From R.K.O., a big boned Western with the soul of a pint-sized programmer; the epic and the mundane canceling each other out under Ray Enright’s solid but faceless direction. Up against the most famous Outlaw Brothers in the West (the Jameses, the Youngers, the Daltons; plus one sister*), Randolph Scott delays his move to California (with fiancée Jacqueline White) to help maintain order during the Oklahoma Land Rush. A segment likely put together with footage from R.K.O.’s Oscar® winning CIMARRON/’31, just the sort of prestige piece this film would like to be. With comic relief supplied by George 'Gabby' Hayes’ banker and loads of fellow program Western stars, Robert Ryan stands out a mile as main villain Sundance Kid. Put in this company, Ryan’s so powerfully modern he overwhelms everything around him. A post-war element (that’s post-WWII not post-Civil War) breaking the Hollywood model for these things.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK: *Producer/writer/actor Stacy Keach and undervalued director Walter Hill managed to corral real brothers Keach, Carradine and Quaid to play all these brothers in THE LONG RIDERS/’80. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-long-riders-1980.html
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