Tue 24 Mar 2015
A Western Movie Review by Dan Stumpf: RIMFIRE (1949).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[9] Comments
RIMFIRE. Lippert/Screen Guild, 1949. James Millican, Mary Beth Hughes, Reed Hadley, Victor Killian, Henry Hull, Fuzzy Knight, Chris-Pin Martin, Glenn Strange, Jason Robards Sr., I. Stanford Jolley and the ubiquitous (at Lippert) Margia Dean. Written by Ron Ormond, Arthur St. Claire and Frank Wisbar. Directed by B. Reeves Eason.
Not a terribly good movie, but an unusual and intriguing one, Rimfire offers James Millican as an undercover cavalry officer in search of a purloined gold shipment. Early on he stops a stagecoach robbery (masterminded by that stalwart of the genre, the fancy-vested saloon-owner) and gets a job as deputy for the local sheriff.
All pretty standard stuff, but it happens that one of the stagecoach passengers is a savvy gambler known as the Abilene Kid (saturnine Reed Hadley) who knows a thing or two about the local bad guys, and in short order, he’s framed for cheating at cards with a marked deck and promptly hanged by the law-abiding citizenry.
Well I wasn’t expecting that. Nor the next part where a ghostly shadow shows up at odd times and starts murdering the rest of the cast, leaving a playing card at the scene of each slaying.
The origins of this bit aren’t far to seek. Co-writer Frank Wisbar is best known for writing/directing Strangler of the Swamp (PRC, 1946) which also featured the ghost of a wrongly-hanged man exacting revenge. Director B. Reeves Eason, who helmed such off-beat adventures as Undersea Kingdom and Darkest Africa (both Mascot, 1936) knew his way around the world of low-budget thrills, so Rimfire achieves a certain eerie resonance as we see each doomed victim suddenly shrouded by shadow, staring fearfully into the camera as a sepulchral voice tells him his time has come. And some of the murders are unusually grim for a B-western.
Alas, however, and also alack while you’re up, the makers of this thing opted for a fairly conventional “surprise†ending which I saw coming about 10 minutes in. Damn shame, that.
Along the way though there’s some fairly chilling fun to be had, and if Rimfire never makes it into the ranks of Creepy Classics or Western Noir, at least it offers something a little out the ordinary to keep you watching.
March 24th, 2015 at 10:40 pm
You can call me a soft touch, perhaps, but when I went looking for a copy of this movie on DVD, I found one so easily that I lost, well something, and I bought a copy.
Look for it as half of a twofer called Western Film Noir, Volume 1, paired with a movie called Little Big Horn that I haven’t seen (or heard of) either. It stars Lloyd Bridges, John Ireland, Marie Windsor, Reed Hadley, and in what has to be an early role, Hugh O’Brian.
Strangely enough, if IMDb is to be believed, this is the only movie entitled Little Big Horn to ever be made.
March 25th, 2015 at 12:21 am
I have a copy of that 2-on-1 DVD!
March 25th, 2015 at 12:29 am
I don’t know if anyone’s mentioned this in other posts, but last year saw the publication of Talk’s Cheap, Action’s Expensive: The Films Of Robert L. Lippert, by Mark Thomas McGee (BearManor Media, $22.95).
The first third or so of the book is a brief biography of the highly resourceful Mr. Lippert; the remainder consists of a extensive filmography of his various companies and their films, including many that have been discussed on this blog.
When I got this book, I went through the filmography and was struck by just how many familiar names I found from my years of TV watching over the years; when TV came in, many of the B-movie artists had little or no problems making the adjustment.
I’m not a “literary critic”, so I’ll make no claims for this volume’s prose stylings.
But given the watching proclivities of the regulars here, I’d call this book a genuine resource, and a major stimulant of further curiosity.
As I said, the book was only published last year, so if anyone else mentioned it – well, I’m mentioning it too, so there.
March 25th, 2015 at 12:37 am
Wouldn’t you just know it …
… went back and looked in your archive and saw Dan Stumpf’s review of Omoo Omoo, which, as it happens I hadn’t read.
And there, lo and behold, is an extended mention of the Lippert book, complete with a rave that outdoes mine.
Sorry, Mr. Stumpf – no slight intended.
The rest of you – get the book.
March 25th, 2015 at 4:01 am
LITTLE BIG HORN is well thought of by some folks, but I always found it kind of cramped and depressing. Let us know what you think of RIMFIRE though.
March 25th, 2015 at 9:30 am
I have the Lippert book, and have read it. A shallow, but entertaining overview, of this guy’s career. More detail would be welcome. As for Rimfire, Well worth a look due to off beat casting and a nearly good enough story. The shortcomings are part and parcel to any Ron Ormond production.
March 25th, 2015 at 4:53 pm
You don’t find a lot of westerns starring James Millican’s familiar face, so that one might be worth a peek. The rest of the cast is good and the noir element sounds interesting — though I think we toss that word around too much. Everything dark and atmospheric in films is not noir or noir influenced. Dark and atmospheric was around a long time before noir as were undercover lawmen in westerns.
It might better fit the Western Mystery Man genre that was using mysterious killers dating back to the silent.
March 25th, 2015 at 6:49 pm
I must have seen Millican in dozens of movies, but before posting Dan’s review, I couldn’t have told you the title of any of them — or even put a face to the name. I doubt he had many leading roles, other than this one, but I’d be happy to be proved wrong.
March 26th, 2015 at 10:10 am
Milllican played the townsman who offered to help Gary Cooper in HIGH NOON but chickened out when no one else would.