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

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of a handful of MGM productions of 1950-51 period whose original copyrights were never renewed and are now in the Public Domain; for this reason this title is now offered, often in very inferior copies, at bargain prices by numerous DVD distributors that do not normally handle copyrighted or MGM material.

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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

Referenced in Boulevard (2014)

User Reviews

Great Title and Some Good Performances

"Vengeance Valley" (1951) is not just a great title for a western, but a well-made, intelligent feature that should please Burt Lancaster and Robert Walker fans. A cattle baron (Ray Collins) takes in an orphaned boy (Owen Daybright) and raises him. His own son (Lee Strobie) is about the same age. Although Lee resents Owen they generally get along and share a lot of coming of age adventures on the ranch. But as they mature Lee's (Robert Walker) resentment causes him to become a slacker and the classic prodigal son. After a long absence he returns with a wife, appears to have cleaned up his act, and reconciles with his father.

But Lee's past includes a girl named Lily that he got pregnant. Owen covers for him, but this causes Lee to resent his stepbrother even more. When he suspects that his father's ranch and his new wife are slipping away from him, he sets up Owen to be killed by Lily's two brothers. Although this prodigal son-Cain and Abel stuff is hardly original, the two stars are excellent in their respective parts. Lancaster reins in his excesses and gives a nice controlled performance, with his suppressed energy just visible enough to give Owen a nice dimensionality.

Walker in convincing as a two-faced villain, still motivated by childhood jealousy but able to conceal it from everyone but the audience. Walker is relatively forgotten today, but was the 1940's version of James Dean; although his looks and style are more like a young Robert Vaughn.

When not occupied with its melodramatic story, "Vengeance Valley" has the look of an extremely well-produced documentary, going into great detail about the process of a spring roundup and providing a lot of very scenic backgrounds. A ranch hand named Hewie (Carleton Carpenter) provides an informative voice-over. The film features some great cattle scenes, a lot of good riding sequences, and a couple well staged fights. Watch for an early appearance by young Hugh O'Brian-just a few years away from starring in television's "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp".

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 May 1951 (UK)

Also Known As:

Vengeance Valley

Filming Locations:

Coal Creek, Colorado, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,008,000 (estimated)

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