The Desperadoes

Last updated

The Desperadoes
The Desperadoes 1943 Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Charles Vidor
Screenplay by Robert Carson
Story by Max Brand
Produced by Harry Joe Brown
Starring Randolph Scott
Claire Trevor
Glenn Ford
Evelyn Keyes
Edgar Buchanan
Cinematography George Meehan
Allen M. Davey
Edited by Gene Havlick
Music by John Leipold
Color process Technicolor
Production
company
Columbia Pictures
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • May 25, 1943 (1943-05-25)(USA)
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1.1 million (US rentals) [1]

The Desperadoes is a 1943 American Western film directed by Charles Vidor and starring Randolph Scott, Claire Trevor, Glenn Ford, Evelyn Keyes and Edgar Buchanan. [2] Based on a story by Max Brand, the film is about a wanted outlaw who arrives in town to rob a bank that has already been held up. His past and his friendship with the sheriff land them both in trouble. The Desperadoes was the first Columbia Pictures production to be released in Technicolor. [3]

Contents

Plot

In 1863, Sheriff Steve Upton tries to keep the law in Red Valley, a small town in Utah. While he's away, the bank is robbed. The holdup was secretly masterminded by corrupt banker Stanley Clanton and the livery stable's boss, "Uncle Willie" McLeod, with the help of ruthless gunman Jack Lester, who shoots three innocent men.

Cheyenne Rogers rides to town. At the stable, Allison McLeod, daughter of Uncle Willie, recognizes the horse as one belonging to Steve. As the stranger goes to the saloon for a drink, Allison rides out to find Steve, whose mount was stolen on the trail.

"The Countess", who runs gambling at the saloon, is in love with Cheyenne, who was hired to help rob the bank but arrived too late. She blames herself for steering Cheyenne toward crime in the first place. Cheyenne finds a legitimate job, breaking broncos at a ranch.

Steve returns to town and is glad to see Cheyenne, an old friend. Lester turns the town against Cheyenne, revealing his outlaw past, and then his sidekick Nitro pulls off another robbery of the bank. A posse rounds up Cheyenne and Nitro and a judge sentences them to hang. But they are sprung from jail by Steve, who is then placed behind bars himself.

Alison goes to the Countess to beg for her help. She does, even though Cheyenne now loves Allison instead of her. Cheyenne slips a gun to Steve through a jailhouse window, and together they set about making things right. Uncle Willie, feeling guilt about his part in the robbery, ends up shooting Clanton in a gunfight. Allison is wed to Cheyenne beside her father's jail cell. After, Allison and Steve leave on their honeymoon Uncle Willie is very surprised to learn his confession to help Cheyanne, will likely result in at least a 20 yr prison term.

Cast

Production

The assistant director was Budd Boetticher, then using his real name, Oscar Boetticher, Jr. It was on this film that he met Scott and producer Brown. Fourteen years later, they would all re-team at Columbia to make the series of westerns known as the Ranown cycle (Ranown being a portmanteau of RANdolph and BrOWN).

Parts of the film were shot in Johnson Canyon, Kanab Canyon, the Gap, and Paria, Utah. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Randolph Scott</span> American actor (1898–1987)

George Randolph Scott was an American film actor, whose Hollywood career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a broad variety of film genres, including social dramas, crime dramas, comedies, musicals, adventure tales, war films, and a few horror and fantasy films. However, his most enduring image is that of the tall-in-the-saddle Western hero. Out of his more than 100 film appearances, over 60 of them were Westerns. According to editor Edward Boscombe, "...Of all the major stars whose name was associated with the Western, Scott [was] most closely identified with it."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denver Pyle</span> American actor (1920–1997)

Denver Dell Pyle was an American film and television actor and director. He was well known for a number of TV roles from the 1960s through the 1980s, including his portrayal of Briscoe Darling in several episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, as Jesse Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard from 1979 to 1985, as Mad Jack in the NBC television series The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, and as the titular character's father, Buck Webb, in CBS's The Doris Day Show. In many of his roles, he portrayed either authority figures, or gruff, demanding father figures, often as comic relief. Perhaps his most memorable film role was that of Texas Ranger Frank Hamer in the movie Bonnie and Clyde (1967), as the lawman who relentlessly chased down and finally killed the notorious duo in an ambush.

<i>El Dorado</i> (1966 film) 1966 film

El Dorado is a 1966 American Western film directed and produced by Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne and Robert Mitchum. Written by Leigh Brackett and loosely based on the novel The Stars in Their Courses by Harry Brown, the film is about a gunfighter who comes to the aid of an old friend who is a drunken sheriff struggling to defend a rancher and his family against another rancher trying to steal their water. The supporting cast features James Caan, Charlene Holt, Paul Fix, Arthur Hunnicutt, Michele Carey, R. G. Armstrong, Ed Asner, Christopher George, Adam Roarke and Jim Davis.

