San Antone (1953)

Republic "regulars" Rod Cameron, Arleen Whelan and Forrest Tucker star in the A-minus western San Antone. During the Civil War, Texan Carl Miller (Rod Cameron) adopts a neutral stance regarding the conflict. Miller is branded a coward by Brian Culver (Forrest Tucker), a Confederate blowhard whose bravado masks his own cowardice. The animosity between the two men reaches the boiling point after the war, when Culver kills Miller's father. Soon afterwards, Culver finds himself the prisoner of Mexican rebel leader Chino Figueroa (Rudolpho Acosta). Miller heads to Mexico to rescue Culver -- not out of altruism, but so that he can kill Culver himself. Reversing the usual typecasting procedure, leading-lady Arleen Whelan is the villainess, while second lead Katy Jurado, cast as Figueroa's sister, plays a sympathetic role. San Antone was adapted by Steve Fisher (I Wake Up Screaming) from a novel by Curt Carroll. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi