Product: Hangman's Knot (1952)
Rating: 4.0
The Civil War out West
It seems somehow very fitting that Randolph Scott, who never really made it to the A-list of Western stars (though he was one of the top box-office stars of the '50's), should head up the cast in this movie, which focuses on the neglected subject of the guerrilla actions fought over much of the American West in 1861-5, as the Confederacy struggled to detach the gold-rich Territories and California from the Union, busy the Army with Indian uprisings, and keep itself financed by hijacking bullion shipments. Himself a Virginian, he plays Maj. Matt Stewart, a Confederate officer who leads a small band of partisans in a daring and cleverly plotted theft of a load of Comstock gold--only to discover that Lee has already surrendered. Now he faces the dilemma of what to do with the gold--keep it and be branded an outlaw, return it and risk being hanged by overzealous Union supporters? What's worse, there's soon a posse on the trail of his band, led by the slyly sinister Quincey (Ray Teal), who may have their own plans for the gold. Donna Reed plays a former Union nurse who, with her fiance, is aboard the stagecoach that gets swept up in the affair; Claude Jarman, Jr., who played John Wayne's son inRio Grande, appears as young Jamie Groves, the "kid" of Stewart's band; and a young (age 28) Lee Marvin offers a delightful foreshadowing of his part inThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valanceas Rolph Bainter, who, like Quincey, has his own ideas about what should be done with the swag. There's plenty of good pace and steadily ratcheting tension and a satisfying ending. This may be one of the best movies to begin with if you're unfamiliar with Scott's sizeable Western ouevre.