Nat Holt Movies

Claudette Colbert makes a long-overdue entree into the Western genre in Texas Lady. Looking at least a decade younger than her 50 years, Ms. Colbert plays Prudence Webb, who arrives in the wide-open town of Fort Ralston, Texas, to assume control of her late father's newspaper. Her first major print crusade is aimed at gambler Chris Mooney (Barry Sullivan), whom Prudence holds responsible for her dad's suicide (Mooney isn't, but it takes our heroine nearly eight reels to find this out). She then takes aim at a couple of crooked cattle barons (Ray Collins and Walter Sande), who'd like nothing better than to put Prudence out of the way for keeps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted from a novel by W.R. Burnett (which hadn't yet been published when the film was released), Arrowhead is a tough, uncompromising western dealing with the delicate issue of White-Indian relations. Charlton Heston is at his most truculent as Indian agent Ed Bannon, who though raised by Apaches has a very low opinion of the tribe's trustworthiness. Bannon's warnings about Indian treachery would seem to be borne out by a series of bloody raids upon the cavalry, but the officers in charge refuse to believe him. It turns out that the man behind the Apache attacks is Toriano (Jack Palance), the chief's college-educated son, who has rejected the ways of the White Man and intends to reclaim his birthright. The film boils down to a mano y mano battle between Bannon and Toriano, personal enemies from way back. Hardly politically correct, Arrowhead is worth seeing if only for the multitextured performance by Jack Palance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The action in this loose adaptation of a popular 1925 silent tells the galloping (and largely untrue) tale if the formation of the U.S. rapid transcontinental mail system with a focus on the adventures of Buffalo Bill Cody (Charlton Heston) and Wild Bill Hickock (Forrest Tucker). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Audiences got their money's worth and then some from Byron Haskin's The Denver and Rio Grande. Edmond O'Brien plays Jim Vesser, a former U.S. Cavalry officer and hero, now the man in charge of getting the D&RG's tracks across the Rockies first to secure a right-of-way -- he revels in the job, chosen for it by General Palmer (Dean Jagger), his former commanding officer, who is chairman of the D&RG. But he suddenly finds himself in competition with the somewhat less scrupulous Canyon City and San Juan line, whose right of way is being secured by the much less honest and more ruthless McCabe (Sterling Hayden). At their first meeting, McCabe provokes a fight in which he shoots his own chief engineer, Bob Nelson -- another ex-Cavalry officer -- and manages to pin it on the unconscious Vesser. Although he avoids jail, Vesser is so torn up with guilt over what he thinks he has done that he leaves the railroad. Months go past, and in that time the Denver and Rio Grande steadily loses its lead over the rival company, as "accidents" and unrest among the men seem to plague their every move. Vesser finally decides to step back into the fight when one of these seeming accidents nearly wrecks the train on which he's hitched a ride. Coming to the aid of the general, he takes a two-fisted approach to the problem of McCabe that puts the two on a collision course in more ways than one. He also wouldn't mind getting to know the general's secretary, Linda Prescott (Laura Elliott), a little better, but for reasons that no one around her can explain, she is standoffish and even openly hostile to him. The conflict between Vesser and McCabe turns into what amounts to guerilla warfare between the two outfits, but somehow McCabe and his chief gunman, Johnny Buff (Lyle Bettger), always seem to be a half-step or more ahead of Vesser. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Sterling Hayden and Forrest Tucker, two of Hollywood's most rugged leading men, head the cast of Paramount's Flaming Feather. Rancher Tex McCloud (Hayden) and cavalry lieutenant Tom Blaine (Tucker) despise each other at first sight. Even so, McCloud and Blaine are forced to work together to seek out and capture an elusive outlaw named Lucky Lee (Victor Jory), who heads a band of renegade Indians. Also involved in the manhunt are vengeful saloon gal Carolina (Arleen Whelan) and marriage-minded Nora Logan (Barbara Rush), each pursuing her own agenda (just like everyone else in the film!) The film's violent outcome is predicated upon the desultory romance between Lucky Lee and dour Indian maiden Turquoise (Carol Thurston). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set in British Columbia but filmed in Colorado, Cariboo Trail stars Randolph Scott as a cattle-drive boss from Montana. Crooked Victor Jory and his minions stampede the cattle, causing Scott's partner Bill Williams to lose an arm. Out of a job, Scott gives gold mining a try, but even here he is tormented by Jory. The villain is hoist on his own petard when he tries to stir up the local Indian tribes. Proving that the good guys don't always win, Scott gives up mining and turns to cattle ranching. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed on location in the Canadian Rockies, this historical adventure spins a fanciful account of the building of the Canadian Pacific railroad. Randolph Scott heads the cast as Tom Andrews, a rough-and-ready surveyor who meets and conquers all obstacles in the railroad's path. The biggest fly in the ointment is trapper Dirk Rourke (Victor Jory), who perceives the Canadian Pacific as a threat to his livelihood. Rourke foments an Indian uprising which very nearly destroys the railroad. But Andrews and his hardy band persevere. Jane Wyatt plays the heroine among more intelligent and self-reliant lines than is usual in films of this nature. Highly suspect on a historical level, Canadian Pacific is nonetheless an exciting piece of filmmaking, evocatively photographed in Cinecolor by Fred Jackman Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The success of 1947's Badman's Territory prompted RKO Radio to assemble another "outlaw rally," Return of the Badmen. Randolph Scott plays US marshal Vance, assigned to rid the Oklahoma Territory of outlaws. This proves to be quite a challenge, inasmuch as virtually every frontier bad guy has converged upon the territory. Led by the surly Sundance Kid (Robert Ryan), the rogue's gallery includes the Younger Brothers (Steve Brodie, Richard Powers, Robert Bray), the Daltons (Lex Barker, Walter Reed, Michael Harvey) and Billy the Kid (Dean White). For all the formidable villainy, the film's most fascinating conflict develops between the two heroines: feisty Cheyenne (Anne Jeffreys) and prim 'n' proper Madge Allen (Jacqueline White). Return of the Badmen posted a huge profit, spawning yet another "all-star" western from RKO, 1951's Best of the Badmen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

