By this time in his movie career, Audie Murphy finally outgrew his boyish good looks and actually managed to look the part of either an outlaw or a hero, which in this case he was both. A surprise for me was catching Buster Crabbe this far into his career and appearing well matured beyond his Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers days as a matinée idol.
The story opens with a rather long fourth wall narration by an uncredited Booth Colman portraying a newspaper editor, setting the stage for a tale dealing with the last days of Quantrill's Raiders. Audie Murphy's character is Clint Stewart, who along with partner Willie Martin (Ben Cooper), are members of Quantrill's bunch and are captured during a Union assault and sentenced to twenty years hard time. Their release from a Texas prison is engineered by Captain Tom Andrews (Crabbe), who offers them eventual pardon if they cooperate in bringing the remainder of the gang to justice.
I have to say, for an otherwise rather mundane western I was impressed by a couple of scenes, the first of which had a Quantrill renegade named Montana (George Keymas) pull the old Luca Brasi trick of putting a knife through the hand of a card playing opponent who beat him with a full house.
The other occurred when Clint's identity as a Union undercover agent is about to be blown and his friend Willie tries to cover for him and is shot by Montana in the process, virtually committing suicide so the mission wouldn't be undermined. Of course, he was about half dead already after being beaten by the outlaws, so he might have figured it was for a worthy cause.
Oh yeah, can't forget the cactus torture by the Yaqui's. Nice touch there as well.
Over all a decent Audie Murphy Western for fans of the war hero and movie star, with excellent cinematography and location shooting for the Arizona backdrop. Brief intermittent scenes of Gloria Talbott as a Yaqui Indian should add to your viewing pleasure.
The story opens with a rather long fourth wall narration by an uncredited Booth Colman portraying a newspaper editor, setting the stage for a tale dealing with the last days of Quantrill's Raiders. Audie Murphy's character is Clint Stewart, who along with partner Willie Martin (Ben Cooper), are members of Quantrill's bunch and are captured during a Union assault and sentenced to twenty years hard time. Their release from a Texas prison is engineered by Captain Tom Andrews (Crabbe), who offers them eventual pardon if they cooperate in bringing the remainder of the gang to justice.
I have to say, for an otherwise rather mundane western I was impressed by a couple of scenes, the first of which had a Quantrill renegade named Montana (George Keymas) pull the old Luca Brasi trick of putting a knife through the hand of a card playing opponent who beat him with a full house.
The other occurred when Clint's identity as a Union undercover agent is about to be blown and his friend Willie tries to cover for him and is shot by Montana in the process, virtually committing suicide so the mission wouldn't be undermined. Of course, he was about half dead already after being beaten by the outlaws, so he might have figured it was for a worthy cause.
Oh yeah, can't forget the cactus torture by the Yaqui's. Nice touch there as well.
Over all a decent Audie Murphy Western for fans of the war hero and movie star, with excellent cinematography and location shooting for the Arizona backdrop. Brief intermittent scenes of Gloria Talbott as a Yaqui Indian should add to your viewing pleasure.