Vengeance Valley (1951)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Richard Thorpe

Writers:

Luke Short (novel)
Irving Ravetch (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 February 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

Based on the Thrilling novel and Saturday Evening Post serial by Luke Short

Plot:

A cattle baron takes in an orphaned boy and raises him, causing his own son to resent the boy. As they get older the resentment festers into hatred...

Plot Keywords:

Son | Illegitimate Child | Cattle | Ranch | Rancher

Cast

Burt Lancaster	...	Owen Daybright
Robert Walker	...	Lee Strobie
Joanne Dru	...	Jen Strobie
Sally Forrest	...	Lily Fasken
John Ireland	...	Hub Fasken
Carleton Carpenter	...	Hewie
Ray Collins	...	Arch Strobie
Ted de Corsia	...	Herb Backett
Hugh O'Brian	...	Dick Fasken
Will Wright	...	Mr. Willoughby
Grayce Mills	...	Mrs. Burke (as Grace Mills)
Jim Hayward	...	Sheriff Con Alvis (as James Hayward)
James Harrison	...	Orv Esterly
Stanley Andrews	...	Mead Calhoun
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Margaret Bert	...	Mrs. Calhoun (scenes deleted)

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Norway:16 (1952) | West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:K-16 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) | USA:Unrated | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Canon City, Colorado, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

This is one of a handful of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer productions of the 1950-1951 period whose original copyrights were never renewed and are now apparently in Public Domain; for this reason this title is now offered, often in very inferior copies, at bargain prices, by numerous VHS and DVD distributors who do not normally handle copyrighted or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer material.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Hewie: I got a story to tell - a yarn about cow country, cow punchers and men. I was workin' for the Strobie Ranch, a trade of worn leather and saddle blisters and brandin' irons. A trade with some song, some fun and some luck. It was as good a job as a man could ask for...

Movie Connections:

Featured in Little Odessa (1994)

Great Title and Some Good Performances

"Vengeance Valley" (1951) is not just a great title for a western, but a well-made, intelligent feature that should please Burt Lancaster and Robert Walker fans. A cattle baron (Ray Collins) takes in an orphaned boy (Owen Daybright) and raises him. His own son (Lee Strobie) is about the same age. Although Lee resents Owen they generally get along and share a lot of coming of age adventures on the ranch. But as they mature Lee's (Robert Walker) resentment causes him to become a slacker and the classic prodigal son. After a long absence he returns with a wife, appears to have cleaned up his act, and reconciles with his father.

But Lee's past includes a girl named Lily that he got pregnant. Owen covers for him, but this causes Lee to resent his stepbrother even more. When he suspects that his father's ranch and his new wife are slipping away from him, he sets up Owen to be killed by Lily's two brothers. Although this prodigal son-Cain and Abel stuff is hardly original, the two stars are excellent in their respective parts. Lancaster reins in his excesses and gives a nice controlled performance, with his suppressed energy just visible enough to give Owen a nice dimensionality.

Walker in convincing as a two-faced villain, still motivated by childhood jealousy but able to conceal it from everyone but the audience. Walker is relatively forgotten today, but was the 1940's version of James Dean; although his looks and style are more like a young Robert Vaughn.

When not occupied with its melodramatic story, "Vengeance Valley" has the look of an extremely well-produced documentary, going into great detail about the process of a spring roundup and providing a lot of very scenic backgrounds. A ranch hand named Hewie (Carleton Carpenter) provides an informative voice-over. The film features some great cattle scenes, a lot of good riding sequences, and a couple well staged fights. Watch for an early appearance by young Hugh O'Brian-just a few years away from starring in television's "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp".

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.