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This film showcases the legal problems that occur in the transformation from war to peace. This was made more difficult in the days before rapid communications over long distances. Thus, the most important battle in the War of 1812 was fought some time after the peace treaty was signed. In the present case, we also have the problem of determining exactly when the Confederacy ceased to exist. Lee's surrender of his army did not constitute an official end to the Confederacy. In fact, another army surrendered several weeks later. There was no general peace treaty. Of course, Major Stewart(Randy) only knew what a dying Union commander told him: that the Confederacy was dead. Thus, he and his follow Confederate raiders had to decide what was the likely best thing for them to do with the gold they had just stolen from a Union cavalry detachment in this Nevada wasteland. They were afraid they would be hung either as Confederate spies or as civilian thieves if they turned the gold over to local authorities. This was made much more likely by the fact that they had killed the cavalry escorting the gold shipment. Thus, they decided to keep the gold until they decided for sure to split it.
The raiders returned to their base camp and piled into their stolen buggy, leaving their horses behind(why?). Later, they are met by a group of horsemen who identify themselves as a posse looking for the gold thieves. Randy tells them a story that makes them travel in the opposite direction, but he knows they will be back after they find out this is a lie. The raiders then ditch their buggy and stop a stage, which they all fit into or onto. They convert the next way station into a fortress, with the posse in hot pursuit. There are 2 hostages from the stage: ex-union army nurse Molly(Donna Reed)and her semi-fiancé, as well as the elderly station caretakers.
Randy tries to convince the posse that they left the gold elsewhere , but they don't buy it. The raiders make an escape attempt that night, but only succeed in rescuing a raider captive. He tells them the men outside are no posse, rather a gang of drifters. Meanwhile, the raiders and hostages are getting to know each other better, Molly's nursing skills being put to good use. Molly gradually warms up to Randy, as we expect, after she sees how he handles various sticky situations. Ralph(Lee Marvin) is jealous and tries to shoot Randy, after they have quite a brawl, but brother Jamie shoots Ralph first.
The outlaw gang now tries to tunnel under the building, then set fire to it. As burning roof beams fall, Molly's fiancé runs out, but is shot by the outlaws. Luckily, a rare severe storm then strikes, putting out the fire and providing some cover for the raiders, who exit the building and kill or confuse some of the outlaws, while other outlaws look for the gold inside. Satisfied there is no gold, the remaining outlaws ride off to look for it elsewhere(presumably somewhere near the abandoned buggy). The now 2 remaining raiders(Randy and Jamie) make peace with the remaining hostages and promise to return after a cooling off period in former Confederate territory.
We're left wondering what happened to the gold, since Randy and Jamie decided to leave it with the hostages. They are characterized as honest folk, thus most likely turned it over to authorities, explaining that the thieves had all been killed in a shootout between two gangs or by themselves.
This is an excellent intense western drama, quite in keeping with the later series of Scott-staring westerns directed by Boetticher. The one positive thing that came out of this fiasco was that Molly came to realize that Randy, not her handsome urbane semi-fiancé, was the right man for her, provided he did the right thing and left the gold for her and the station attendants to dispose of honorably. However, as typically, the budding romance is left in an uncertain state at ending. In additional to the interesting screenplay, the crisp Technicolor cinematography of the unique giant boulder-strewn Alabama Hills, with snow-capped High Sierras in the background, makes for a spectacular-looking physical setting.
Anyone who has seen "The Yearling" will instantly recognize an older Claude Jarman, as Scott's young friend, Jamie.... Perennial 'old codger' Clem Bevans, also in "The Yearling", serves as the stage station master...Familiar-looking Ray Teal, playing the leader of the bandits, meets a fate similar to that of Bruce Dern, in "The Cowboys", although clearly a dummy was used in the dark rainy conditions....Lee Marvin plays his typical sneering bully or cynic character....Handsome Richard Denning as Donna's dandy semi-fiancé saves the situation, if not his life, by correctly predicting a violent thunderstorm will soon strike. The long rain-soaking sequence, shot in near darkness, is unique in westerns that I have seen.
If you've seen "Virginia City"(1940), with Scott and Flynn costarring, you will recognize a basically similar plot.
score 9/10
weezeralfalfa 20 April 2008
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1861044/ |
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9-3-2021 04:53:13