Cattle Empire (1958)

Director:

Charles Marquis Warren

Writers:

Daniel B. Ullman (story)
Endre Bohem (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

28 April 1958 (Sweden)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

The Wars of the Ranch Kings!

Plot:

After serving a five year prison sentence for allowing his men to destroy a town in a drunken spree...

Plot Keywords:

Cattle | Blindness | Betrayal | Rancher | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Joel McCrea	...	John Cord
Gloria Talbott	...	Sandy Jeffrey
Don Haggerty	...	Ralph Hamilton
Phyllis Coates	...	Janice Hamilton
Bing Russell	...	Douglas Hamilton
Richard Shannon	...	Garth
Paul Brinegar	...	Tom Jefferson Jeffrey
Charles H. Gray	...	Tom Powis (as Charles Gray)
Hal K. Dawson	...	George Washington Jeffrey
Patrick O'Moore	...	Rex Cogswell
Duane Grey	...	Juan Aruzza
William McGraw	...	Jim Whittaker (as Bill McGraw)
Jack Lomas	...	Sheriff Brewster

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (as DeLUXE)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #18836) | UK:U | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Quotes:

Garth: Lots of trials we rode together, Cord. Lots of things I learned from you.
John Cord: You can forget 'em.
Garth: Some things a man doesn't forget, like John Cord's rule for a herd-drinking special - always carry your own keg of whiskey. Let the men break it open in camp to let off some steam. Keeps them from werecking an innocent town.
John Cord: I don't seem to remember that at the trial.

Middling McCrea vehicle

This B-Western starts off brilliantly – despite unconvincing use of stock stuntwork – with 'murderer' Joel McCrea dragged through the streets by irate townspeople, then finally hauled, half-dead, onto the wagon of a man he once blinded. The script drops a few tantalising clues to the past, as McCrea encounters his old girl, his protégé and a mysterious local rancher... Then we're out on the trail and the low budget takes its toll, with a disappointing reliance on old footage. How many cows did the filmmakers actually have at their disposal? One? McCrea excelled in Westerns – I could watch them all day – but the plotting here is slack and the revelations far too contrived, leaving holes one could drive a herd through. Does McCrea intend to lead his old adversaries (and their cattle) to their doom? Will he steal the blind man's gal? And what really happened five years ago? You'll want to know, and then when you find out, you'll think: 'Is that it?' A strong action climax calls to mind 'Comanche Station', which is a far better film. Still, 'Cattle Empire' – for all its dead-ends and cattle shortages – remains a fascinating, idiosyncratic watch.

(2.5 out of 4)