The Tame Westerners

Recently I turned on the Roku Channel app, and just about to air on the Cinevault Westerns channel was a low-budget movie called The Wild Westerners. Since it was only 85 minutes including ads, I decided I'd give it a chance.

We get a pre-credits opening sequence, informing us that the action is taking place in the Montana Territory in 1864, which of course means that it's the Civil War. The Union needs revenue, and apparently gold has been discovered, so the Union can use that gold in the war effort. But.... Someone has found some gold and is transporting it to town, happy to see the sheriff as that means security from any outlaws that might try to waylay him. Except that the sheriff is in on the outlawry, shooting the man and taking the gold!

Since Montana is still a territory, it means that the federal government is in charge of law enforcement. Coming to Virginia City is new US Marshal Jim McDowell (James Philbrook). But before he does that, he has to go pick up his fiancée Nora. He sees a woman who looks remarkably like Nora from behind, but when he goes to kiss her, it isn't. Instead it's Rose (Nancy Kovack), who is out west because she's a showgirl who's no longer in the show which was disbanded. And just at the same time, Jim gets a "Dear John" letter from Nora telling him she's fallen in love with another man.

Rose goes to Jim to what was supposed to be the wedding, since all the food has already been laid out, and she actually pretends to be Nora to go through with the marriage! Meanwhile, deputy marshal Clint (Duane Eddy) has some suspicion that "Nora" isn't really what she seems, and there's going to be some conflict between Jim and Clint until the film's climax later.

Of course, all of these plot strands have to come together. The sheriff, together with deputy Johnny (Guy Mitchell, who, like Duane Eddy is better known as a musician than an actor), is still robbing gold shipments and thwarting the marshals because they don't yet realize it's an inside job. Rose eventually decides to leave after being forced to reveal the truth of who she is, and when she does she and a Cheyenne woman she's riding with come across the outlaw gang. The gang kill the Cheyenne woman and take Rose hostage. They claim they'll release her if the next gold shipment is ungarded, which the chief marshal doesn't want to do. Jim has had the idea to make it look like a gold shipment is not being guarded, only to have the real marshals be just behind the shipment out of sight.

The Wild Westerners has almost entirely negative reviews on IMDb, which I think is down in no small part to the fact that it was produced by Sam Katzman, who specialized in low-budget fare. To me, it felt as though it was no worse than episodic TV of the era, only stretched out to over an hour. It's certainly not great -- and I think the print Cinevault aired was panned-and-scanned -- but it's not nearly as bad as the reviews would have you believe.