Station West

Plot synopsis:
Two soldiers have been robbed and murdered while guarding a shipment of gold. Into town rides Haven, a military intelligence officer traveling incognito.
A beautiful saloon singer catches Haven's eye. After he meets Mrs. Caslon, who owns the gold mine, Haven hears that someone called "Charlie" is the brains behind the scene. He finds out to his surprise that Charlie is the singer.
Charlie's lawyer, Bristow, is $6,000 in her debt and therefore might be involved in the gold theft. Haven beats up Charlie's saloon bouncer in a fight and is offered a job as transport chief for the gold. Charlie's friend, Prince, meanwhile, is growing jealous of her interest in Haven.
While transporting a shipment of gold, the man riding shotgun, Goddard, is killed and Haven knocked cold. When he comes to, he manages to track, catch and kill the robber carrying the gold. He shoos away the dead man's horses and follows them to their home stable, at the sawmill owned by Charlie. Haven pretends to be an ignorant hand working for Charlie, and is charged with transporting the stolen gold in the horses' saddlebags back to town to Charlie and Prince.
He hides the gold, and confronts Prince and Charlie. After some to-ing and fro-ing with the gold and an affidavit dictated to Bristow by Haven, Charlie convinces Bristow that he ought to confront Haven. Haven convinces him rather that he is the next target of Prince and Charlie as he knows too much. Bristow, terrified, tries to get away but is shot by Prince. Haven is pinned down, but after persuading the sheriff to arrest him for the crime, Haven escapes, and learns that Charlie's men plan to disguise themselves as military officers to steal more of Mrs. Caslon's gold.
He foils this plot, then arrives back at the saloon, to arrest Charlie, but also because he is in love with her. Prince sneaks up intending to shoot Haven, but his bullet hits Charlie instead. Haven kills Prince and rushes to Charlie's side. She tells Haven she loves him before dying, and he that he loves her.
He rides away as Burl Ives sings that a man can't grow old where there's women and gold.

Tags: murder

Review:
This excellent Western is really a tough film noir cleverly set in the Old West.
And there are interesting little details as well; for instance, the way Dick Powell condescendingly pats attractive women on the arm (the way you might a pet) to let them know who's really in control.
(Or so he'd like to think.) Toss in a first rate supporting cast that includes Raymond Burr, Burl Ives, and Agnes Moorehead - all generously given their scenes to shine - and you've got one heck of a movie.On the surface, Dick Powell, as the undercover military officer trying to solve a series of gold robberies, is an unlikely leading man.
He's more commanding here than many square-jawed actors, and when the film is over it's hard to imagine anyone else in the role.This is one of those extremely satisfying movies where nothing seems forced or labored.
Dick Powell was a musical comedy star in the 30's who in 1944 made a dramatic career change when he switched to hard-boiled private eye/cop roles.
Make no mistake, Station West is a good western.Powell plays an undercover army officer trying to find out who murdered two soldiers while stealing a gold shipment (No not the Gold Diggers of 1933).
Along the way he meets Jane Greer as a business like saloon owner who may not be what she seems to be.
One of the best moments in the film is the knock down drag out fight Powell has with Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, playing a villain this time around.
At first, after Powell knocks him down in the saloon, Williams utters a classic line: "You're too small to have made such a big mistake".Other notables in the cast include Raymond Burr as a cowardly lawyer, Agnes Moorehead as Powell's "contact", Tom Powers as the army commander, Powell regular Regis Toomey as an undercover agent and an unbilled Burl Ives as a guitar strumming hotel clerk.The black and white photography is excellent, particularly in the outdoor scenes.
Station West raises the question as to why Powell didn't make more westerns.
In the Films of Dick Powell, it's pointed out that Powell had done a western only twice before in his musical period.
Cowboy from Brooklyn and Riding High had modern western settings.Only Station West was done during Powell's time as a noir star and he brings the genre west with him.
Done in the obligatory black and white photography, Station West is a moody atmospheric thriller.It's not a mystery because you pretty much know who the bad guys are early on.
But it does show Powell's dogged determination to find out who committed a gold robbery in which two soldiers were killed while guarding the shipment.Powell gets good support from Jane Greer as town saloon owner, Agnes Moorehead as a mine owner, and Raymond Burr as a shyster attorney.
He's quite the weakling here.Powell never made another western feature film, but his Four Star Productions produced Zane Grey Theatre in the Fifties on television and Powell himself appeared in many of the half hour stories..
Dick Powell as a Dashiell Hammett type of hero in a western..
I could never think of Dick Powell in a western, I knew him from a musical (42nd Street), comedies and as a director.
But in this film he comes out well in the main role as Haven.
The whole film follows the same style, including Jane Greer as Charlie, the beautiful villain.
Dick Powell plays his usual sarcastic self in this nice little RKO western about an Army undercover officer investigating a series of gold shipment robberies along with the murder of two soldiers.He gets embroiled with film noir queen Jane Greer as the manipulative seductress who is up to no good.
She trades a lot of quick, snappy one-liners with Powell and of course they fall in love.
Good dialog.Agnes Moorehead appears as the gold mine owner who is romantically involved with the Army Captain of the investigation, Tom Powers.We also get Raymond Burr as the corrupt but wimpy town lawyer who's involved on the periphery of the robberies that's taking place.
Burr was a good heavy for about 10 years before he became PERRY MASON.
But even as a wimp, he's still sleazy.Nice fistfight scene between Powell and Gunn Williams, who plays one of Geer's henchmen thugs here.
He doesn't get to say much other than look mean, but then the role doesn't call for much of that, either.Also notable for the appearance of Burl Ives as the singing hotel clerk who at first, gets on Powell's nerves but later becomes an important ally in his investigation.And at 80 minutes, the film moves along quite smoothly with no awkward moments or wasted screen time.
The whole thing ends before ya know it.Gets a 6½ out of 10 for good story and decent action..
Station West (1948) directed by Sidney Lanfield, is definitely a cut above your standard Grade-B western.
The plot is complex, the camera angles are skillful, and the acting is outstanding.However, this is not a film you see because you like guns, fists, and horses.
Besides Dick Powell and Jane Greer, the cast includes Agnes Moorehead and Raymond Burr.Powell is typecast as the tough-as-nails stranger in a very tough town.
Jane Greer is "Charlie," who owns the gambling saloon, the gold mine, and the sheriff.
She wears gowns that no 19th-Century saloon owner ever wore, and, being Jane Greer, she looks great in them.
She was known as "The Woman with the Mona Lisa smile.")Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams plays the bouncer Mick Marion.
About Marion the hotel clerk says, "Me, I'd rather fight a forest fire." Powell answers, "So would I." Burl Ives is perfect as the hotel clerk who acts like a Greek chorus as he composes and sings a ballad about the plot as it unfolds.
(The chorus ends, "And a man can't grow old, where there's women and gold.") I was able to find a used VCR copy of this film.
It would probably work better on a large screen, but the chemistry between Greer and Powell will work in any format.
Noirish Western Well Acted and Expertly Filmed..
Dick Powell, a favorite actor of the Noir genre, stars as military intelligence officer Haven, a smart aleck undercover investigator looking into the deaths of two soldiers.
Everything appears, on the surface, to be fairly cut and dried, but a good script and excellent acting creates the moody atmosphere necessary to turn this unassuming western town into a darker place where things are not always as they seem.
Greer's performance is flawless, and even the actors who have few lines or quick cameos (Burr's performance comes to mind here), fully invest in their characters.The filming is rather innovative for the time, with realistic hand-held shots peeking through tree branches, at saddle level, or in the case of the aforementioned fight scene, employing angles that join Powell and Williams as they brawl on the dusty bar-lit road.
Lanfield invites the viewer into the scene, creating a first person viewpoint that is entirely intimate.There are a few flaws in the writing, but on the whole, viewing Stations West is an excellent way to spend 80 minutes.
In the movie they Might Be Giants, a delusional jurist explains that he loves westerns because they show the clear delineation between right and wrong, which is when I realized why I vastly prefer mysteries to westerns; I like a more complex world view in which the good and evil dichotomy is not so apparent.Station West is a rather unusual movie in that it looks like a western and has a western-themed score but in terms of story and acting is more akin to 40s tough-guy detective flicks, with more moral ambiguity than you'd see in a John Ford movie.
It's not dark enough to be called film noir, but it has some of those elements, and the relationship of Haven and Charlie is very Hammett-Chandleresque.The movie is enjoyable and briskly paced, with good performances and decent dialog.
And the plotting is a little lazy, with that convoluted, poorly explained style you get in most of the Philip Marlowe films.
But if you like 40s detective movies this is a good bet..
It stars Dick Powell, Jane Greer, Agnes Moorehead, Raymond Burr, Tom Powers, Guinn Williams, Gordon Oliver and Burl Ives.
Wild.Powell plays an undercover army agent sent into Rock Pass to find out who robbed and murdered two soldiers who were guarding a gold shipment.There has always – and always will be – debates about what constitutes film noir, but undoubtedly it is a line of film making that positively thrives on a style that cloaks a number of characterisations.
Thus we have the many off-shoots of film noir, such as the Noir Western.
Where the likes of Pursued, Ramrod and Blood on the Moon are confidently held up as the leading lights of Noir Westerns, it actually pays to look towards a rarer picture like Raton Pass or this here under seen treasure, Station West, for unseen sub-noir rewards.Station West has it all so as to earn its noir badge.
It's got Powell doing a Western version of Phillip Marlowe, complete with swagger, sarcasm and the ability to nonchalantly smile in the face of peril.
Both Powell and Greer are wonderful, their respective characters constantly jostling for domination, trading quips and glib asides, the sexual tension consistently palpable.The town of Rock Pass is in the process of booming, but with that comes corruption, and it is rife, with unlikely sources pulling the crooked strings.
While the man himself, Haven (Powell), has a reputation for not towing the party line, he's clearly in the right place then!Filmed out of beautiful Sedona in Arizona, Harry Wild's photography is gorgeous for the exterior locations (those rock formations are just visual orgasms), and film noir nirvana for everything else as he brings expressionistic touches to all the key sequences.
In the support acting ranks we have Burr as a twitchy lawyer, Moorehead as a stoic wealthy widow, Williams as bad boy muscle, Oliver as the smarm, Powers as the grumpy unhelpful army captain and Ives as a hotel clerk – cum – balladeer who has a morbid hobby on the side.
All of them contribute good characterisations.I can't say that Roemheld's score is particularly memorable, and a big fist-fight between Williams and Powell is ferocious but tainted by the over dramatics that were indicative of the time, but from beginning to sombre end this is a cracker and it deserves to be better known and loved.
Philip Marlow Goes West.
Sidney Lanfield was one of those very competent, but unsung directors who knew what they were about and could make a good western.
And who better than Dick Powell to out-sass the bad guys.
The young Jane Greer somehow pulls off a world-weary saloon owner named "Charlie".
There's a good, well-staged fist fight between Powell and Guinn Williams, some Arizona landscapes worthy of John Ford and the uncredited Burl Ives as a sort of chorus to the action and philosophical hotel keeper.
Raymond Burr as a craven lawyer and Regis Toomey makes his required appearance.
A Good Western with Snappy Dialog.
For, in 1948, movie producers generated a number of very good features like "Fort Apache," "Yellow Sky," "Blood on the Moon," "Four Faces West," and "Red River." "Station West" was also one of the better westerns made that same year."Station West" features Dick Powell as John Haven, an undercover government agent assigned to investigate a gold robbery and the deaths of two guards, both US cavalrymen.
Some have compared Powell's temperament to that of twentieth century detective Phillip Marlowe.
He surely has both the sarcasm and self-assurance of the fictional private eye even though Powell is out of his normal character by appearing in a western.
Anyway Haven takes the night stage to Rock Pass, a booming but also a corrupt town.
The guitar-playing hotel manager (Burl Ives) immediately recognizes Haven as a stranger and lets him know that "Charlie" (Jane Greer) and her minions have their hands in nearly everything of importance.
"Thanks for the keys," he quips to the singing hotel manager.Things happen fast in the town gambling house/saloon, where suspicious characters come and go.
Haven is attracted to the attractive femme fatale Charlie (actually Charlene) as folks like gambling manager Prince (Gordon Oliver) and house bouncer Mick Marion (Guinn Williams) watch with scowling faces.
Before long, Haven secretly meets with Captain Iles (Tom Powers), Lt. Stellman (Steve Brodie), and Mrs. Caslon (Agnes Moorehead) to work on a plan of action for the investigation.
And Haven obviously likes the attractive woman.
For one, Haven is looking for the gold cache that he ditched when suddenly Mrs. Caslon sneaks up behind him holding two loaded pistols.
