Wed 12 Jun 2019
A Western Movie Review by Dan Stumpf: HELL CANYON OUTLAWS (1957).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[5] Comments
HELL CANYON OUTLAWS. Jarod Zukor Productions/Republic, 1957. Dale Robertson, Brian Keith, Rossana Rory, Dick Kallman, Charles Fredericks, Buddy Baer and Don Megowan. Written by Allan Kaufman and Max Glandbard. Directed by Paul Landres.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t resist a movie called Hell Canyon Outlaws, and when it was over, I wasn’t even mildly disappointed upon reflecting that there was no actual Hell Canyon in the film itself. Call it Poetic License I guess, but director Paul Landres was doing some interesting movies about this time, and this is one of them.
It’s easy to look at Hell Canyon Outlaws and say Brian Keith carries it with his off-beat portrayal of Outlaw Leader “Happy†Waters: good-humored, lethal, and pitched on a collision course with steely lawman Caleb Wells (Dale Robertson — And get it? Wells? Waters?)
But the fact is, some intelligent writing and sure-handed direction went into making the character—and those around him—come alive.
The film itself balances delicately between cliché and creativity. Robertson’s Caleb Wells is a sure-shot sheriff who cleaned up the town years ago, but things are quiet now. His Deputy—fittingly named “Bearâ€â€”is drunk all the time, and the Town Council wants to replace the two of them with something more modern. And of course no sooner do they oust their lawmen than four owlhoots ride into town, obviously wired for trouble, with Brian Keith’s jovial leader keeping a treacherous hand on the switch.
Standard stuff so far, made even more ordinary by staid Alexander Lockwood as the “modern†replacement lawman, and noisy method-acting Dick Kallman as the local quick-draw kid trying to prove he’s a man. Add Rossana Rory (of Big Deal on Madonna Street) as Dale Robertson’s girlfriend who doesn’t see the need for violence, and you’ve got a pretty cold deck to try and deal a new hand from.
The wonder is that they do it, and do it rather well, too. Landres and the writers keep things poised on the edge of violence, so that whenever Keith and his overgrown goons (including Buddy Baer and Don Megowan) swagger into a saloon, bank or dry-goods store, they seem just about to take it apart by size alone.
Contrast this with Dale Robertson, waiting silent and tight-lipped on the sidelines, no longer a lawman, but always just about to spring into action, and you get a very involving movie indeed, particularly when he and Brian Keith circle about each other, talking quietly but both clearly looking for the right moment….
And when that moment comes, it doesn’t disappoint: An extended shoot-out in a darkened saloon, with Dale and his deputy jockeying for position against the bad guys, who make some smart moves themselves, ratcheting up the tension, even as shots blast and bodies fall all over the place.
Hell Canyon Outlaws is a low-budget affair, and the DVD I got at Cinevent is a thing of shreds and patches, but it has flair and to spare, plus a few surprises. Recommended.
June 12th, 2019 at 6:56 pm
Thankfully this is a movie that’s not too hard to find. There’s no official release on DVD yet, but most of my usual sources for unofficial releases have copies.
June 12th, 2019 at 8:52 pm
Sometimes you just want a competent Western with a professional cast and enough brains to keep you interested. This one over compensates on the cast side with Robertson and Keith, but sounds as if it fits.
June 14th, 2019 at 11:47 am
I never heard of this one but it sounds interesting. No idea how Don Megowan fared in it; he is one of those character actors whose face you recognize but not the name, typically being uncredited. He was the Gill-man in the final CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON franchise film, as well as starring in the odd (and excessively dialogue-burdened) sci-fi flick, THE CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS. A LARAMIE episode, “Men of Defiance,” plays like an attempt to spin off a new series with Megowan in the lead role, but evidently nothing came of it. The IMDb:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0576353/
June 14th, 2019 at 1:22 pm
Ahhhhhh yes!!! CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS
A film once seen, never forgot.
I think Don was picked for his size, along with Buddy Baer and the other bad guy. The 3 of them seem too big for every room they go into.
Also, wasn’t Megowan in “Tales of Frankenstein”?
June 14th, 2019 at 2:01 pm
Yes, indeed. He played the monster, a very early role for him.
He was also in almost every TV western series you can think of, some several times over. Whenever they needed someone who was 6′ 6″, is my guess.