Walter Brennan appears to have been hired to be the host of a potential T.V. western anthology series which was not picked up and ended on the bottom of a double bill in movie theaters instead. It is all right for what it is but nothing spectacular. The basic story has Brennan as a traveling preacher who apparently walked out on his family years before. When one of his children shows up where he is to deliver a letter, it sets off a chain of violence that ends with tragedy. The town big boss takes an interest in Brennan's daughter (Luanda Anders) which upsets his saloon hostess mistress (Constance Ford) who has put up with years of abuse and has become a drunk. Anders falls in love with the big boss's enemy and creates a war amongst feuding families. Ford stands out as the tough but secretly vulnerable Goldie who looks a bit like Shelley Winters. She takes Anders under her protective wing to show her that it is not her she hates but the entire situation. Without Brennan's and Ford's involvement, this would certainly be less than memorable.
4 Reviews
Would have worked on 1962 Television or in cinema in 1942.
mark.waltz5 September 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Big Drag at Big Sag
zeppo-211 January 2011
A pilot TV film that wasn't picked up and not surprisingly either! It's puzzling that Walter Brennan who starred in many a classic western and who produced this could make such a dull dud. Filmed mostly on a back lot with a few outdoor scenes of horse riding,it meanders all over the place,characterisation,what there is, is inconsistent and their attitudes change from scene to scene. Brennan does some voice-over narration which makes me think it was probably cut down from the original running time. But that's a relief as what's left is pretty awful,if it hadn't been just over an hour long,I would have switched off long before.
Hardly any action and when the climatic shootout does come,it's off camera and just related to us by one of the characters. At least Leif Erickson did go onto a much better western series when he starred in 'The High Chaparell.'
Hardly any action and when the climatic shootout does come,it's off camera and just related to us by one of the characters. At least Leif Erickson did go onto a much better western series when he starred in 'The High Chaparell.'
Very boring western
Wizard-830 October 2014
It came as no surprise when I came to this web site right after watching "Shoot Out at Big Sag" to find out that it was originally made as a television pilot. The short running time is a big clue, but also the fact that it has a very television feel to the entire enterprise, such as the cheap-looking sets. But those facts didn't bother me anywhere as much as the real problem I had with the movie, which is that it's just so gosh-darn dull. The title promises a lot of action, but there's virtually no action until the final few minutes, and it's not worth the wait. It's just talk talk talk for the most part, none of it the least bit engaging. It's hard to believe that long time actor Walter Brennan agreed to appear in this dud... though he probably did it as a favor to his son, who was one of the producers.
Dull as the black and white cinematography
bkoganbing23 October 2020
What information we have on Shootout At Big Sag is that Walter Brennan produced and starred in this feature which he had in mind for a series pilot. I find
that hard to believe because he was starring in a successful TV series at that point.
And Brennan would have been nuts to abandon The Real McCoys when that wasw
doing so well.
The film concerns two families the Hawkers and the Barbeys in Montana. The Hawkers have settled there and the Barbeys have moved up from Texas to become neighbors. Walter Brennan who fancies himself an itinerant preacher is the patriarch of the Hawkers and Leif Erickson is head of the Barbey clan.
These two don't get along even though Brennan's daughter Luana Patten and Erickson's son Chris Robinson are courting. But they have to team up because saloon owner Les Tremayne wants to put them both out of business. Tremayne has a Snidely Whiplash interest in Patten.
Best in this film are Virginia Greg as Tremayne's alcoholic mistress and Virginia Gregg as Brennan's estranged wife.
This was a strange western with an incoherent plot and dull cinematography. No wonder here why it wasn't picked up for a TV series.
The film concerns two families the Hawkers and the Barbeys in Montana. The Hawkers have settled there and the Barbeys have moved up from Texas to become neighbors. Walter Brennan who fancies himself an itinerant preacher is the patriarch of the Hawkers and Leif Erickson is head of the Barbey clan.
These two don't get along even though Brennan's daughter Luana Patten and Erickson's son Chris Robinson are courting. But they have to team up because saloon owner Les Tremayne wants to put them both out of business. Tremayne has a Snidely Whiplash interest in Patten.
Best in this film are Virginia Greg as Tremayne's alcoholic mistress and Virginia Gregg as Brennan's estranged wife.
This was a strange western with an incoherent plot and dull cinematography. No wonder here why it wasn't picked up for a TV series.
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