ROCKY MOUNTAIN—neat little 1950 western has Errol Flynn lead a small of group of Rebs out West during the Civil War, hoping to stir up trouble and divert the Yankees. Hostile Shoshones get in the way, as well as a pretty stagecoach passenger; soon questions of honor arise in the outfit. It wraps up with a surprising and ferocious climactic box canyon showdown.
“There never was any other way. We just put it off awhile.”
The scenics (New Mexico) are spacious, Max Steiner’s music is fairly exciting, the pace set by director William Keighley is swift, running a trim 83 minutes. Performances all round are fine; Flynn eschewing flamboyance and doing one of his credible reserved turns (ala Objective Burma!); the secondary players are gritty and saddle-tough: among them are broncos Guinn Williams, Slim Pickens (debut) and Sheb Wooley (debut). The gal in the coach is Patrice Wymore, who would become Mrs. Flynn after the filming.
No pretense or padding here, just a slim outdoor action flick– involving, tense and exciting on its own grim terms. The last of Errol Flynn’s eight westerns, and one of the best. With Scott Forbes, Dick Jones, Howard Petrie, Chubby Johnson, Buzz Henry, Peter Coe and Yakima Canutt. Ted McCord did the clean camerawork. $4,860,000 cantered in.
