Vengeance Valley (1951)

Burt Lancaster is Owen Daybright, foster son of rancher Arch Strobie, who finds himself in the middle of a delicate situation.

The cowpokes return from winter roundup to find there’s a scandal brewing. Waitress Lily Fasken has just given birth. She isn’t married, and no one knows who the father is.

Owen delivers the new mom $500 and food to get her through the winter. He knows who the father is; it’s his half brother, Lee (Robert Walker).

But Lee can’t step forward because he’s just married a pretty little girl named Jen (Joanne Dru).

And Owen won’t tell the truth because he’s loyal to the Arch Strobie, the man who took him in 15 years earlier and helped raise him.

But the problem won’t go away. For one thing, Lily’s brothers arrive in town, intent on killing the man who ruined their sister’s reputation.

For another, Lee has big ambitions, a whole lot less loyalty and a whole lot of growing up to do.

Burt Lancaster as Owen Daybright, a foreman who finds himself attracted to another man’s wife in Vengeance Valley (1951)

Robert Walker as Lee Strobie, the wayward son of a cattle king in Vengeance Valley (1951)

Review:

A neat little character study and one of the better ranching Westerns you’ll find. Lancaster’s Westerns were hit and miss, but this is one of the better ones. The story is told from the perspective of a young ranch hand named Hewie, who winds up falling for Lilly.

And Sally Forrest turns in a solid performance in her first and only big screen Western. She’s the pretty young woman who feared everything when she learned she was pregnant but proclaims that she’s no longer afraid of living.

This marked one of the first films for Hugh O’Brian, in the role of one of Lilly’s brothers. He would go on to fame as TV’s Wyatt Earp in a series entitled “The Life and Times of Wyatt Earp,” which ran from 1955 to 1961.

Joanne Dru as Jen Strobie, helping Lily through a pregnancy when no one else would in Vengeance Valley (1951)

Sally Forrest as Lily Fasken with the baby that starts the trouble in Vengeance Valley (1951)

Directed by:
Richard Thorpe

Cast:
Burt Lancaster … Owen Daybright
Robert Walker … Lee Strobie
Joanne Dru … Jen Strobie
Ray Collins … Arch Strobie
Sally Forrest … Lily Fasken
John Ireland … Hub Fasken
Hugh O’Brian … Dick Fasken
Carleton Carpenter … Hewie
Will Wright … Mr. Willoughby
Ted de Corsia … Herb Backett
Grayce Mills … Mrs. Burke
Jim Hayward … Sheriff Con Alvis
James Harrison … Orv Esterly
Stanley Andrews … Mead Calhoun

Runtime: 83 min.

Ray Collins as Arch Strobie, relying on the steady hand of Owen Daybright to keep his ranch running smoothly in Vengeance Valley (1951)

Carleton Carpenter as Hewie, the young cowpoke attracted to Lily Fasken in Vengeance Valley (1951)

Memorable lines:

Hub Fasken: “Daybright knows something (about who fathered Lilly’s baby). If he can’t talk by the time I’m done with him, he’ll scratch the name with his feet.”

Owen Daybright: “Look, Lilly’s doing alright without you boys. Why don’t you leave her alone?”
Dick Fasken: “I don’t see no Mrs. in front of her name.”
Owen: “Well, that happens.”
Hub Fasken: “Not to a sister of ours.”

Owen Daybright: “When you’re loyal to a man, Hewie, you’re loyal to everything about him. Even his faults. Even his son.”

Robert Walker as Lee Strobie and Burt Lancaster as Owen Daybright, discussing Lee’s newly born problem in Vengeance Valley (1951)

Hugh O’Brian as Dick Fasken and John Ireland as Hub Fasken, determined to defend their soiled sister’s honor in Vengeance Valley (1951)

Robert Walker as Lee Strobie with his trusting father Arch (Ray Collins) in Vengeance Valley (1951)

Sally Forrest as Lily Fasken, trying to convince her brothers not to start more trouble in Vengeance Valley (1951)

Joanne Dru as Jen Strobie, coming to realize she married the wrong man in Vengeance Valley (1951)

Robert Walker as Lee Strobie with horse dealer Obie Rune (Tom Fadden) in Vengeance Valley (1951)

Burt Lancaster as Owen Daybright, dedicated foreman on the Strobie ranch in Vengeance Valley (1951)