Young Fury (1965)

Rory Calhoun plays Clint McCoy, a renown gunslinger who is being pursued by the Dawson brothers, but who makes a detour to visit the town where he once had a wife and son.

Turns out the wife, Sarah, is still there. Many men later, she owns the local saloon.

The son? He’s turned into a ruffian, the leader of a gang of young outcasts who do their best to terrorize townsfolk with all sorts of hijinks wherever they go.

When Tige McCoy (Preston Pierce) hears that his dad has been sighted in his old hometown, he takes is gang there, intent on paying back his father for a lifetime of neglect.

But Clint’s a little more savvy and gun-wise than the folks these young guns are used to going up against. While Sarah frets, Clint recognizes a lot of himself in the young man.

The question is: What will happen when the Dawsons show up? Will Tige and his ruffians take the Dawsons on in their quest to control the town? Or will Clint have to take on the four men single-handedly?

Rory Calhoun as Clint McCoy, a fast gun who returns to his hometown to make a stand in Young Fury (1965)

Virginia Mayo as Sara McCoy, who finds herself facing a reunion with an estranged husband and son in Young Fury (1965)

Review:

Rory Calhoun, always solid in Western roles, does his best, but can’t lift this oater featuring a mix of aging actors and inexperience youngsters above middling.

After a long run as a leading lady in Hollywood, Virginia Mayo appeared in just four films in the 1960s. This marked her first Western since 1959’s “Westbound.”

This was the film debut for Preston Pierce, who wound up appearing in just six films. Producer A.C. Lyles clearly needed someone more experienced to pull off a role that calls for him to be snarling gang leader one minute, a sensitive young man shedding tears of nostalgia the next.

The equally inexperienced Linda Foster, a native of Lancaster, Pa., plays Sally Miller, the girl Tige falls for. It was her first credited role on the big screen. She would soon marry actor Vince Edwards.

Preston Pierce as Tige McCoy, the young man who resents growing up without a father in Young Fury (1965_

Linda Foster as Sally Miller, the young girl who manages to turn the head of Tige McCoy in Young Fury (1965)

Directed by:
Christian Nyby

Cast:
Rory Calhoun … Clint McCoy
Virginia Mayo … Sarah McCoy
Preston Pierce … Tige McCoy
Lon Chaney Jr. … Ace (bartender)
John Agar … Dawson
Linda Foster … Sally Miller
Jody McCrea … Stone
William Bendix … Blacksmith Joe
Robert Biheller … Biff Dane
Merry Anders … Alice
Marc Cavell … Pancho
Jerry Summers … Gabbo
Jay Riple … Slim
Kevin O’Neal … Curley

Runtime: 80 min.

John Agar as Dawson, an outlaw who has vowed to even the score with Clint McCoy in Young Fury (1965)

Lon Chaney Jr. as Ace, bartender in Sara McCoy’s saloon in Young Fury (1965)

Memorable lines:

Sara McCoy to Clint: “Don’t say my name in that soft way you used to say it. Do you know how many others have said it that way since you?”
Clint: “Does it matter?”

Young hellion to Sara McCoy: “What are you, the owner of this place?”
Tige, not knowing he’s looking at his mom: “She sure ain’t fresh hatched.”

Clint McCoy: “Top dog in the wolf pack. That’s the kind of animal we raised.”

Biff Dane: “Mr. McCoy, will you put away the gun? It might go off accidental like.”
Clint McCoy: “If it goes off, sonny, it won’t be accidental.”

Rory Calhoun as Clint McCoy, being invited to leave town by Sheriff Jenkins in Young Fury (1965)

Richard Arlen as Sheriff Jenkins getting some pointers on the trouble ahead from a fellow lawman in Young Fury (1965)

Robert Biheller as Biff Dane, a trouble maker among Tige McCoy’s troublesome gang of young thugs in Young Fury (1965)

Marc Cavell as Pancho a knife-thrower extraordinate who convinces Tige to let him join the gang in Young Fury (1965)

Virginia Mayo as Sara McCoy, fretting over her son’s future with Clint McCoy (Rory Calhoun) in Young Fury (1965)

Saloon girls Alice (Merry Anders) and Kathy (Joan Huntington) adjust their outfits after being harassed by young hellions in Young Fury (1965)

Preston Pierce as Tige McCoy, making a point with townsfolk while a member of his gang looks on in Young Fury (1965)

Rory Calhoun as Clint McCoy, taking shelter in a wagon bed during the final showdown in Young Fury (1965)