No relation to the 1935 Jean Harlow-Spencer Tracy vehicle of the same name, RKO Radio's Riff-Raff is an action-packed vehicle for aging but still virile Pat O'Brien. At large in Panama, American private eye Dan (O'Brien) hopes to get his hands on a valuable map showing priceless oil concessions. He finds himself up against a formidable cartel of villains headed by Molinar (Walter Slezak), who likewise want to get their mitts on the map and are willing to commit murder to do so. Mixed up in the proceedings is worldly nightclub singer Maxine (Anne Jeffreys), whose reputation is such that O'Brien immediately distrusts her--an opinion he has good reason to reverse as the film rolls along. Percy Kilbride provides a few chuckles as a dry-witted Panamanian taxi driver. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this is '40s western a U.S. marshal chases a band of big-name bandits into no-man's territory (land outside of U.S. government jurisdiction) as he's trying to locate his little brother. He ends up facing off with none other than the James Boys, the Daltons and other notorious fellows. Badman's Territory proved so successful that the formula was repeated several times by RKO and other studios. ~ All Movie Guide

Like the same-named 1934 and 1935 films, RKO Radio's 1945 musical George White's Scandals uses the eponymous Broadway revue as a framework for a fabricated plotline. The main story concerns the romance between stage comedienne Joan Mason (Joan Davis) and back-bay Bostonite Jack Williams (Jack Haley), which is staunchly opposed by Jack's spinsterish sister Clarabelle (Margaret Hamilton, who of course had previously costarred with Haley in The Wizard of Oz) A secondary romance involves the hot-and-cold relationship between British socialite Jill Martin (Martha Holliday) and Tony McGrath (Philip Terry), the assistant to Broadway impresario George White (played not by the real White but by Glenn Tryon). Musical specialties are provided by Gene Krupa and his band, organ virtuoso Ethel Smith and pianist Rose Murphy. The film's highlight is "Who Killed Vaudeville?", a tour-de-force for Joan Davis and Jack Haley which was later excerpted in the RKO musical pastiche Make Mine Laughs (prompting a lawsuit from Haley!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide