Thunder in the Sun (1959)

Jeff Chandler plays Lon Bennett, a wagon train guide who agrees to take a small party of Basque immigrants to California — but only because he’s already taken their money and spent it on booze and women before helping wreck the saloon where he’s been hanging out.

Once he arrives at the wagon train, his interest is piqued by pretty Gabrielle Dauphin (Susan Hayward), who’s in the middle of a rather saucy dance.

Alas, he finds she’s already married to the much older Andre, leader of the wagon train.

Andre winds up being killed by a guard who follows Bennett’s advice to shoot first and ask questions later.

But Gabrielle still isn’t free; Basque custom would have her marry Andre’s younger brother, Pepe.

Meanwhile, as the wagon train endures hardship after hardship, Bennett struggles to understand Basque customs, including the desire to keep a fire from the homelands burning — that leads to a prairie fire — and the need to preserve and water the fruit vines they’ve brought from France, even when traveling through a desert with precious little water.

Jeff Chandler as Lon Bennett, warning the Basques of the dangers ahead in Thunder in the Sun (1959)

Susan Hayward, at odds with Lou Bennett again when he catches her bathing in Thunder in the Sun (1959)

Review:

The film certainly features one of the most unique Indians vs. immigrants battles you’re going to see in a Western as the Basque men decide to launch an attack in the mountains, then proceed to leap from one rock to another like acrobats while catching their enemy by surprise.

Of course, you’re likely to chuckle when you watch Pepe drop balls into a curved and hollowed out piece of wood and throw them, clunking a pair of Indian sentries in the noggin’ and knocking both out cold.

Otherwise, the wagon train faces the predictable obstacles — little water, dying horses, the need to dump precious cargo so the wagons are carrying less weight. And the aforementioned Indian threat. There’s even a pregnant young woman who, of course, goes into labor at the worst possible time.

The Basque story-line also saddles Hayward with an accent that makes her difficult to understand at times. And good-looking Jacques Bergerac, who plays Pepe, might not get the girl here, but in real life he was married to Dorothy Malone and Ginger Rogers.

Jacques Bergerac as Pepe Dauphin, one of the leaders of the Basque party heading West in Thunder in the Sun (1959)

Carl Esmond as Andre Dauphin, Gabrielle’s husband and leader of the Basque party heading West in Thunder in the Sun (1959)

Directed by:
Russell Rouse

Cast:
Susan Hayward … Gabrielle Dauphin
Jeff Chandler … Lon Bennett
Jacques Bergerac … Pepe Dauphin
Blanche Yurka … Louise Dauphin
Carl Esmond … Andre Dauphin
Fortunio Bonanova … Fernando Cristophe
Bertrand Castelli … Edmond Duquette
Felix Locher … Danielle
Veda Ann Borg … Marie

Runtime: 81 min.

Blanche Yurka as Louise Dauphin, wondering who’s going to lead the Basque party after the death of her son in Thunder in the Sun (1959)

Fortunio Bonanova as Fernando Christophe, a veteran soldier among the Basques heading West in Thunder in the Sun (1959)

Memorable lines:

Andre: “How go the vines, Pepe?”
Pepe: “Like everyone else, they’re a bit homesick.”
Andre: “They’re young. When we plant them in California, they will forget they were born in France.”

Lon, kneeling over a dying horse in the desert: “He’s had it. This wouldn’t have happened if you gave him some of the water you poured on those vines.”
Gabrielle: “Bennett, it is no longer we who take the vines, it is the vines who take us. If they perish, the hopes and dreams of my people perish.”

Gabrielle: “They are dead because of me.”
Lon: “That’s not true.”
Gabrielle: “It’s all my fault.”
Lon: “It’s not your fault.”
Gabrielle: “And all because of these vines. Damn the vines.”

Susan Hayward as Gabrielle Dauphin, reacting to the shooting of her husband Andre in Thunder in the Sun (1959)

Veda Ann Borg as Marie, wondering when Lon Bennett is going to stop wrecking her saloon and get back to work in Thunder in the Sun (1959)

June ‘Va-Va-Vroom’ Wilkinson, one of the saloon girls helping keep Lon Bennett from his wagon guide duties in Thunder in the Sun (1959)

Pepe (Jacques Bergerac), Gabrielle (Susan Hayward), Fernando (Fortunio Bonanova) and others balk at Lon Bennett’s suggestions in Thunder in the Sun (1959)

Jeff Chandler as Lon Bennett, taking time out from his guide duties to teach the Basque children a bit of English in Thunder in the Sun (1959)

Susan Hayward as Gabrielle Dauphin dancing with a fellow Basque (Pedro Córdoba de Córdoba) in Thunder in the Sun (1959)