong. The ranchers in Potter Valley band together behind Col. Stephen Bedford (Leslie Nielson) and set about running Sweet out of town. Sweet outthinks them at every turn.

When he finally meets Col. Stephen Bedford, Sweet discovers he’s an old friend named Johnny Bledsoe, who wasn’t always an upstanding, law-abiding citizen.

Then Bedford unleashes his secret weapon, pretty fiance Dell Payton (Shirley MacLaine), who’s already had a couple of verbal sparring matches with Sweet.

Her job: Convince him to attend a July 4 party while the cattlemen load up his sheep for shipment out of the valley.

But even that little trick might not work with someone as determined as Jason Sweet.

Glenn Ford as Jason Sweet, reunited with former acquaintance Col. Stephen Bedford (Leslie Nielson) in The Sheepman (1958)

Shirley MacLaine as Dell Payton, a cattleman’s daughter baffled by Jason Sweet in The Sheepman (1958)

Review:

Nice mix of comedy and action, with sparks flying the best when Ford and MacLaine are on the screen together.

She’s a fast talker trying to talk him out of trouble. He’s a fast thinker not above using her to stay out of trouble.

Edgar Buchanan plays the livery stable owner willing to be bought off and provide Sweet with information on his foes’ plans. M

ickey Shaughnessy is the big man Ford picks a fight with and who spends most of the rest of the film trying to get even.

And Pernell Roberts has a brief role as a gunman brought to town to do Bedford’s dirty deeds.

In terms of sheep versus cattle films, this and Errol Flynn’s “Montana” (1950) are two of the best.

This marked just the fourth film for MacLaine, who had already been nominated for one Academy Award. She’d make a memorable return to the genre in 1970s “Two Mules for Sister Sara” opposite Clint Eastwood.

Leslie Nielson as Col. Stephen Bedford, a former outlaw who’s built a cattle empire in The Sheepman (1958)

Shirley MacLaine as Dell Payton debates the presence of a sheepman in Powder Valley with her father Frank (Willis Bouchey) in The Sheepman (1958)

Directed by:
George Marshall

Cast:
Glenn Ford … Jason Sweet
Shirley MacLaine … Dell Payton
Leslie Nielson … Col. Stephen Bedford
Mickey Shaughnessy … Jumbo McCall
Edgar Buchanan … Milt Masters
Willis Bouchey … Frank Payton
Pernell Roberts … Cocktaw Neal
Slim Pickens … Marshal
Robert “Buzz” Henry: Red
Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez … Angelo

Runtime: 85 min.

Pernell Roberts as Chocktaw Neal, the hired gun Col. Stephen Bedford brings to Powder Valley in The Sheepman (1958)

Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez as Angelo, Jason Sweet’s primary sheep herder in The Sheepman (1958)

Memorable lines:

Jason to Dell: “They say the best way to control an animal is to be a little smarter than he is.”

Sweet: “Colonel of what?”
Bedford: “I expected you to ask that question, Jase. Well, you see when I first decided to come here and settle down, I needed a respectable background. Now you tell me what sounds more respectable and solid than colonel.”
Sweet: “A general.”
Bedford: “I was too young for that.”

Sweet: “Let me give you a little piece of advice. Either you teach your cattle to get along with sheep or else you better start practicing (with a six-gun) again.”
Bedford: “I will.”
Sweet: “You will what?”
Bedford: “Start practicing.”

Sweet, being smuggled out of town in Dell’s carriage: “You kick more like a mule than a genteel young lady.”
Dell: “That’s what all the girls around here do. So you wouldn’t have been very happy around here anyway.”

Leslie Nielson as Col. Stephen Bedford and Shirley MacLaine as his fiance, pulling a fast one on Jason Sweet in The Sheepman (1958)

Angelo: “How come you get in the sheep business, boss?”
Sweet: “Well, I tell ya, Angelo, I just got tired of kicking cows around. You know how dumb they are.”
Angelo: “And you think sheep are smarter?”
Sweet: “Oh, no, they’re dumber. Only they’re easier kicking. Woolier.”

Dell: “Why are you being so nice to me?”
Sweet: “Well, I guess I’m very much like you, Miss Dell. When I’m the nicest, that’s when you gotta watch me the closest.”

Dell: “Mr. Sweet, be careful.”
Sweet: “Well, I guess that’s the most unnecessary advice anybody ever got.”

Bedford to Sweet: “I’m going to walk over there and get on that horse and ride right out of town. I’m not even going to bother to look back once because I know you wouldn’t shoot me in the back. On the other hand, you can’t depend on that from me at all.”

Dell: “You knew him (Bedford) before didn’t you?”
Sweet: “Yep.”
Dell: “Was he very bad?”
Sweet: “Well, let’s just say he wasn’t in any danger of getting a headache from the weight of all the gold stars on his crown.”

Shirley MacLaine as Dell Payton, trying on her wedding dress and worried about Jason Sweet at the same time in The Sheepman (1958)

Mickey Shaughnessy as Jumbo McCall, an enforcer for Col. Stephen Bedford in The Sheepman (1958)

Glenn Ford as Jason Sweet, confronting Col. Stephen Bedford in The Sheepman (1958)

Shirley MacLaine as Dell Payton and Glenn Ford as Jason Sweet, engaged in another verbal jousting match in The Sheepman (1958)