Vengeance Valley (1951)

The sons of a Colorado cattle baron, one biological and the other adopted, resent one another and fight for control of their father's cattle empire.

Director:

Richard Thorpe

Writers:

Irving Ravetch (screenplay), Luke Short (based on a novel by)

Stars:

Burt Lancaster, Robert Walker, Joanne Dru

Cast

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

Storyline

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, and eventually the real son frames his stepbrother for fathering an illegitimate child that is actually his, seeing it as an opportunity to get his half-brother out of the way so he can have his father's empire all to himself.

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Plot Keywords:

whiskey | poker game | applejack | cigar smoking | cattle | 

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Taglines:

Burt Lancaster In His BIGGEST Outdoor Adventure Drama!

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 May 1951 (UK)

Also Known As:

La vallée de la vengeance

Filming Locations:

Coal Creek, Colorado, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,008,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$1,997,000, 31 December 1951

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,146,000, 31 December 1951

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

First appearance in a Western of Burt Lancaster, who was borrowed from Wallis-Hazen.

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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. Lonely sometimes and cold - so much distance you'd have thought you'd never get back - but for me, a young kid, it was a fine time. Memories are mostly good. You're up on top of the world where the air is clean and thin ...

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Connections

Featured in The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Story (1951)

User Reviews

The great Burt Lancaster is terrific as a honorable and tough cowboy

The movie concerns about a cattle baron (Ray Collins) who takes a foreman named Owen (Burt Lancaster) as his own son , originating in the legitimate one named Lee (Rober Walker) an enormous resentment for the adopted brother . An illegitimate child of Lee and Lily (Sally Forrest) creates more problems when the brothers (John Ireland , Hugh O'Brian) from her , along with a mean gunslinger (Ted De Corsia) are looking for revenge . Lee married to Jean (Joanne Dru) is seeing an opportunity to obtain his father's cattle.

The movie is a good western with extraordinary landscapes that were shot on location in natural parks of Montana and Arizona territory . The picture has western action , drama , round-up , horseman pursuits and results to be quite entertaining . It carries a surprising feeling of authenticity for a Western of this M.G.M.'s classic period . Serious Western by Richard Thorpe and with Burt Lancaster as a foreman trying to live a pacific existence . The picture is produced in enough budget by Metro Goldwyn Mayer where director Richard Thorpe spent 33 years in the same studio and he was to become the longest-servicing filmmaker in their story . In time Thorpe became known as the studio's ¨one take¨ because of his rapid shooting schedules . It's the first Burt Lancaster's Western and , as always , he plays a honest and upright character , similar he subsequently played in ¨Unforgiven¨ (by John Huston). Robert Walker is fine in his last film because being early deceased at thirty two years old , he's specially known for ¨Strangers on the train¨ (Alfred Hitchcock). George Folsey's cinematography is glimmer and colorful like is well reflected on the breathtaking and spellbound outdoors ; however the photography is a little worn-out . In fact , 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 , meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film . Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely and usually badly edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second or third-generation or more copies of the film . Splendid art direction by Cedric Gibbons from Metro Goldwyn Mayer (film producer) , he's the greatest production designer by that time .

The movie attained lukewarm reception by the public , it achieved a limited success ; however a similar film titled ¨Red River¨ (by Howard Hawks), also with the same protagonist , the attractive Joanne Dru , was much better as reviews as box office . The motion picture was professionally directed by Richard Thorpe . He directed lesser Western and thrillers when he moved into features in 1924 and did little of note before joining MGM in 1935 . Thorpe made routine studio fare until 1950s when he was given more major assignment . He then made various big-budget productions financed by Pando S Bergman among his best known films are all the MGM Tarzans following his arrival at the studio in 1935 and a series of swashbuckling adventures in the early 1950s featuring Robert Taylor , the most successful of these were three swashbucklers made in England as ¨Knights of Round Table¨ , ¨Ivanhoe¨ and ¨Quentin Durward¨ . Thorpe was an expert on all kind of genres as Western as ¨Wild horse¨ , ¨Under Montana skies¨ and ¨Last challenge¨ but his specialty resulted to be adventures as ¨Prisoner of Zenda¨, ¨The prodigal¨ , ¨Challenge to Lassie¨ , ¨Malaya¨ , ¨Tarzan's secret treasure¨ , ¨Tarzan escapes¨ , ¨Tarzan finds a son¨ and Musicals as ¨Fun in Acapulco¨ , ¨Rainbow over Broadway¨ , ¨The prince student¨ and his biggest money-maker to date was ¨The great Caruso¨ and his last big box-office hit was ¨Presley' Jailhouse Rock¨ . He also worked briefly in television before retiring in 1968 , his last film was a Western : ¨The last challenge¨, also titled ¨The Pistolero of Red River ¨. The motion picture will appeal to Burt Lancaster fans and western genre enthusiasts .