The Outriders

Plot synopsis:
With the Civil War nearing an end, rebel soldiers Will Owen, Jess Wallace and Clint Priest are released in Missouri from a Union stockade. A bandit leader and Confederate sympathizer, Keeley, recruits them to join a wagon train run by Don Chaves that is carrying a million dollars' worth of gold bullion.
The men see it as a chance to help the South and also profit. Don Chaves is suspicious of them, but permits them to be outriders, accompanying the wagon train but staying 200 yards from the others. Apaches attack and the three men help fend them off, gaining the Don's trust.
The beautiful widow Jen Gort attracts the interest of Will and Jess, who have a falling out. She is escorting teenaged Roy, her young brother-in-law, who is eager to prove his courage to the older men by fighting Indians by their side. The boy ends up inadvertently causing a stampede, however, then drowns while attempting to cross a raging river.
News comes that the war is over. Because of that, plus his love for Jen and admiration for the Don, the robbery no longer interests Will, but Jess is determined to go through with it so that he and Keeley can split the money. A gunfight ends in Jess's death, so that Will and Jen can go on with their lives.

Tags: violence

Review:
Decent Western with spectacular outdoors , colorful photography , nice direction and great cast.
MGM Western movie with glimmer Technicolor cinematography , impressive landscapes and including romance of the daring pioneers of the West .
Late in the American Civil War, from an Union prison called Camp Benton, our handsome hero, a Confederate Sergeant called Will Owen (Joel McCrea) is imprisoned at a hard Northern jail , he is a highly respected Southern official .
But he escapes along with Jesse Wallace (Barry Sullivan) and Clint Priest (James Withmore) .
Soon fall into the hands of pro-Confederate raiders, followers to leaders Bushwhackers as Quantrell and Anderson , such as as Keeley (Jeff Corey) and Bye (Ted De Corsia) , two roguish confederate rebels , both of whom have a war task for them who force them to act as "outriders" or escorts for a civilian wagon train that will be secretly transporting Union gold among the personal possessions in the caravan of Don Antonio Chaves (Ramon Novarro) from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to St. Louis, Missouri .
Meantime , Will Owen falls in love a beautiful woman named Jen Gort (Arlene Dahl) , a recent war widow, who is accompanied by her teenaged brother-in-law Roy Gort (Claude Jarman Jr.) .
Here filmmaker Roy Rowland delivers a nice film , however he could be counted on to deliver solid "B" pictures which, at MGM, were often better than most other studios' "A" pictures .
Brief character studio about three escorts or outriders , Joel McCrea/Barry Sullivan/James Withmore they became friends despite their differing personalities , until the inevitable final conflict .
The highlights of the movie are the spectacular as well as violent getaway from Benton Missouri Camp and the sensitive dance between Arlene Dahl and the sex-hungry soldiers .
Very good support cast such as James Whitmore , Ramon Novarro , Jeff Corey , Alex Montoya , Ted De Corsia and a young Claude Jarman Jr of Rio Grande and The yearling .
Rousing and breathtaking musical score by Andre Previn who married Mia Farrow The motion picture lavishly produced by Richard Goldstone and MGM studios was well directed by Roy Rowland .
Roy spent quite a bit of time at the studio, from 1943-51 and again from 1954-58 ; he had the good fortune to marry the niece of Louis B.
His final film as director was a somewhat cheesy pirate movie (he was uncredited ; his Italian co-director Sergio Bergonzelli got sole credit) called El Tigre De Los 7 Mares and its sequel : Tormenta Sobre el Pacífico (1966).
Just look at the supporting actors: James Whitmore, Barry Sullivan, Ramon Novarro and, of course, Jeff Corey as the very reasonable, psychopathic Southern raider Keeley.
In 1950, MGM still had the production staff and budgets to make its movies look great.
"The Outriders" is an example of what the old Hollywood studios did best: turning out technically well made, interesting movies by the dozens each year.
It has a great typical western story about three Confederate prisoners who escape (McCrea, Barry Sullivan and James Whitmore) and end up with some Quantrill's followers commanded by Jeff Corey.
Corey sends them on a mission to join a caravan which is leaving Santa Fe, which is carrying gold, and whose leader is the notorious silent movie actor Ramon Novarro.
