User Reviews

Not as bad as one IMDb critic found it, nor as bad as the "Time Out" review suggests. The opening shot was a bit amateurish, with the usually excellent Victor Jory emerging from behind a flaming torch, laughing manically and chucking it through a window. His character's name, Cottrell, and behaviour brings to mind Quantrell and his raiders, but Jory is mainly on the Union side, something not appreciated by one Union officer when Jory and his henchmen swagger into a saloon. Alexis Smith as the saloon girl Rouge did a lot of grimacing, and, rather more effectively, Bob Steele did a lot of glowering,.

The ending was a bit contrived, and everything works out as one might have predicted, though I'm not sure that McCrea got the best girl.

Good film packs action-packed Western , thrills , fistfight , action , betrayals and spectacular raids . Passable portrayal of three Texans , Kip Davis (Joel McCrea) , Charlie Burns (Zachary Scott) and Lee Price (Douglas Kennedy) own Three Bell Ranch being destroyed by Luke Cottrell (Victor Jory who makes a throughly unpleasant bad guy) and his henchman (Bob Steele) , of the Union army, along with his band of outlaw raiders . As the trio seeks both , justice and vengeance against the villains who encroached his ranch . Driven from their land, many settlers move to Texas, still a neutral territory . They are three young men who from Missouri go to Texas seeking vengeance , and reckoning against Cottrel , facing off furious , fighting guerrillas . As Cottrell plunders the region for personal gain rather than in the name of the Union . They take on a leader of a band of guerrilla raiders working for the Union army that carry out bloody and violent raids and ravage the Missouri countryside during the Civil War . Shortly after , Kip, Charlie and Lee go to Brownsville, Texas, looking for Cottrell . After a confrontation between Kip and Cottrell , Cottrell is told to abandon Texas. While Lee (Douglas Kennedy) decides to join the Confederate army , Kip (Joel McCrea) and Charlie (Zachary Scott) attempt to raise money to rebuild their ranch by smuggling . This lucrative enterprise brings them into conflict with Cottrell who, after abandoning the Union cause , is also smuggling guns out of Mexico , then the Confederates capture Brownsville . Kip suggests they all return to rebuild their cattle ranch , but Lee insists in joining the Confederacy . However , Kip and Charlie continue the smuggling together, but subsequently Kip is disillusionated with Charlie . Meanwhile , Cottrell and his guerrilla executing violent looting and slaughters against innocent civilians . Violent raids ...aflame again in all its fury !Warner Bros.' Thundering New Triumph!

An overplotted and exciting Western about the friendship of three Texas Ranchers who wish to create the Three Bell Ranch , but along the way smuggling arms for the Confederacy , bypassing the blockade imposed by the Union . Interesting and colorful film dealing with three friends get involved in a series of conflicts , crosses and double-crosses , smuggling , battles and love triangle . The screenplay is pretty complicated and most of it , despite the title , takes place West of St. Louis . Brawling , sprawling , almost primitive action in which our protagonists join the weapon smuggling from Mexico to US and vice versa . Fast paced filmmaking , it features impressive as well as moving attack scenes punctuated by great action scenes and thrilling go riding . The film is well co-starred by three fine actors , the Western usual Joel McCrea who plays in his habitual style as a peaceful rancher turns renegade gunrunner during the Civil War when his stock is destroyed by Union guerrillas ; Zachary Scott as Charlie , who's more interested in money and gunrunning than in ranching, deciding to continue the smuggling ; Douglas Kennedy as Lee who chooses to remain in the Confederate army and continue the fight . Furthermore , Alexis Smith as a saloon show-girl and dazzling in a plethora of gowns as well as the beautiful Dorothy Lamour falling in love for both , Joel McCrea and Douglas Kennedy . Support cast is pretty good , such as : Alan Hale in one of his last characters provides a vivid portrayal of the local bartender , Art Smith , Monte Blue , Tex Cooper , Tex Driscoll , and finally , Victor Jory and Bob Steele once himself a Western hero , both of whom providing a pair of extremely villainous roles .

It displays a rousing and stirring musical score by the classy Max Steiner . It contains a colorful and brilliant cinematography by Karl Freund who directed the viintage movie : The mummy ; all help strenghen this acceptable Western . The motion picture was well directed by Ray Enright who had just finished a spate of eight Westerns with Randolph Scott . He was a western expert , as he directed a lot of Westerns , the first film he made was Trackers by the police , starring Rin Tin Tin , he subsequently directed Bad Men of Missouri, Men of Texas , The spoilers , Sin town , Alburquerque, Montana , Return of the bad Men , South of St Louis , Flamingo Father , among others. Rating 6.5 out 10 western, better than average . Well worth seeing.

The flick is indirectly based on real deeds , these are the following ones : The character "Luke Cottrell" played by Victor Jory and his hoodlum Bob Steele are described as guerrilla members , while robbing and murdering Southern sympathizers. These characters are obviously based on the real-life William Quantrill, and Anderson who were in fact the leaders of a band of Confederate guerrillas called Bushwackers . This militia commanded by William Clarke Quantrill and Anderson execute their razzias at whatever means by killing and rampaging , carrying out war crimes . They carry out a violent raid on the pro-Union town of Lawrence , Kansas. They really terrorized the Missouri and Kansas countryside during the Civil War. The Lawrence Massacre, was a rebel guerrilla attack during the U.S. Civil War by Quantrill's Raiders, led by William Clarke Quantrill, on the pro-Union town of Lawrence, Kansas. The attack on August 21, 1863, targeted Lawrence due to the town's long support of abolition and its reputation as a center for Jayhawkers and Redlegs, which were free-state militia and vigilante groups known for attacking and destroying farms and plantations in Missouri's pro-slavery western counties . By 1863, Kansas had long been the center of strife and warfare over the admission of slave versus free states. In the summer of 1856, the first sacking of Lawrence sparked a guerrilla war in Kansas that lasted for months. John Brown might be the best known participant, but numerous groups fought for each side in Bleeding Kansas . By the beginning of the American Civil War, Lawrence, Kansas, was already a target for pro-slavery ire, having been seen as the anti-slavery stronghold in the state and more importantly, a staging area for Union and Jayhawker incursions into Missouri.

