Guy Madison made this picture near the end of his series run in "The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok". I'm currently watching "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" running on Encore Westerns, and trying to decide who the better looking lawman was, Madison as Hickok or Hugh O'Brian as Earp. I guess it could be a toss up, so I bring it up for the reader to decide.
Now if Michael Landon appeared here, it might have been a three way contest. Instead, his 'Bonanza' Dad Lorne Green played the quintessential bad guy/town boss who didn't like to get his own hands dirty, so he hired out gunslingers to do his nasty work. None of them proved to be a match for Madison's character, Steve Burden, who outdrew and out fought every henchman Rice Martin (Green) threw up against him. That included his wife Fern Martin (Valerie French), who had no problem using up men like paper towels and throwing them on the scrap heap.
The story plays out rather formulaic, but what bothered me were the couple of times Steve Burden allowed himself to get up close and personal with the shrewish Fern Martin (French). I guess if part of his plan was to draw her out to expose her husband's rustling operation and implication in a friend's death at the beginning of the story, then it worked. But even if it hadn't, Fern made the same fatal mistake a lot of outlaws do when she shot her husband with three witnesses present. Losing one's head like that is always a bad career move.
Since I brought up the Wyatt Earp TV series earlier, keep a sharp eye out for a couple of that show's regulars in the cast. Myron Healey doesn't last long in this story when he's shot by Burden to open the picture; he portrayed Doc Holliday for a couple of seasons along side O'Brian. Also on hand was that show's Old Man Clanton, Trevor Bardette, here playing an opportunistic weasel by the name of Willis, picking up stray jobs and booze for pay from Rice Martin. He's the guy shot off the roof by El Solito town sheriff Harker (Robert Burton), in a move described by Burden as 'the best shot he's ever seen'.
Now if Michael Landon appeared here, it might have been a three way contest. Instead, his 'Bonanza' Dad Lorne Green played the quintessential bad guy/town boss who didn't like to get his own hands dirty, so he hired out gunslingers to do his nasty work. None of them proved to be a match for Madison's character, Steve Burden, who outdrew and out fought every henchman Rice Martin (Green) threw up against him. That included his wife Fern Martin (Valerie French), who had no problem using up men like paper towels and throwing them on the scrap heap.
The story plays out rather formulaic, but what bothered me were the couple of times Steve Burden allowed himself to get up close and personal with the shrewish Fern Martin (French). I guess if part of his plan was to draw her out to expose her husband's rustling operation and implication in a friend's death at the beginning of the story, then it worked. But even if it hadn't, Fern made the same fatal mistake a lot of outlaws do when she shot her husband with three witnesses present. Losing one's head like that is always a bad career move.
Since I brought up the Wyatt Earp TV series earlier, keep a sharp eye out for a couple of that show's regulars in the cast. Myron Healey doesn't last long in this story when he's shot by Burden to open the picture; he portrayed Doc Holliday for a couple of seasons along side O'Brian. Also on hand was that show's Old Man Clanton, Trevor Bardette, here playing an opportunistic weasel by the name of Willis, picking up stray jobs and booze for pay from Rice Martin. He's the guy shot off the roof by El Solito town sheriff Harker (Robert Burton), in a move described by Burden as 'the best shot he's ever seen'.