Cahill US Marshal

Some time back a late-career John Wayne movie I hadn't blogged about before showed up on TCM: Cahill, US Marshal. So I recorded it, and recently watched it to do a blog post on here.

Wayne, as you can probably guess, plays J.D. Cahill, the titular United States Marshal chasing after criminals somewhere out west. He's a widower with two children, and because of his time chasing all those bad guys, he hasn't been a very good father to his sons, being absent all the time. So when he comes home from his latest long jaunt away from the kids, he finds that elder son Danny (Gary Grimes), almost a legal adult, is in the town jail on a drunk and disorderly. Also in the jail are Fraser (George Kennedy), and his two henchmen Stuther (Morgan Paull) and Brownie (Dan Vadis).

It turns out, however, that this is a ruse. Fraser and his men robbed the local bank, with some help from Danny and JD's other son Billy Joe (Clay O'Brien), killing the local sheriff in the process; since they can claim they were in jail at the time, the might be able to convince people that they didn't commit the bank robbery. Of course, the fact that the sheriff died might be an issue.

In any case, JD sets off to find the bank robbers in order to bring them to justice, taking Danny along with him as a sort of impromptu deputy. What they find is MacDonald (Royal Dano) and his men, who had robbed somebody passing through. They're not the bank robbers, but since they've got money on them it's enough to get a jury to convict them and sentence them to hang.

I mentioned that kid brother Billy Joe, all of about 12, was in on the robbery in an attempt to get attention from his father, and that's where the problems start to mount. His job was to hide the money until things blew over and Fraser could divide the money. Well, things have moved quickly, and Fraser and his men would like their share, the sooner the better. They'd be willing to kill him, except that he's the only one who knows. However, Billy Joe secretly takes Danny to get the money, found out by Cahill and mixed-race tracker Lightfoot (Neville Brand). So Dad knows who committed the robbery, even if he isn't letting on.

Cahill, US Marshal isn't Wayne's best western by a long shot, but fans of the Duke will get what they're looking for. It's amiable enough and feels like it's treading ground that Wayne had been doing for years. So if you want something comfortable and not too demanding, Cahill, US Marshal will fit that hole fairly well. For people new to any of the stars, however, there are other things I'd pick first to recommend.