ALONG THE GREAT DIVIDE (1951)

Excellent western.  Kirk Douglas (in his first western) plays a law man who, along with his two deputies, come upon a man (Walter Brennan) about to get lynched.  Kirk rescues the guy and hears from the lynching party that he's guilty of murder.  Kirk reminds them that it's not up to them to take the law into their own hands and he's gonna take the accused man into town for a fair trial.  Easier said than done cause the town is a long way off and the men from the lynching party are hellbent on killing this dude.  Added to the direct threat of getting shot by the men trailing them, Douglas has to deal with the psychological warfare being dealt out by the accused man (and his daughter Virginia Mayo) who will do anything to free him including turning Kirk's own deputies against him.

I don't know what the earliest example of the "transporting-the-prisoner" sub-genre is, but this does a great job of it.  Quick pace, top-notch acting, well-written script, beautiful desert scenery, good camerawork.  Overall ALONG THE GREAT DIVIDE is a solid film.  Recommended.

Double-feature with THE NAKED SPUR.

THE RACERS (1955)

Watchable, but overall forgettable melodrama starring Kirk Douglas as a young hotshot race car driver who falls in love with a dancer. The rest of the movie is just their trials and tribulations (car wrecks, drinking, fighting, etc.). A few of the racing scenes are exciting, but for the most part they're kinda lame cause they look very fake.  I really wish I had this on DVD so I could take screenshots.

An even bigger problem was the acting by Douglas' love interest Bella Darvi. She's terrible! So terrible I couldn't believe she was an legitimate actress, so I wasn't surprised when I read that at the time she was Darryl F. Zanuck's mistress! That explains it. The supporting cast composing of Lee J. Cobb, Cesar Romero, Katy Jurado and Gilbert Roland do a great job and somewhat ease the pain caused by Darvi.

Worth a rent or a watch on cable if you're a Douglas fan, but it's not worth buying.