Rick Freers' "Scorching Fury" has been described as one of "the worst westerns of the 40's and 50's." Indeed, this 63-minute, B-movie suffers from a bare-bones budget, and a cast of little known actors and actresses. Nevertheless, several factors distinguish it as an oater worth watching if you crave westerns. First, the filmmakers have lensed the action primarily on location without any reliance on obvious back projection. You'll see a few scenes set in the typical western town. Phyllis Coates of the "Superman" television series makes a cameo on the Tucson set. Later, two scenes take place in a sheriff's office and a bank. Meantime, everything else happens in the wide-open spaces. Second, if you pay attention to the dialogue, co-scribes James Craig and Richard Devon cover all the traditional themes of a horse opera. They do a competent job of parceling out the exposition among the various characters, most of it conveyed during the campfire scenes. Commenting about the villain's lack of qualms about resorting to violence, one character observes, "With that .45 in his hand, he was a tall piece of lightning." Third, although the characters are sketchy, the actors breathe a modicum of humanity into them. Interestingly, Richard Devon made his cinematic debut here as a good guy in a white hat who went on to portray low-down, no-account skunks in "3:10 to Yuma" and "The Comancheros." Fifth, Freers generates some suspense by concealing the identity of the villain until the climactic showdown. The only thing that we do know about Ward Canepa is he wears spurs the jingle, is a southpaw with a six-shooter, and has on stripped britches. The chief shortcoming of this western is the obligatory cavalry versus the Indians subplot, with footage that looks like it might have been appropriated from another bigger budget sagebrusher. Initially, Freers cross-cuts between a lone Indian eavesdropping on the passengers around a campfire before he hightails it back to his village.
"Scorching Fury" is a traditional law & order western. A gang of outlaws with bandanas over their faces waylay a stagecoach in the middle of nowhere. Not only do these outlaws clean out the strongbox, but they also take anything of value from the passengers. Were this not enough, they cut the team of four horses loose and stampede them. A fourth horseman appears and blasts holes into a water barrel kept in the boot of the coach. The quartet of bandits leave the passengers unarmed, without water, and on foot. The passengers consist of Mrs. Harrison (Audrey Dineen of "Medic"), singer Cara Emmons (Peggy Nelson of "Camilla"), her guitar-playing accompanist, Lockwin (Eddie McLean of "Riders of the Pony Express"), and a young couple Drew (Allen Windsor of "The Purple Gang") and Louise Macurda (one-time only actress Twyla Paxton), and they follow the advice of a deputy sheriff, Kirk Flamer (Richard Devon of "Magnum Force"), who was riding with them to Boone City, California. They set out to find a suitable camp site for the evening. When the musician suggests that they walk to the nearest stagecoach substation, Drew points out that it lies about 15 miles away. While the passengers are making the best of a bad predicament, Kirk gets chummy with Cara and recounts the events that occurred in Tucson when his old friend Clint Rust (William Leslie of "The Horse Soldiers") and he rode into town on a jackass. Later, the two men decided to visit Adobe Wells where Clint's uncle was the town sheriff, Sheriff J.D. (Rory Mallinson of "Dark Passage"), and he persuaded them to serve as deputies along with a third person, Ward Canepa (Sherwood Price of "Ice Station Zebra"), who was extremely proficient with firearms. J.D. assigned each of them to ride shotgun on different stagecoaches to thwart a recent crime wave of hold-ups. The coach that Ward was dispatched to guard never arrived at its destination. Eventually, J.D., Clint, and Kirk locate it. They find the driver is dead and the gold shipment missing. Worse, Kirk shows J.D. and Clint a deputy sheriff's badge that he found beneath the driver's body. Clearly, the badge incriminates Ward Canepa as an outlaw. Kirk and Clint ride separate trails to track down Ward. Unfortunately, Clint's uncle tries to foil a daylight bank robbery, but he doesn't know Ward is hiding behind the front door. Ward shoots J.D. six times and then laughs maniacally. Clint sheds his deputy sheriff's badge and plans to exact personal revenge. Ward catches him out in the open and shoots his horse, forcing Clint afoot. Eventually, Clint finds Kirk and company. Kirk tries to convince his friend to pin his badge back and stick to the letter of the law. Ward infiltrates the campsite, but the musician wounds him in the shoulder. Despite his wound, Ward maintains in control of the situation and challenges Clint to a duel. A ritualistic, count-to-ten, face-to-face showdown ensues. Sure, the production values are nothing to brag about, but "Scorching Fury" isn't as abysmal as some critics contend. Indeed, it reminded me of the rugged succession of westerns that Budd Boetticher would direct with Randolph Scott in largely mountainous locales with Burt Kennedy's atmospheric dialogue. The title refers to the way Clint feels about Ward as much as the situation that Kirk and the stagecoach passengers find themselves in after they have been abandoned without water in the desert.
