Chief Yowlachie Movies

The talents of the cast and director George Cukor (A Star Is Born, My Fair Lady), combine to bring off this otherwise routine Western based on a Louis L'Amour novel. Sophia Loren is Angela Rossini, a woman who seems to create the situations she gets into, and Anthony Quinn is the strong, silent but soft-hearted Tom Healy. Rather than playing it straight, Cukor opts for satire and effective comedy in taking "The Great Healy Dramatic and Concert Co.," with its two-wagon loads of thespians and their gear, and turning it into a fun romp. As the troupe carries on with their performances heading through Wyoming, they are fighting for their economic survival and, as often as not, running like the devil from the law. There is a likeable villain in the piece, Mabry (Steve Forrest), a zany woman who has "sacrificed" her own dubious stage career for that of her daughter (Eileen Heckart), a so-called Shakespearean actor (Edmund Love), a banker with menacing undertones (Ramon Novarro), and a really hysterical Indian attack. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

1954's Rose Marie is the third film version of the 1924 Otto Harbach-Oscar Hammerstein-Rudolph Frinl operetta of the same name. Though not a completely faithful adaptation, this version is closer to the original than the (admittedly enjoyable) Nelson Eddy-Jeanette MacDonald version of 1936. Ann Blyth stars as Rose Marie Lemaitre, a hoydenish French-Canadian lass who is "tamed" by cheerful mountie Mike Malone (Howard Keel). At first, Mike is only interested in using Rose Marie to capture her sweetheart, renegade trapper Duval (Fernando Lamas), but eventually he falls in love with her, and she with him. Counterpointing the romantic main plot are the comic antics of Bert Lahr, who elucidates his sorry lot in life with the song "I'm the Mountie Who Never Gets His Man." The original Rudy Friml score is well in evidence, along with several new Friml compositions and a few extra tunes penned by Georgie Stoll and Herbert Baker. There's also a remarkable "Indian sacrifice" production number spotlighting a young Rita Moreno. Original Cinemascope prints of Rose Marie included a nine-minute prologue, wherein conductor Alfred Wallenstein led the MGM orchestra in a rendition of "Poet and Peasant Overture" (this was evidently inspired by the similar symphonic prologue which opened 20th Century Fox's How to Marry a Millionaire). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Flying in the face of Hollywood tradition, this cinemadaptation of James Fennimore Cooper's The Pathfinder features genuine Native Americans in several principal "Indian" roles. Set during the French-Indian wars of the 18th century, the film stars George Montgomery as The Pathfinder, an Indian scout in the employ of the British. The Pathfinder is sent to a French encampment to do a little secret-agent work, accompanied by Welcome Alison (Helena Carter), an English lass posing as a Frenchwoman. Their identities revealed, Pathfinder and Welcome are imprisoned and slated for execution -- and for a long, long while, it looks as though the Great Lakes region will be claimed by the French. Co-starring in The Pathfinder are Jay "Tonto" Silverheels as Chingachgook, Rodd Redwing as hostile Mingo chief Arrowhead, and Chief Yowlachie as Eagle Feather. Adhering to the usual Hollywood casting process, however, the role of Indian maiden Lokawa is essayed by Anglo-Latino actress Elena Verdugo. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

During the 1845 battle for Texas' independence, a cattle baron (Clark Gable) spars with an evil senator (Broderick Crawford) over the state's future and for the affections of newpaperwoman Ava Gardner. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

