Rebel in Town (1956)

Ex-Confederate Bedloe Mason and his four sons ride into a small Western town with robbery in mind. Hearing a suspicious "click," Wes Mason whirls and shoots dead a boy playing with a cap ... See full summary »

Director:

Alfred L. Werker

Writer:

Danny Arnold

Stars:

John Payne, Ruth Roman, J. Carrol Naish

Cast

Cast overview:
John Payne	...	John Willoughby
Ruth Roman	...	Nora Willoughby
J. Carrol Naish	...	Bedloe Mason
Ben Cooper	...	Gray Mason
John Smith	...	Wesley Mason
Ben Johnson	...	Frank Mason
James Griffith	...	Marshal Adam Russell
Mary Adams	...	Grandma Ackstadt
Bobby Clark	...	Peter Willoughby
Mimi Gibson	...	Lisbeth Ackstadt
Cain Mason	...	Cain Mason

Storyline

Ex-Confederate Bedloe Mason and his four sons ride into a small Western town with robbery in mind. Hearing a suspicious "click," Wes Mason whirls and shoots dead a boy playing with a cap pistol. The Mason clan then flees but Gray Mason, feeling remorse, decides to return to the town. He winds up at the home of John and Nora Willoughby who, unknown to him, are parents of the dead boy. Nora recognizes him as one of the Confederates but keeps quiet, wishing to avoid more violence. However, when John learns of Gray's true identity, he determines to avenge his son's death.

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Plot Keywords:

husband wife relationship | whipping | shot to death | accidental shooting | wound | 

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Taglines:

STOP IT! STOP ALL THIS KILLING! (original print ad - all caps)

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Genres:

Western

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 July 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

Der Rebell von Arizona

Filming Locations:

Jack Ingram Ranch - 22255 Mulholland Drive, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Schenck-Koch Productions, Bel-Air Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min 78 min (TCM print)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Wesley Mason: [while being whipped] No more, Pa! Mercy, Pa!

User Reviews

Rebel in town

Hollywood made a slew of so called "B" westerns during the 1950s, mainly black and white 80 minutes jobs meant to fill a second feature at the local theatre.....when I saw the top notch actors in this film I figured it would be worth watching and it was very good....John Payne, J. Carrol Nash, John Smith, Ben Johnson and Ruth Roman round out a very solid cast.....in a lot of these so called B westerns there were a lot of films about confederate soldiers on the run rummaging and pillaging so the plot was somewhat familiar....what set the tone for this film was the slaying of a young boy who was gunned down by a rebel coward, who thought that a cap gun going off was the real thing and he turned around in an instant and shot the kid dead...what follows are real character studies of the rebel family and their self righteousness about how a member of their family killed a little boy and the intense manhunt led by John Payne, the boy's father....Ruth Roman plays a very compassionate, caring mother while grieving for her dead son and tries to instill logic and a level head into her husband Payne who starts to lose his cool nearly every moment in the film.....Strange part to the movie when one of the rebel band is rounded up by Payne and brought to his house not knowing he was one of the rebel band....questions follow and soon Payne realizes his "guest" is part of the family that killed his son....a mob scene follows as usual and soon law and order is restored....in the end Payne nails the real killer (John Smith) in a knife fight in a barn as he tries to escape town....his father, J. Carrol Nash forgives Payne in the end for his son's cowardice..... Payne is reunited with his wife who was at the breaking point with her husband's blood thirst for revenge.....a solid, very worthwhile western, considering it was made rather cheaply by a small studio Bel Air productions..but released by United Artists.....