2) there is a dance with the men drunk, and Arlene as the only woman tries to dance with them all and ends up dancing with McCrea, very sensual scenes.
The budget and production values are always restrained, but the strength of the studio system shows in excellent lighting and color plus a number of realistic outdoor scenes blending finely with studio effects.
Other reviewers noted the convincing mattes of Santa Fe, but I felt almost intoxicated by the deep blue sky-backdrop to the camping scene that turns from a comic riot to a dance of love.The other virtue of the studio system is the stable of professional actors who perform their roles not to steal scenes but in service of the plot.
Joel McCrea may excel even Randolph Scott in saying the most with the least words while never ever lying--the Western-hero actors of their generation internalized completely the cowboy as a latter-day knight, and the alchemy of script and star is fascinating.
The scene is all about sex, but the actors, the script, the direction, and the genre completely control the sexuality's expression.In the supporting ranks James Whitmore, not yet 30, is convincing as an old-coot warrior-sidekick with kidney trouble, while Ramon Navarro--a former sex symbol entering his 50s--plays a Mexican padrone who's still got chops.
But those same qualities make its most beautiful moments somewhat understated, like something even better might once have been imagined but for now they need to finish a movie..
Joel McCrea did another western with a similar premise to The Outriders for Warner Brothers in South of St. Louis.
Joel McCrea, Barry Sullivan, and James Whitmore are Confederate prisoners who escape in early 1865.
The trio either goes west to Santa Fe to act as Judas goats and lead a gold train into ambush or die right there.
Even the always honorable Joel McCrea sees he has no options here.The rest of the story is how the conflicts internal and external are resolved and how the three escaped prisoners decide what course they have to take.
Oh, and Joel McCrea meets up with Arlene Dahl and she kind of helps him along in the decision process.The movies never had a more honorable or stalwart hero than Joel McCrea.
It's a tribute to McCrea that if he insisted on always being the stalwart hero, he had the talent and personality to carry it off.It's familiar ground for Joel McCrea, but western fans will like the story and the gorgeous technicolor photography that captures it..
So I suppose this film would have just been another oater for me but for that one small detail.The Outriders was a typical late '40s western movie, so the only reason I decided to watch it was that I like Joel McRea. Otherwise I might have passed on this 55 year old sage brush saga.
But once it started, the female lead, Arlene Dahl, caught my eye.Ms. Dahl could have been just another late 1940s blonde, blue eyed movie star in another late 1940s oater except for two things.
Head honcho Will Owens (McRea) tells Jen Gort (Ms. Dahl) to stay in the wagon to avoid getting the trail hands stirred up, but when the men break out fiddles and guitars and start singing around the camp fire, she comes out, dressed to the nines with her dancing shoes.
THE OUTRIDERS is a good workmanlike Western.
Joel McCrea gives his usual conviction to the hero role, with Barry Sullivan nicely devious as his comrade/rival.
Arlene Dahl looks great, but tends to pout a bit much, James Whitmore lends sturdy support in the type of role normally played by Walter Brennan, Claude Jarman Jr. plays another of his doomed youths, and Jeff Corey is quite extraordinary as the villain (with almost expressionist make-up, and did he intend to imitate Kirk Douglas?).But the movie is stolen by silent screen legend Ramon Novarro in one of his more substantial later roles.
This film has an excellent premise, a solid cast, beautiful scenery, and a fine (if brief) score.
I put the blame on directing and writing that isn't very compelling or incisive.The same can be said of other MGM films from the late 1940's and early 1950's that I've seen.
For some reason, MGM films from around this time tended to pull their punches..
Joel McCrea was no more the romantic lead of "Colorado's territory" which was made the year before.At the beginning of the movie he is a bearded man and seems much older than the year before ."The outriders" is a routine western,but an entertaining one,with at least two very good scenes:Arlene Dahl's young brother-in-law ,on guard,afraid of everything,and seeing Indians everywhere ,this very short sequence packs a real wallop; and the scene of the river which almost compares favorably with that of Vidor's "northwest passage".Although the plot is much predictable -with gorgeous Dahl,it could not be any other way-,the plot retains suspense and the colors are fine..
Joel McCrea in an atypically wooden performance as a Confederate soldier who, along with two friends, escapes from a Union prison camp in the last year of the Civil War, wrangled by a Rebel troop into taking bushwhacking job robbing a Yankee wagon train of its gold bullion.
There's a neat scene midway through where the men attempt to have a square dance without any women; and when lone female Arlene Dahl finally joins in, McCrea has a wonderful moment where he changes her shoes.
Otherwise, Barry Sullivan is about the sorriest cowboy in '50s westerns, and a nearly-unrecognizable James Whitmore is wasted as a grizzled soldier.
McCrea and Sullivan fight over Dahl, predictably, without ever asking her whom she prefers, while the other relationships in this caravan are practically non-existent.
Good supporting cast, including an almost-grown up Claude Jarman, Jr., and nice Technicolor photography, but alas, this yarn is strictly rote.
The Outriders is directed by Roy Rowland and written by Irving Ravetch.
It stars Joel McCrea, Arlene Dahl, Barry Sullivan, James Whitmore, Ramon Novarro, Jeff Corey and Claude Jarman.
Music is by Andre Previn and cinematography by Charles Schoenbaum.Plot sees McCrea as Will Owen, the alpha male of three Confederate prisoners who escape from Camp Benton Stockade and promptly get recruited by one of William Quantrill's Bushwhacker units.
Assigned to infiltrate a Don Chaves (Novarro) run wagon train that's carrying a fortune in gold, the men must deal with Indians, each other, and the hazards that the journey throws up.
Be it his views on the unsavoury tactics employed by Keeley's (Corey) Bushwhackers, and his place as the undercover leader leading the wagon train to doom, or the positioning of his feelings - and others around him - towards the female of the group (Dahl) and that of her teenage brother-in-law.
Owen is definitely in emotional turmoil.From an action stand point the pic doesn't short change, with Indian attacks, internal fisticuffs and a rousing chase followed by the big siege finale, all of which are delivered admirably and scored robustly by Previn.
The aforementioned square dance sequences showcase her sexual beauty, with flaming red hair and glorious emerald green shoes acting as glorious crowns to a most appetising filling.Yes the story is soft, and anyone jaded by the formula of many 1950s Westerns should probably avoid this one - with most almost certainly knowing how it's going to pan out anyway.
Joel McCrea and two colleagues (James Whitmore, Barry Sullivan) are Confederate prisoners who escape from a Union POW camp and hook up with a faction of the notorious Quantrill's Raiders in Missouri and join a plot to ambush a Union wagon train hauling gold from New Mexico to St. Louis.This is one of McCrea's lesser efforts, although MGM put a lot of money and glitz into it.
Barry Sullivan is wildly miscast as a roguish New Orleans playboy, Arlene Dahl has nothing to do but stand around, look gorgeous--which she does extremely well--and let Sullivan and McCrea fight over her.
Ted DeCorsia, one of the great movie heavies, was occasionally cast in westerns, but never really fit in--he was the personification of a bad-ass New York tough guy and he just couldn't escape that--and here he plays one of Quantrill's gang who accompanies the trio to New Mexico to keep an eye on them while they worm their way into the wagon train.
For some unfathomable reason, he simply vanishes about halfway through the picture--he's sent back to notify the raiders that the wagon train is on the way and he's never seen again.
These holes in the script aren't really major flaws, but indicative of how sloppy this picture can get.The direction by MGM vet Roy Rowland is sluggish--westerns weren't really his specialty--and the script is pretty predictable.
Whitmore gives it his best, as he always does, but McCrea doesn't seem to have his heart in it and pretty much sleepwalks through the picture, though he does come alive in a few scenes.
It's a fair-to-almost-middling western, and if you're a McCrea fan I guess you'll like it a lot more than I did, but it's really nothing to write home about..
Confederate prison escapees plan to hi-jack a Union gold shipment and divert it to the South.
For once, MGM's tendency to over-produce its horse operas gives way to a wise use of money for a western.
Instead, the production makes excellent use of its scenic Kanab, Utah, locations, along with a fine A-list cast and enough extras to make the battle scenes interesting.
Sure, a hi-jacked gold shipment and a rivalry between sometime buddies (McCrea & Sullivan) are familiar plot devices.
Nonetheless, it's a better-than-average script, with several good touches (e.g. Sullivan's loaded gun at the end).That river-crossing scene is clearly the movie's centerpiece and is impressively done.
I'm guessing those were not easy scenes to film.Anyway, it's a fine McCrea western even though he gets less focal time than usual..
During the last year of the US Civil War, confederate prisoners Joel McCrea (as Will Owen), Barry Sullivan (as Jesse Wallace), and James Whitmore (as Clint Priest) escape from a Union prison camp.
They hook up with a band of cutthroats led by Jeff Corey (as Keeley) and join a plot to steal gold from wagon master Ramon Novarro (as Antonio Chaves), which would help the Confederacy.
Among those on Mr. Novarro's wagon train are an arousing blonde widow Arlene Dahl (as Jen Gort) and her young brother-in-law Claude Jarman Jr.
Still slumbering along without ever catching fire, "The Outriders" is a colorful, well-cast but routine western.
Former "silent" star Novarro gives an note-worthy supporting performance.****** The Outriders (3/1/50) Roy Rowland ~ Joel McCrea, Arlene Dahl, Ramon Novarro, Barry Sullivan.
"Gun Glory" director Roy Rowland's "The Outriders" is an American Civil War western set during the twilight days of the conflict with actors Joel McCrea, James Whitmore, and Barry Sullivan cast as three Confederates who escape from a Union prison camp and make their way west.
Anyway, the three escape after Sullivan kills a Union guard and they find themselves eventually to the camp of Confederate renegade terrorist Keeley (Jeff Corey of "True Grit") and his minion Bye (Ted de Corsia of "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral").
Everything appears to be going according to plan, except that Will Owen (Joel McCrea) is losing his allegiance to the cause.
He meets and falls in love with Jen Gort (Arlene Dahl of "Land Raiders") and he changes his mind.
Rowland stages several good genre scenes, but the one that stands out prominently is the scene when our heroes must cut wood to get the wagon trail across a rapidly flowing river that has risen far above its normal level.
Although not as good as "South of St. Louis," "The Outsiders" is nevertheless a solid western well worth watching..
This film begins in a Union prison camp filled with Confederate prisoners.
Three of them (Joel McCrea, Barry Sullivan and James Whitmore) escape and eventually meet up with Confederate raiders.
During the war, raiders were Southern soldiers who are a bit more like bandits and specialized in making fast strikes on mostly civilian targets in the North.
However, there are a few complications, Will Owen (McCrea) is a decent guy and his conscience bothers him about leading the folks into an ambush.
Second, Jesse Wallace (Sullivan) is a bit of a scum-bag and Will needs to keep an eye out for him as well...especially since Jesse is much more concerned about making himself rich instead of helping his cause.
Finally, Will likes these folks and has fallen for one of the women (Arlene Dahl).
Still, despite this, McCrea was such a wonderful actor in westerns that I was able to cut the film some slack.
My only gripe is late in the film when Will tells everyone he HAD intended to lead them into an ambush...and never really explains why he was planning on doing this.
His doing it for his Confederacy is far different than his possibly being a bandit since he'd just learned that the war was over!!!By the way, one of the interesting bits of casting here is Ramon Novarro as Don Antonio.
But with time and changing tastes, in the 1940s, Novarro made very, very few films and this is one of your rare opportunities to see the middle-aged actor..
McCrea, Sullivan, and Whitmore escape from a Yankee prison camp during the Civil War. In the process, Sullivan manages to stab the young guard multiple times with what seems like a bit too much relish.
James Whitmore is an elderly soldier with kidney stones.The three men are swept up in a gang run by one of Quantrill's lieutenants.
After the war, some of Quantrill's raiders continued their criminal activities for their own benefit, including Jesse James.This particular band of raiders is led by Jeff Corey who coerces the escaped prisoners into guiding a wagon train full of Mexicans, refugees, and gold from Santa Fe into an ambush.
Among the travelers is Arlene Dahl, looking splendid in her echt-Hollywood fashion, and her nephew, Claud Jarmon, Jr., who wants to prove his manhood -- always a bad sign.The Civil War ends before the train reaches the ambush site but it's revealed that Sullivan knows that the gold would never have reached Richmond anyway.
Sullivan leaves the train and joins the gang.The film would be utterly routine and without interest if it weren't for a couple of elements.
McCrea by this time is perfectly willing to miss the ambush date and suggests camping until the current subsides -- if it ever does.
The climax is more or less predictable.This was released in 1950 and Joel McCrea had already decided to work on nothing but Westerns.