People
hooked on vintage westerns tend to have their own favorite cowboy stars. For
me, William S. Hart has the silent era sewn up.
A stark, iconic presence casting an imposing shadow over all the westerns
to come. For the 30’s I’d pick Bob
Steele (uniquely intense, whether projecting vulnerability or
scrappiness). My 40’s choice would be
Roy Rogers, solid in the early part of the decade and unbeatable once Dale Evans joined the party
in ’44. The 50’s offer an intriguing
range of possibilities.
Joel McCrea always
registered as righteous, without ever coming across as self righteous - unlike Gregory Peck or Charlton Heston, who
sometimes seemed bent on engraving their own images onto Mount Rushmore with
each word. McCrea had occasionally
donned western garb in the 30’s. But it was the big post-war hit “The
Virginian” that really established his brand as a sagebrush hero.
Raoul Walsh’s
“Colorado Territory” (‘49) was a western remake of the same director’s “High
Sierra” – and great in its own right.
McCrea had already displayed
expertise in all sorts of films. In 30’s romances, he held his own with the
likes of Barbara Stanwyck, Irene Dunne, Loretta Young, Merle Oberon and
Constance Bennett. And he made an
admirable Hitchcock hero in the exciting “Foreign Correspondent” (’40). Plus
was there ever a more appealingly perplexed straight man at the center of
Preston Sturges’ dizzy universe? McCrea’s work in both “Sullivan’s Travels” and “The
Palm Beach Story” deserved Oscar attention.
But after the 40’s, the actor settled almost exclusively into westerns,
a genre in which he was supremely comfortable.
He loved horses – and raised them on his own 3000 acre spread in
California. In “Stars in My Crown” (’50)
McCrea played a western preacher and it’s a film that still generates critical enthusiasm
60 some years later . But I especially like “Cattle Drive” (’51) where
he’s beautifully cast as the patient, resourceful trail boss/mentor to a young city boy
stranded out west. It’s a part only
McCrea could’ve delivered with such quietly expressive eloquence.
“Gunsight
Ridge”(’57) was a genuine out of left field gem, with McCrea in measured but
relentless pursuit of charismatic outlaw Mark Stevens. The ambience was
convincing, the script terse and compelling.
It wasn’t the last great western McCrea made (that would be ‘62’s “Ride
the High Country”), but it may be the most unsung. Check it out.
George Montgomery radiated
a kind of frontier authenticity. Not that surprising since he was born in
Montana and raised on a ranch. He was always
active, agile and a natural around horses. While still in his teens, Montgomery
headed to Hollywood to try his luck. And within weeks was working as a
stuntman. The guy was tall, handsome and gifted with a great speaking voice, so
it wasn’t long before producers promoted
him to speaking parts. 20th Century Fox signed him in 1939 and within two or three years Montgomery was an established leading man opposite some of the era’s top
movie beauties – Betty Grable, Gene Tierney, Maureen O’Hara, Ginger
Rogers. For a time he and Hedy Lamarr
were a much photographed twosome on the Hollywood social circuit - arguably the
era’s most sublimely photogenic couple. In 1943 he married singer Dinah Shore,
a union that endured for twenty years. Montgomery
joined the Air Force that same year. Neither he nor Fox were
enthusiastic about his first few postwar assignments. He yearned for more independence and -
parting company with the studio - began freelancing, at the same time getting
involved in the production end of things.
Westerns were cost-effective and – pretty much on all levels – a
comfortable fit for him. Although he’d made a few medium budget oaters in the
40’s, it wasn’t till the end of the decade that westerns became pretty much his exclusive focus. He
made twenty-three of them in the 50’s, establishing himself as one of the genre’s
stalwart marquee attractions.
