Thu 6 Sep 2018
Archived Western Movie Review: TEN WANTED MEN (1955).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[8] Comments
TEN WANTED MEN. Columbia Pictures, 1955. Randolph Scott, Jocelyn Brando, Richard Boone, Alfonso Bedoya, Donna Martell, Skip Homeier, Clem Bevans, Leo Gordon, Minor Watson. Director: H. Bruce Humberston.
Twelve years after making The Desperadoes (reviewed here ), Randolph Scott is starting to show his age a bit, but though he was in his 50s when this movie was made, he could still ride tall in the saddle. Here he’s a cattleman whose hopes for the peaceful growth of Arizona go up in a blaze of bullets.
Opposing him is Richard Boone, a rival whose craving for wealth and power leads him to bring in a band of outlaws to help him. (I don’t think there is anyone whose eyes could burn with such bitter hatred as Boone’s.) Lots of action keeps the muddled story going.
September 6th, 2018 at 6:40 pm
One of the few Scott films I not only didn’t like, but could not get into. Dull adventures of a middle class businessman out west.
September 6th, 2018 at 7:24 pm
Considering the period and the cast something of a minor disappointment all around.
September 6th, 2018 at 7:34 pm
I wish I remembered this one more than I do, but as far as I can recall, I’d have to say that the cast was wasted, and in terms of making cowboy movies, Scott’s career was really at a low ebb.
September 6th, 2018 at 10:05 pm
But then shortly after Ten Wanted Men, Budd Boetticher directed Scott in six of his best films:
The Tall T
Decision at Sundown
Buchanan Rides Alone
Ride Lonesome
Comanche Station
Seven Men From Now
Five of these films are collected in an excellent dvd box set.
September 6th, 2018 at 10:31 pm
Steve, I don’t think Scott’s career could be called at low ebb because he made a lousy picture, over which he and his producing partner Harry Joe Brown had total control. They tried to do something and it didn’t work.
September 7th, 2018 at 7:07 am
Steve you hit the High and Low Points perfectly: Randolph Scott, Richard Boone, plenty of action — muddled story.
September 7th, 2018 at 9:20 am
Thanks, Walker, for recommending that DVD boxed set. I guess I will go look for it.
September 7th, 2018 at 10:35 am
A fair statement on your part, Barry (comment #5). Scott was very busy making movies in this time period, and while the Budd Boetticher films were yet to come, not many of the ones below were as lackluster as this one:
1954 Riding Shotgun
The Bounty Hunter
1955 Ten Wanted Men
Rage at Dawn
Tall Man Riding
A Lawless Street
1956 Seven Men from Now
7th Cavalry