The Eagle and the Hawk

Stars John Payne, Dennis O'Keefe. During the civil war here in the states, france is trying to establish Maximillian as the leader of mexico, rather than someone from mexico. Croyden and Randolph are heading into the area to check things out. it starts out as a light comedy; they are rivals... competitors for everything. and when they get into town they find that the locals are divided into two camps -- those for Juarez, and those for Maximillian. the town is led by local bigshot Liguras (Thomas Gomez... it took me a minute to figure out that he was also Curly in Key Largo!) there's going to be a battle or showdown at some point... Keep an eye out for Fred Clark. he was the married man in How to Marry a Millionaire. and of course, was Harry on the George Burns show. Clark is Danzeeger, the local big cheese, who may also be involved in the missing guns. directed by Lewis Foster. he won the oscar for Mr. Smith Goes to Wash. original story by Jess Arnold. one of the two he wrote that were made into film. not much info out there on him... appears to have died at 47, according to imdb. this one gets much better as it goes along. they quit cracking jokes and it turned into a good story, based on some actual history.