But his gifts extended well beyond those he
displayed onscreen. A genuine lover of all things western, he eventually
established a reputation (and a successful second career) as a painter and
sculptor, mainly of western subjects. His work found its
way into museums and private collections all over the world. Like Randolph
Scott, Montgomery retained the leanness of his youth throughout his career. He also
projected a refreshing honesty, a straight from the shoulder quality,
that gave even his less substantial vehicles a kind of dramatic backbone. The
early 50’s were busy and successful years for him. In ’53, Montgomery took full advantage of the
current 3D craze; his stereoscopic “Fort Ti” generated phenomenal profits. Montgomery westerns I especially like from the period include “Indian Uprising” and “The Battle of
Rogue River”. But his best, both complex and elemental, is probably 1957’s
“Black Patch”’ a stark and moody western noir.
Over the years, George Montgomery developed
and perfected a singular screen presence; using his straight-talking style, a
highly personal brand of dramatic short-hand, to build characters - sometimes
romantic, sometimes remote - but always compellingly watchable. And it was
inevitably in westerns that his finely honed talents achieved their fullest resonance.
Dale Robertson
never lost his distinctive Oklahoma twang. But that was just one of the things
that made him special. Movie cowboys often had sidekicks, on hand to supply a
level of geniality while the hero functioned as straight arrow, spearheading the
plot, handling the lion’s share of the action, settling whatever scores had to
be settled. Robertson projected a geniality of his own, with a good-natured
twinkle in his eye, even in his voice. Here was a man never reliant on sidekicks
to inject fun into the proceedings. He projected plenty of that all on his
own. The thing was that he also
possessed exceptional leading man good looks plus complete outdoor
credibility –great with guns, horses and full-on action. And though naturally
good-natured, Robertson was quite capable – at any given moment - of leveling a gaze steely enough to unsettle the
meanest of bad guys. In other words, Dale Robertson was the complete package. Studio
publicity would have it that he was discovered when, as a WW2 serviceman, he
had a photo of himself taken in LA for his mother. The photographer included
the impressive portrait in his shop window display, where it was seen by film
agents immediately eager to represent the budding Adonis. After the war, now a
highly decorated veteran of 21, he took the Hollywood plunge. By the late 40’s,
he’d already had small roles in several films. He was Jesse James in Randolph
Scott’s “Fighting Man of the Plains”; it was just a supporting part, but he was
noticed. Fox signed him and proceeded to develop him as a rising star. He
played in lots of non-westerns including “O. Henry’s Full House”( nicely paired
with Richard Widmark), the socially progressive swashbuckler “Lydia Bailey” and
– on loan out to Howard Hughes and RKO – an entertaining Arabian Nights
adventure, “Son of Sinbad”. He was also leading man in “The Farmer Takes a
Wife” the best musical Betty Grable ever made (yes, he sang, too). Filmed
outdoors, it glowed with the airy
freshness of wide open spaces. A welcome antidote to those garish assembly line vehicles from Grable’s
40’s heyday, so many of them little more than parades of tired Tony Pastor era vaudeville routines. Songs in “The Farmer Takes a Wife” were
beautifully and imaginatively integrated into the action. Sadly, the public
didn’t embrace this one- their loss. Dale Robertson worked – and worked well –
in a variety of genres. But westerns were an especially good fit for him. He
was just one of an especially large leading man contingent (Joseph Cotten,
Cornel Wilde, Jeff Chandler) in Robert Wise’s excellent (and splendidly
photographed) “Two Flags West”. But was more prominently spotlighted in “The
Silver Whip” (an adroitly fashioned
vehicle for Fox’s then up and coming
male heartthrobs Robertson, Rory Calhoun and Robert Wagner.
“City of Bad Men”
with Jeanne Crain was another standout – a smart script, expertly executed. As the old studio system floundered, Robertson
became a freelancer – but westerns remained his preferred genre. “Dakota Incident” is hands down my favorite
Republic film of the 50’s. Notable for , among other things, superlative,
award-worthy work from Linda Darnell and Ward Bond. Cast and crew stubbornly
refused to just phone it in. Director Lewis R. Foster took the old disparate group of strangers on a stagecoach
journey and made it fresh and vivid again. And the whole enterprise was anchored
by Robertson’s bedrock-solid work at its center.