It's a bit of an unusual western because it's set during the Civil War. Gary Cooper stars as Major Alex Kearney who's court martialed early on in Colorado for allowing a herd of horses to be intercepted by rustlers who are working with the Confederate army.
Alex decides to let the herd go since his unit is outnumbered four to one by the rustlers. Dismissal from the force seems like an excessive punishment for a commander who was just trying to save his men. It soon becomes clear that the court martial is staged and Alex is actually a Union intelligence officer assigned to find out who is diverting all the horses to the Confederates.
The bulk of Springfield Rifle shows how Alex infiltrates the horse thieve gang and ultimately learns that the Union Commander Lt. Col. Hudson (Paul Kelly) is primarily responsible for betraying the union side.
Springfield Rifle did not receive good reviews when it was released in 1952 and that's because the plot is convoluted and few of the characters are memorable. Halfway through the chief Confederate informant is killed. Alex makes two improbable escapes from federal custody right before he's about to be executed.
By the time we find out that Hudson is the Judas of the piece, we simply don't care very much for the bad guys who tend to blend into one another. There's also a subplot involving Alex's wife Erin (Phyllis Thaxter) who inadvertently allows Hudson to figure out that Alex is a spy by informing him of the whereabouts of the couples' son who has gone missing following Alex's mock dismissal from the Union force.
As to the Springfield Rifles-the new design of the guns supposedly helps Alex and the Union Army defeat the horse thieves who outnumber them. History however tells us otherwise revealing that during the Civil War the guns weren't as effective since they required extensive training when there was little time to prepare the troops before battle.
Despite uninteresting characters, Springfield Rifle's rousing score and action scenes compensate for the lack of character development. See it for the non-stop action as well as the stalwart Gary Cooper performance who just came off his famed role in High Noon, a ew months earlier.
Alex decides to let the herd go since his unit is outnumbered four to one by the rustlers. Dismissal from the force seems like an excessive punishment for a commander who was just trying to save his men. It soon becomes clear that the court martial is staged and Alex is actually a Union intelligence officer assigned to find out who is diverting all the horses to the Confederates.
The bulk of Springfield Rifle shows how Alex infiltrates the horse thieve gang and ultimately learns that the Union Commander Lt. Col. Hudson (Paul Kelly) is primarily responsible for betraying the union side.
Springfield Rifle did not receive good reviews when it was released in 1952 and that's because the plot is convoluted and few of the characters are memorable. Halfway through the chief Confederate informant is killed. Alex makes two improbable escapes from federal custody right before he's about to be executed.
By the time we find out that Hudson is the Judas of the piece, we simply don't care very much for the bad guys who tend to blend into one another. There's also a subplot involving Alex's wife Erin (Phyllis Thaxter) who inadvertently allows Hudson to figure out that Alex is a spy by informing him of the whereabouts of the couples' son who has gone missing following Alex's mock dismissal from the Union force.
As to the Springfield Rifles-the new design of the guns supposedly helps Alex and the Union Army defeat the horse thieves who outnumber them. History however tells us otherwise revealing that during the Civil War the guns weren't as effective since they required extensive training when there was little time to prepare the troops before battle.
Despite uninteresting characters, Springfield Rifle's rousing score and action scenes compensate for the lack of character development. See it for the non-stop action as well as the stalwart Gary Cooper performance who just came off his famed role in High Noon, a ew months earlier.