Thu 11 Sep 2014
A Western Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: TRAIL STREET (1947).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[7] Comments
TRAIL STREET. RKO Radio Pictures, 1947. Randolph Scott (Marshal William Bartley ‘Bat’ Masterson), Robert Ryan, Anne Jeffreys, George ‘Gabby’ Hayes, Madge Meredith. Director: Ray Enright
Like The Gunfight at Dodge City, which I recently reviewed here, Trail Street is a Western starring a major Hollywood leading man in a highly fictionalized biopic of Bat Masterson. It’s an above average horse drama, with some good cinematography and a decent enough plot.
What makes it worth watching is the fact that all of the actors, especially Randolph Scott, who portrays Masterson as the semi-reluctant marshal in the town of Liberal, Kansas, seem to be having what can best be described as jolly good fun with the project.
Masterson, who really just wants to be a journalist, is tasked with interceding on behalf of farmers whose livelihoods are threatened by an unscrupulous cattle baron, Logan Maury (Steve Brodie). Joining the legendary lawman in his mission is his deputy, Billy Burns, portrayed by perennial goofy sidekick George “Gabby†Hayes and an upright citizen by the name of Allen Harper, portrayed by Robert Ryan.
In a way, it’s a shame that Ryan’s character doesn’t go bad in this one, given how skilled Ryan was as an actor in portraying villains, be they in films noir or in Westerns. Allen Harper’s on-again, off-again love interest Susan (Madge Meredith) and the saloon girl with a kind heart, Ruby Stone (Anne Jeffreys) add some flair and romance to what would otherwise be just another Western action story.
In many ways, Trail Street a much better film, both visually and plot wise, than The Gunfight at Dodge City. That isn’t to say that it’s a great or even accurate biopic of Bat Masterson. It isn’t.
But it’s a decent enough Western that, in many ways, marks a transition point between Randolph Scott’s more wholesome characters in the Zane Grey films and the darker, more brooding characters portrayed by Scott in the Ranown cycle films of auteur Budd Boetticher. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that you should go out of your way to see this one, but I’ll just say that it’s a difficult film to actively dislike.
September 11th, 2014 at 4:28 pm
Just a small point, but I thought Masterson’s middle name was Barclay. Am I wrong about that? I agree Ryan was a great villain. When he played “good guys” he looked like he could “snap” at any time.
September 11th, 2014 at 5:06 pm
Chuck,
You are right, Bat’s middle name was Barclay, likely a typo unless the movie got it wrong. Hickok’s name was James, but half the movies have people calling him Bill, which no one who knew him did.
It has nothing to do with history and Bat was never town or US marshal of Liberal, Kansas, but it is a good transition film for Scott and a rare total good guy role for Ryan. Scott is good here, but Masterson was shorter and prone to chubby.
September 11th, 2014 at 5:28 pm
So, David — do you think a little fat guy would have been better? The picture exists because Randolph Scott agreed to be in it. The rest is window dressing…and the film does not come alive until Scott enters the action quite a while after the main title.
September 11th, 2014 at 6:20 pm
I don’t know who got Masterson’s middle name wrong, IMDb, which is from I copied the credits from, or the movie itself. Or a typo that crept in from who knows where (not me).
It may be interesting to note that this was only the third time Bat Masterson appeared as a character in a movie, or so sayeth IMDb.
The first was a silent film from 1923 entitled WILD BILL HICKOK. The second was THE WOMAN OF THE TOWN from 1943, starring Claire Trevor and Albert Dekker as Bat.
Quoting IMDb: “Bat Masterson’s girl tries to get him to give up gunfighting and become a respectable journalist, but Bat has other problems – his rival is in town gunning for him.”
Surprisingly enough, since I’d never heard of the film before, it is available on DVD.
September 11th, 2014 at 7:02 pm
That is not quite a correct summary re Woman of the Town. Based on a ‘true’ series of incidents regarding Dora Hand — and there is a lot about her on the net – The picture has sappy development but fine production and performances from Dekker, Trevor and Barry Sullivan. Worth having a look at.
September 11th, 2014 at 8:18 pm
So much for IMDb, as we all know.
The DVD I mentioned is from Alpha Video, and one reviewer on Amazon says that the picture quality is horrendous.
Him I’ll believe.
September 11th, 2014 at 10:11 pm
Barry
I’d rather see the Scott movie, just pointing out that unlike Earp where they often go for a little accuracy they ignore it in Bat’s case, though some of his younger photos look a bit like Glenn Corbett (still rather see Scott). Other than the cane he never carried Gene Barry was well cast in the role.
Bat was Canadian born to add to that. I guess William Shatner should have played him.
Masterson was still alive when the 1923 film was made.
I’m certainly not advocating physical resemblance in portraying actual people in films. T.E. Lawrence was slight and effeminate; Lord Nelson was short and redhaired; Hickok’s nose was so sloped he was called Duckbill as often as Wild Bill; Richard Dix got the broad chest and theatricality right, Richard Boone the red hair, Sam Elliot the height, Dennis Quaid the tri cornered hat, but Joel McCrea was the most accurate of the screen Sam Houston’s physically.
I’m not a stickler for historical accuracy in films, I just find it humorous when in most movies the fictional Masterson kills more men than the real one did in his whole life. Actually Gene Barry got the personality right to the extent the real Bat used to buy old guns from pawn shops and carve notches in them, selling to wealthy admirers as the gun he won the west with. Come to think of it, I could see Scott in RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY doing that.
Margaret Hayes played Dora Hand in two episodes in the Hugh O’Brien series. Her only tie to Bat was that his brother owned the Lady Gay the saloon where she sang and he and Wyatt Earp were on the posse that captured her killer who suffered a life long crippling wound in his shoulder from Bat. In real life she was the girl of Dodge’s Mayor Kelley, though she was known for her beauty and Bat could well have had a crush on her as many men in Dodge did.
Wikipedia suggests Dora was the model for Amanda Blake’s Miss Kitty in GUNSMOKE. I would have to see some provenance to fully buy that, though Dora was well loved and known as Dodge’s “Angel of Mercy” for her civic mindedness and beauty, being active and accepted by the Ladies Aid Society and in the choir of the First Methodist Church in Dodge at the minister’s invitation, as well as lead singer at the Lady Gay Saloon.
TRAIL STREET is a good film, and there are good copies that show up on television, TCM a few times. It’s no more inaccurate than any other western of that or any era, and more fun than many. I just find it ironic that Masterson and Earp are best remembered for a fairly short period of their life at a profession neither man really pursued with much enthusiasm.