NIGHT PASSAGE (1957)

As much as I enjoy Jimmy Stewart, Dan Duryea and Audie Murphy, I can see why Anthony Mann turned this movie down: the script is way more complicated than it needs to be and there's no tension. Instead of being concerned about what happened to who I spent most of my time scratching my head in confusion. From what I gathered Stewart used to work for the railroad as a bounty hunter or something. Anyway, he let a guy (Audie Murphy) escape once and they fired him. Jump back to the present day and the railroad secretly hires Stewart back to deliver $10,000 to a work camp. As luck would have it Audie Murphy and his gang rob the train, but they can't find the money since Stewart hid it on a kid. Other stuff happens including people riding horses and shooting guns, but it's just a mess. Not a disaster, just a ham-handed mess.

All three of the leads are fine, but the direction by James Neilson is dead on arrival. Also a number of the scenes are obviously shot on a sound stage, which I found very distracting. Not really worth watching.

Interesting fact: According to IMDb Jimmy Stewart was so upset with Anthony Mann for refusing to direct the movie he never spoke to him ever again!

Notice Jack Elam on the right?

KANSAS RAIDERS (1950)

Early Audie Murphy western (that also stars a young James Best and Tony Curtis) features Murphy as a young Jesse James who along with his brother and three friends leave Missouri after seeing his family slaughtered by "red leggers". They want to join the militia of William Quantrill, a Confederate guerrilla leader who claims to be helping the South but in reality is just killing everybody he sees to line his pockets. Once James comes to see this he's disheartened but still sticks by Quantrill. Even with the Union Army breathing down their necks.

How historically accurate is KANSAS RAIDERS? I have no idea, probably not too much, but it's still a entertaining watch and worth your time if your into such things. There's plenty of action and the pace is fast. My only major complaint would be Marguerite Chapman who played Quantrill's wife looked really old. According to Wikipedia when he died his wife was only 17. Marguerite Chapman was 32.

Recomended for fans of older Western movies.