But since Caslon is wearing a nineteenth dress not conducive to riding one wonders how she happens to pop up unnoticed by Haven away from town in the wild.
And how about Harry Wild's filming of this feature in beautiful Sedona, Arizona, a personal favorite?
So, despite its minor flaws and the fact that action is limited, this western is worth seeing..
Underrated western with Dick Powell playing an undercover government agent investigating the murders of two soldiers.
Beautiful saloon singer Jane Greer catches his eye but it turns out there's more to her than at first appears.
Plays out more like a detective movie than a western.
Powell and Greer are great.
The supporting cast includes Raymond Burr, Agnes Moorehead, Tom Powers, Regis Toomey, and Burl Ives as a singing bartender.
The script is nice with some punchy dialogue that helps an otherwise routine western plot.
There's a pretty good fight scene between Powell and Guinn Williams.
Good scenic Western that applies the 40's private eye premise to a frontier setting.
Powell does his 40's hard case number effectively, while Greer does her slinky spider woman bit.
In fact, you have to look twice to make sure this isn't a Spade or a Marlowe.
Powell's an undercover investigator on the trail of whoever knocked over an army shipment and killed the guards.
In town are a lot of suspicious characters, including Greer and Burr, but suspicion isn't enough.
Some good touches, especially the Sedona, AZ, locations, scenically filmed in b&w and lending an atmospheric note.
But what I really like is the way the movie works Burl Ives and his catchy tune into the narrative.
In passing-- I gather from TCM that director Lanfield gave Greer a bad time because she wasn't the preferred Marlene Dietrich.
Too bad because Greer manages in one package to be both conniving and poignant, no mean acting trick..
"Station West" is a nostalgic and wonderful western with Dick Powell and Jane Greer, filmed in 1948, so for over 65 years, a lifetime.
A photo in black and white is high quality, the screenplay with an investigation into the Old West over gold theft involving actions of the army is well prepared.
The film conveys a clear idea of ​​continuation and sequences of actions with a very well built and perfect scenes of the Old West ambiance.And rarely met a group of actors so identified, all of great powers: the charismatic Dick Powell, the beautiful Jane Greer, an amazing and peaceful Burl Ives (singing), one Agnes Moorehead in his best physical shape, very beautiful and charm, Raymond Burr, still young, and Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams provides us with Dick Powell one of the best fights of the film, finally a cast of first class.
That's the only western Sidney Landfield made for the big screen; He was after all a comedy, musical specialist.
The other reviewers are right, that's a detective story made in a western set.
Stanger Dick Powell (Haven) rides into a Western town and isn't particularly pleasant.
He doesn't endear himself to anyone and this sets him up for a confrontation with the local thug Guinn "Big Boy" Williams (Mick).
There is plenty of gold being stored near the town and people are getting robbed and killed transporting it.
Powell gets himself a job that is close to the action and his mission is to fight for the good guys.
There is, of course, a woman on the scene in the form of Jane Greer (Charlie).Powell is a man who acts alone and he has a lot to take on.
I would have liked to see Powell do some singing but instead that task is given to Burl Ives.
Very Good Western.
STATION WEST 1948The only way to describe this film, is, film noir meets the wild-west.
Dick Powell exchanges his fedora for a Stetson as he plays a Government under-cover agent investigating a series of gold shipment robberies.
The Army is also not amused that several of their soldiers had been killed while on escort duty for the gold shipments.
The cast includes Jane Greer, Raymond Burr, Burl Ives, Agnes Moorehead, Tom Powers, Gordon Oliver and Guinn (Big Boy) Williams.It takes Powell a bit of time to shift through the possible suspects.
He starts the hard way with a knock down drag out fist fight with Big Boy Williams.
This soon gets him hired by the main baddie, Jane Greer, who goes by the name of "Charlie".Greer runs the local saloon, stage line and logging camp.
One of the local mine owners, Agnes Moorehead, is in with Powell and the local Army commander, Tom Powers.
Powell is sure this is what the crooks want.
He figures the baddies will raid the undermanned fort and scoop the lot.Powell plays his part as if he just stepped out of a hard-boiled noir role.
He is always exchanging barbs with Greer and the town's crooked lawyer, Raymond Burr.
All in all a neatly done western with a noir twist.
The film has an excellent look with director Sidney Lanfield handling the action.