In this western, a cowboy rides out to avenge the death of his fiancee. Three outlaws are responsible for the murder. He finds the first and kills him. The second he finds has become a sergeant in the Seventh Cavalry. The third has become a storekeeper. Unfortunately, before he can kill them, they are all captured by the angry Indians. In captivity, the sergeant sacrifices his life to save the other two. The storekeeper rides off to warn Custer of an impending ambush. He is killed and the cowboy begins romancing the late storekeeper's daughter. The battle scenes in this western are exceptionally well done. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Columbia's final release for 1950 was the Gene Autry western Indian Territory. Set during the Reconstruction Era, the story finds Autry working as an undercover agent for the U.S. cavalry. His mission: to neutralize a former Austrian army officer named Curt Raidler (Phil Van Zandt), who is leading a group of renegade Indians on a series of destructive raids. A subplot concerns the friendly rivalry between Autry and Union lieutenant Randolph Mason (played by Kirby Grant, later famous as TV's Sky King). Like most of Gene Autry's films from this era, Indian Territory co-stars Pat Buttram and Gail "Annie Oakley" Davis. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the late 1940s - early 1950s, Columbia Pictures enjoyed a great deal of success with a series of slapsticky feature films built around the talents of such gifted funsters as Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, William Bendix and Jack Carson. In this tradition, Columbia's Traveling Saleswoman is a showcase for the delightful Joan Davis. The star plays Mabel King, who heads westward to sell her father's soap. Tagging along is Mabel's erstwhile beau Waldo (Andy Devine). In the course of the film's 74 minutes, Mabel wins over a hostile Indian tribe, makes short work of an outlaw named Cactus Jack (Joe Sawyer) and a saloon chirp named Lilly (Adele Jergens), and even gets to warble a song or two in her own inimitable fashion. Traveling Saleswoman was produced by Tony Owen, who later prospered as producer of a long-running TV sitcom starring his wife, Donna Reed. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In 1949, Paramount put together a film version of the radio series My Friend Irma. It was assumed that the main attraction would be scatter-brained Irma, delightfully played by Marie Wilson. Instead, the picture was stolen by a couple of young upstarts named Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Accordingly, My Friend Irma Goes West concentrates almost exclusively on Martin and Lewis, with poor Marie Wilson virtually consigned to a supporting role in her own picture. The story begins when Irma and her friends head westward on the incorrect assumption that Steve Laird (Dean Martin) has landed a movie contract. During the train trip to California, Steve's goonish pal Seymour (Jerry Lewis) is entrusted with a pet monkey, owned by movie star Yvonne Yvonne (Corinne Calvet). There's a contretemps with gangsters and a kidnapping before a happy ending can be realized. Some critics found Jerry Lewis' moronic mugging to be tasteless; others were too busy laughing to be upset. Having proven their mettle with the two My Friend Irma flicks, Martin and Lewis were awarded with their own vehicle, At War With the Army. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this western, a cowboy comes to the aid of the Indians. The story begins as hero, Gene Autry, begins an investigation of a series of Indian raids. They had been stealing food from homesteads located around the reservation. Autry is appalled to discover that they have been taking the food because a sleazy Indian agent has been cheating them out of their food allotments and they are starving to death. Autry saves the Indians and sees that the dishonest agent is punished. He then watches the romance between his female assistant and the Indian chief. Songs include: "One Little Indian Boy," "America," "Silent Night," and "Here Comes Santa Claus." ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Produced in garish Cinecolor, this aspiring "A" Western features John Payne as Clay Fletcher, an Eastern lawyer assigned to track down a judge whose signature is needed for some estate papers. Clay traces the judge, Henry Jeffers (Henry Hull), to El Paso, a lawless town ruthlessly run by saloon owner Bert Donner (Sterling Hayden) and a corrupt sheriff, La Farge (Dick Foran). The judge has become a hopeless drunk and is used as a pawn by Donner, who terrorizes the local farmers off their land. When one settler, John Elkins (Arthur Space), shoots and kills a deputy in self-defense, Clay is at first inclined to trust that justice will prevail and arranges for traveling salesman "Pesky" (George "Gabby" Hayes) to keep Judge Jeffers sober long enough to render a just verdict. But a threatened Donner has both Jeffers and Elkins brutally killed and against the wishes of the judge's daughter Susan (Gail Russell), Clay takes matters into his won hands by organizing a vigilante group. Grandfather Fletcher (H.B. Warner) arrives to remind Clay of his judicial pledges but he, too, is killed by the increasingly insane La Farge. In the end, only the prospect of a mass lynching brings Clay around and the guilty all face a jury of their peers. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Tulsa was, in 1949, the most elaborate production released to date by the Eagle-Lion corporation-though all evidence, especially the technical credits, suggests that the film was put together at Universal-International, then merely distriibuted by Eagle-Lion (who made a fortune at the box office). The film traces the matriculation of the sleepy Oklahoma village of Tulsa into a major oil center Susan Hayward stars as an amibitious cattleman's daughter who wishes to wreak vengeance on the encroaching oil interests but who becomes a "black gold" mogul herself. Robert Preston costars as a geologist who hopes to rescue his beloved Oklahoma from being utterly devastated by drilling and derricks. This being a late-1940s film, Greed runs a poor second to Good at film's end, with the oilmen and the conservations learning to work together rather than as bitter enemies. While the story is a good one, the true selling angle of Tulsa was its action sequences, notably a fire scene that must have cost as much as all the other Eagle-Lion releases of 1949 combined. Originally lensed in vibrant Techicolor, Tulsa is usually seen today in washed-out, two-color Public Domain prints. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

John Wayne -- showing off a darker side to his screen persona than we'd previously seen -- portrays Thomas Dunson, a frontiersman who, with his longtime partner Nadine Groot (Walter Brennan), abandons a westbound wagon train in 1851 to make his future as a rancher in Texas. Doing so forces him to abandon Fen (Colleen Gray), his fiancee -- and when she is killed in an Indian raid a short time later, it taints any good that Dunson might find in the future he carves out for himself, destroying any joy he might derive from life. The sole survivor of the raid is Matthew Garth (Mickey Kuhn), a young orphan who is unusually handy with a gun for one his age -- and already knows how to channel his grief and horror at what he's seen, as much as Dunson does. Dunson informally adopts Matt as his son, and over the next 14 years he builds up one of the largest ranches in the entire state of Texas. And all of it is worth nothing, a result of the economic ruin wrought on the state in the aftermath of the Civil War. Matthew (Montgomery Clift), now back from the war and doing some of his own adventuring, finds a darker, more taciturn Dunson than he's ever known -- as Groot tells it, he's afraid because he just doesn't know how to fight the threats he now faces. With Matthew now returned, Dunson decides to move his herd, nearly 10,000 head of cattle, to Missouri, where there is a market for beef, over 1000 miles away through territory controlled by border gangs hundreds of men strong that have stopped every cattle drive up to now, and Indians who have picked off what the gangs missed. Dunson drives his men as hard as he does himself, relentlessly, till even some of his best hands break under the strain -- and he's not above killing anyone who challenges his authority on the drive. He's able to hold them in line as long as Matthew backs him up, and he does until Dunson, exhausted and worn down by lack of sleep, finally goes too far. Matthew steps in, backed by laconic, smirking gunman Cherry Valance (John Ireland) and most of the rest of the men and takes the herd from Dunson. Leaving his father and mentor behind, he heads the herd toward Kansas, where -- so the men are told -- there's a new railroad. Along the way, he meets Tess Millay (Joanne Dru), a card-dealer who falls in love with the young man. But he has to finish the drive and leaves her behind, much as Dunson left Fen. And they all know that Dunson is coming after Matthew to kill him. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Bob Hope's Technicolor western spoof The Paleface was one of the comedian's biggest box-office hits. Hope plays Painless Potter, a hopelessly inept dentist who heads west to seek his fortune. Meanwhile, buxom female outlaw Calamity Jane (Jane Russell) is engaged in undercover work on behalf of the government, in the hopes of earning a pardon for her past crimes. Jane is on the lookout for notorious gun-runner Robert Armstrong. To put up an innocent front, Jane marries the befuddled Potter, then keeps the criminals at bay by convincing everyone that Potter is a rootin'-tootin' gunslinger (actually, it's Jane who's been doing all the shooting). Armstrong, who has been selling guns to the Indians, arranges for Jane to be captured by the scalp-hungry tribesmen, but Potter comes to the rescue. Somewhere along the way, Bob Hope and Jane Russell get to sing the Oscar-winning Jay Livingston/Ray Evans tune "Buttons and Bows". There are many hilarious moments in The Paleface, but screenwriter Frank Tashlin felt that director Norman Z. McLeod failed to get the full comic value out of his material. To prove his point, Tashlin directed the side-splitting sequel, Son of Paleface (1952), which once more teamed Hope and Russell. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi