The Desperadoes (1943)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Charles Vidor

Writers:

Max Brand (story)
Robert Carson (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 May 1943 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Western

Tagline:

Red-Blooded Action

Plot:

A wanted outlaw arrives in town to rob a bank that has already been held up! His past and his friendship with the sheriff land them both in trouble.

Plot Keywords:

Bank Robbery | Saloon | Horse | Fugitive | Train

Cast

Randolph Scott	...	Sheriff Steve Upton
Claire Trevor	...	Countess Maletta
Glenn Ford	...	Cheyenne Rogers
Evelyn Keyes	...	Allison McLeod
Edgar Buchanan	...	Uncle Willie McLeod
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams	...	Nitro Rankin
Raymond Walburn	...	Judge Cameron
Porter Hall	...	Banker Stanley Clanton

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #8653) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Kanab, Utah, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Charles King is listed as a cast member in a modern source, but he was not seen in the film.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The setting is 1863 when the most modern sidearms would have been percussion revolvers, not the metal cartridge revolvers used in the story.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Oh! Susanna

What a Fellow Does For a Friend

Randolph Scott and Glenn Ford were once outlaw pals together, but now Scott's a sheriff and young Ford is still hiring his gun out. He gets hired to pull a bank job, but is delayed getting to town and those that hired him get someone else. That leads to all kinds of complications, a lot for a film that's not even 90 minutes long.

Randy and Glenn both got girls here. Claire Trevor plays her usual good time gal with a heart of gold. And Evelyn Keyes is the daughter of Edgar Buchanan who falls for Ford big time without realizing who he is or why he came to the town that Scott is the sheriff in.

It's B western, but unusual for the time and for Columbia Pictures it was given the full technicolor treatment. The Desperadoes marked Glenn Ford's first film in technicolor, a process reserved only for some of the more expensive films from bigger studios. Harry Cohn was certainly not one to shell out for it. And definitely not during war time.

The plot gets a bit convoluted as both Ford and Scott are put to the test of friendship versus expediency/duty. The plot also involves some high class hypocritical skunks in Randy's town who are the real outlaws as far as the film is concerned.

The four leads do a fine job and the best supporting performance is Guinn Williams as Ford's lovable explosive lunkhead of a sidekick. The climax involves a cattle stampede and a shootout in the town saloon and is one of the best ever done in a western film.

Fans of the four leads and westerns in general will enjoy this one.