<i>Gunfight at the O.K. Corral</i> (film) 1957 film by John Sturges

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral is a 1957 American Western film starring Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday, and loosely based on the actual event in 1881. The film was directed by John Sturges from a screenplay written by novelist Leon Uris. It was a remake of the 1939 film Frontier Marshall starring Randolph Scott, which was until 1957 the definitive film of the gunfight story.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trevor Bardette</span> American actor (1902–1977)

Trevor Bardette was an American film and television actor. Among many other roles in his long and prolific career, Bardette appeared in several episodes of Adventures of Superman and as Newman Haynes Clanton, or Old Man Clanton, in 21 episodes of the ABC/Desilu western series, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp.

Oscar Boetticher Jr., known as Budd Boetticher, was an American film director. He is best remembered for a series of low-budget Westerns he made in the late 1950s starring Randolph Scott.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenne Duncan</span> Canadian-American actor (1903–1972)

Kenne Duncan was a Canadian-born American B-movie character actor. Hyped professionally as "The Meanest Man in the Movies," the vast majority of his over 250 appearances on camera were Westerns, but he also did occasional forays into horror, crime drama, and science fiction. He also appeared in over a dozen serials.

<i>Seven Men from Now</i> 1956 film by Budd Boetticher

Seven Men from Now is a 1956 American Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott, Gail Russell and Lee Marvin. The film was written by Burt Kennedy and produced by John Wayne's Batjac Productions.

Burton Raphael Kennedy was an American screenwriter and director known mainly for directing Westerns. Budd Boetticher called him "the best Western writer ever."

Once Upon a Texas Train is a 1988 American comedy Western television film, directed by Burt Kennedy and starring Willie Nelson and Richard Widmark.

<i>Ride Lonesome</i> 1959 film by Budd Boetticher

Ride Lonesome is a 1959 American CinemaScope Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott, Karen Steele, Pernell Roberts, Lee Van Cleef, and James Coburn in his film debut. This Eastmancolor film is one of Boetticher's so-called "Ranown cycle" of westerns, made with Randolph Scott, executive producer Harry Joe Brown and screenwriter Burt Kennedy, beginning with Seven Men from Now.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan White (actor)</span> American actor (1908–1980)

Dan White was an American actor, well known for appearing in Western films and TV shows.

<i>Lightning Jack</i> 1994 film

Lightning Jack is a 1994 Western comedy film written by and starring Paul Hogan, as well as Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beverly D'Angelo.

<i>West of Hot Dog</i> 1924 film

West of Hot Dog is a 1924 American comedy film starring Stan Laurel.

<i>Buchanan Rides Alone</i> 1958 film by Budd Boetticher

Buchanan Rides Alone is a 1958 American Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott, Craig Stevens, and Barry Kelley. Based on the 1956 novel The Name's Buchanan by Jonas Ward, the film is about a Texan returning home with enough money to start his own ranch. When he stops in the crooked town of Agry, he is robbed and framed for murder.

<i>Decision at Sundown</i> 1957 film by Budd Boetticher

Decision at Sundown is a 1957 American Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott. It is one of seven Boetticher/Scott western collaborations, including Seven Men from Now, The Tall T, Buchanan Rides Alone, Westbound, Ride Lonesome, and Comanche Station.

<i>The Kansan</i> (film) 1943 film

The Kansan is a 1943 Western film directed by George Archainbaud. The film is also known as Wagon Wheels in the United Kingdom.

<i>Belle of the Yukon</i> 1944 film

Belle of the Yukon is a 1944 American comedy musical Western film produced and directed by William A. Seiter and starring Randolph Scott, Gypsy Rose Lee, Dinah Shore and Bob Burns. Based on a story by Houston Branch and set in the days of the great Canadian Gold Rush, the film is about a "reformed" con artist-turned-dance hall owner whose girlfriend, played by Gypsy Rose Lee, tries to keep him on the straight and narrow.

<i>Bullet for a Badman</i> 1964 film

Bullet for a Badman is a 1964 American Western film directed by R. G. Springsteen and starring Audie Murphy and Darren McGavin. The film is based on the 1958 novel Renegade Posse by Marvin H. Albert. The film was shot between October and November 1963 in Zion National Park and Snow Canyon State Park in Utah.

<i>Stage to Mesa City</i> 1947 film directed by Ray Taylor

Stage to Mesa City is a 1947 American Western film directed by Ray Taylor and starring Lash La Rue, Al St. John, Jennifer Holt, George Chesebro, Buster Slaven, and Marshall Reed. The film was released by Producers Releasing Corporation on September 13, 1947.

References

  1. "Top Grossers of the Season", Variety, 5 January 1944 p 54
  2. "The Desperadoes". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  3. Toose, Gary W. "The Desperadoes". DVD Beaver. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  4. "Full cast and crew for The Desperadoes". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  5. D'Arc, James V. (2010). When Hollywood came to town: A history of moviemaking in Utah (1st ed.). Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith. ISBN   9781423605874.