"Scorching Fury" is a traditional law & order western. A gang of outlaws with bandanas over their faces waylay a stagecoach in the middle of nowhere. Not only do these outlaws clean out the strongbox, but they also take anything of value from the passengers. Were this not enough, they cut the team of four horses loose and stampede them. A fourth horseman appears and blasts holes into a water barrel kept in the boot of the coach. The quartet of bandits leave the passengers unarmed, without water, and on foot. The passengers consist of Mrs. Harrison (Audrey Dineen of "Medic"), singer Cara Emmons (Peggy Nelson of "Camilla"), her guitar-playing accompanist, Lockwin (Eddie McLean of "Riders of the Pony Express"), and a young couple Drew (Allen Windsor of "The Purple Gang") and Louise Macurda (one-time only actress Twyla Paxton), and they follow the advice of a deputy sheriff, Kirk Flamer (Richard Devon of "Magnum Force"), who was riding with them to Boone City, California. They set out to find a suitable camp site for the evening. When the musician suggests that they walk to the nearest stagecoach substation, Drew points out that it lies about 15 miles away. While the passengers are making the best of a bad predicament, Kirk gets chummy with Cara and recounts the events that occurred in Tucson when his old friend Clint Rust (William Leslie of "The Horse Soldiers") and he rode into town on a jackass. Later, the two men decided to visit Adobe Wells where Clint's uncle was the town sheriff, Sheriff J.D. (Rory Mallinson of "Dark Passage"), and he persuaded them to serve as deputies along with a third person, Ward Canepa (Sherwood Price of "Ice Station Zebra"), who was extremely proficient with firearms. J.D. assigned each of them to ride shotgun on different stagecoaches to thwart a recent crime wave of hold-ups. The coach that Ward was dispatched to guard never arrived at its destination. Eventually, J.D., Clint, and Kirk locate it. They find the driver is dead and the gold shipment missing. Worse, Kirk shows J.D. and Clint a deputy sheriff's badge that he found beneath the driver's body. Clearly, the badge incriminates Ward Canepa as an outlaw. Kirk and Clint ride separate trails to track down Ward. Unfortunately, Clint's uncle tries to foil a daylight bank robbery, but he doesn't know Ward is hiding behind the front door. Ward shoots J.D. six times and then laughs maniacally. Clint sheds his deputy sheriff's badge and plans to exact personal revenge. Ward catches him out in the open and shoots his horse, forcing Clint afoot. Eventually, Clint finds Kirk and company. Kirk tries to convince his friend to pin his badge back and stick to the letter of the law. Ward infiltrates the campsite, but the musician wounds him in the shoulder. Despite his wound, Ward maintains in control of the situation and challenges Clint to a duel. A ritualistic, count-to-ten, face-to-face showdown ensues. Sure, the production values are nothing to brag about, but "Scorching Fury" isn't as abysmal as some critics contend. Indeed, it reminded me of the rugged succession of westerns that Budd Boetticher would direct with Randolph Scott in largely mountainous locales with Burt Kennedy's atmospheric dialogue. The title refers to the way Clint feels about Ward as much as the situation that Kirk and the stagecoach passengers find themselves in after they have been abandoned without water in the desert.
