CITY OF BAD MEN (1953)

 A major star (mid-‘40s to mid-‘50s, with solid credits under directors like Mankiewicz, Cukor, Preminger, Kazan), 20th/Fox contractee Jeanne Crain ought to be better-known/more celebrated than she now is.  But I wouldn’t start to play catch-up on this slightly post-peak item.*  Under journeyman director Harmon Jones, this near-Western not so much bad as unnecessary, with action entirely driven by callow co-star Dale Robertson.  He’s the prodigal mercenary, returning to Carson City after six years fighting for the wrong side in Mexico, unaware his old hometown is now big enough to host a Heavyweight World Championship fight.  That little bank he planned to rob no longer such an easy target.  But there’s good money to be found in a town where banks ain’t the only thing he and his cadre can rob; the box-office is overflowing.  Of course, Robertson not the only guy in town with that idea.  And Crain’s part in all this?  She’s his ex, still in love after a six-year wait, but scheduled to head East with the fight promoter.   Even camouflaged with TechniColor, this one feels like a pumped up programmer, best for spotting future tv luminaries before they got their long-running shows: Lloyd Bridges/SEA HUNT; Richard Boone/HAVE GUN - WILL TRAVEL; Carl Betz/THE DONNA REED SHOW.

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK:  *Perhaps the least known great film for both Crain and director George Cukor, THE MODEL AND THE MARRIAGE BROKER/’51 (Thelma Ritter co-stars) very much is waiting to be rediscovered.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-model-and-marriage-broker-1951.html