There's a good story buried somewhere in the cluttered screenplay. Trouble is there're enough bad guys drifting in and out or getting splattered that you may need the proverbial scorecard. Too bad we lose one of the premier obnoxious punks of the period much, much too early-- Skip Homeier as Buddy Ferris. In fact, however, it's a stellar line-up of baddies— VanCleef, Nicol, Brian, and Homeier, along with other lesser knowns.
So will consumptive Brett Wade make it to the good-air mountains of Colorado to recover before one of these cut-throats does him in. He's an ex-gunfighter, so he's racked up a lot of enemies lurking about. But Wade just wants to retire, maybe with dancehall girl Rannah Hayes (Laurie). Too bad that actress Laurie acts like she swallowed a lemon before showing up for work, so sour and unchanging is her expression throughout. Judging from her bio, she was likely obligated contractually with Universal to do a movie she didn't want to do.
Calhoun does a good job as the squinty-eyed ex-gunslinger. The trouble is the screenplay can't seem to untangle which of his enemies is the most threatening and why. So Wade's got a lot of shooting to do. Seems like every western of this period had the great raspy voiced Edgar Buchanan somewhere in the line-up furnishing his singular brand of color. Here he's a sheriff, of all things. On the whole, there's nothing special here, just one more passable entry in Universal's lengthy list of 50's Technicolor westerns.
(In passing—as a native of Colorado Springs, which features prominently in the screenplay, I can attest to its early attraction for tubercular patients. The mineral springs nearby were supposed to be of special help, including the clear mountain air of that non-urbanized time.)
So will consumptive Brett Wade make it to the good-air mountains of Colorado to recover before one of these cut-throats does him in. He's an ex-gunfighter, so he's racked up a lot of enemies lurking about. But Wade just wants to retire, maybe with dancehall girl Rannah Hayes (Laurie). Too bad that actress Laurie acts like she swallowed a lemon before showing up for work, so sour and unchanging is her expression throughout. Judging from her bio, she was likely obligated contractually with Universal to do a movie she didn't want to do.
Calhoun does a good job as the squinty-eyed ex-gunslinger. The trouble is the screenplay can't seem to untangle which of his enemies is the most threatening and why. So Wade's got a lot of shooting to do. Seems like every western of this period had the great raspy voiced Edgar Buchanan somewhere in the line-up furnishing his singular brand of color. Here he's a sheriff, of all things. On the whole, there's nothing special here, just one more passable entry in Universal's lengthy list of 50's Technicolor westerns.
(In passing—as a native of Colorado Springs, which features prominently in the screenplay, I can attest to its early attraction for tubercular patients. The mineral springs nearby were supposed to be of special help, including the clear mountain air of that non-urbanized time.)