Joel McCrea, Zachary Scott, and Douglas Kennedy were three friends who tried to ranch together, and dorothy Malone was the good girl they all loved. Then came the Civil War, and now in its closing days, their ranch is destroyed, so they turn to arms smuggling. But cracks show in their friendship, and when the War ends, will it mean the start of their battle?

Warner Brothers had been putting Erroll Flynn in handsome westerns for some time, and this looks like it was intended as another. It's handsome, engaging, has a fine cast, including Alan Hale as a politician, Alexis Smith as the bad girl with a heart of gold, and Bob Steele as the mean henchman. But despite Karl Freund's typically fine camerawork, it all seems like a b western writ large. Perhaps it's because the villain of the piece is Victor Jory as Quantrell, but they were afraid of a lawsuit, so they called his 'Cotrell'. There are no obvious errors, just a feeling it has too many moving parts that never quite mesh.

Lot of different things going on in this enjoyable civil war type western. The plot is set in motion in the opening frames when a ruthless raider named Luke Contrell (I guess he's the union version of William Quantrill) burns out the Three Bells ranch in Texas. The Three Bells is run by 3 friends, Joel McCrea, Zachary Scott and Douglas Kennedy (I hope you don't mind my convention of referring to the characters by the actor's names, it's just easier and apart from Contrell, the names don't mean much) who set of for Brownsville to get even. Contrell carries out his raiding under the protection of the union army, which prevents our hero, Joel McCrea, from doing much more than beating him up and telling him to leave town.

Our three heros -- it's weird seeing Zachary Scott as a hero -- are now kind of shiftless and looking for what to do next. Kennedy decides to join the Confederation and fight in the open. This is kind of different, the movie is set during the Civil War and one of the hero's decides to join the confederation and doesn't feel the need to talk about protecting his way of life. The union army might protect Contrell, but they don't like him much, and the commander offers to buy McCrea a drink after he beats up Contrell -- but McCrea don't drink with Yankees. McCrea and Scott get mixed up in gun running and take to the trade, blockade running guns from Mexico to the confederates.

The romantic sub-plot is that a saloon singer played by Alexis Smith has set her cap for McCrea and McCrea's gal, Dorothy Malone, has followed Kennedy into fighting the good fight as a nurse (the film just never really gets into the nitty gritty of the politics of the civil war). I found the romantic business, usually something of a drag in the avg McCrea feature, to be pretty interesting and not quite so ham handed as is often done.

The production values are not bad, the acting is pretty good, the story interesting and a little different. If you love westerns, and I presume you do if you've read this far, you could do a lot worse that this movie. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Unimpressive Western with an Impressive Cast and Production.

Joel McCrea, Zachary Scott, Bob Steele, Dorthy Malone, Alexis Smith are in the Expensive Cast-List.

Max Steiner is the Composer.

The Movie was Shot in Technicolor.

What's Unimpressive about the Movie is the that it Fails to Deliver much in Entertainment Value.

Relying on Dull Dialog, Routine Characters in a Recycled Plot about Long-Time Friends Finding it Difficult to Remain Loyal.

The Civil-War and its Ramifications on, well, Everything and Everybody finds the "Three Amigos' Burned-Out of Their Ranch by Ruthless "Yankee" Scumbags.

The Ranch was Named "The Three Bells".

And as a Symbol They All Wear "Tinkling" Little Bells on Their Spurs.

Pay Attention Now because this is a "Key" Thread Running throughout the Movie.

A Silly and Goofy Tie-In to the Disenfranchising of a Once-Bonded Team,

By 1949 Hollywood had Perfected its Craft of Assembly-Line Art with a Studio-System.

Peeking in 1939 and 10 Years Later, the Formulaic Nature did the Art of Motion Pictures No Favors.

1949 was the Beginning of the End of Such Robotic Capitalization.

Because the Inherent Influence of Money in the Production caused a "Play it Safe at All Costs".

The Industrialized Stifling of Otherwise Talented Artists that were Under Strict, Binding Contracts by the Studios.

This Movie is a Good Example of Coasting.

Uninspired By-the-Numbers "Product" to be Sold to the Masses with Guaranteed Return on the Investment.

Problem is...It would Not be Guaranteed Forever.

10 Years Later the Studio-System would Begin to Collapse Under its Own Weight.

Despite having Joel McCrea in the lead, this is a rather dull western...dull and pretty predictable. About the only part that was unexpected was how less than honorable McCrea's character was through much of the movie.

The story is set during the Civil War. Three buddies all arrive in Yankee occupied Texas on the lookout for Cottrell (Victor Jory). Cottrell is fashioned after the real life Civil War raider, Quantrill...though oddly he's fighting for the Union in this one. Despite Kip Davis (Joel McCrea) and his friends wanting to kill Cottrell, soon Lee (Douglas Kennedy) joins the Confederate army and Kip and Charlie (Zachary Scott) help the South by running the blockades. Eventually, however, Charlie comes to enjoy getting rich much more than helping the Confederacy and this brings a very predictable showdown at the end.

Everything about this film is mediocre at best and the story only occasionally interesting. I had a hard time caring about the characters and the story.

This movie is filled with every cliche you can think of, and absolutely none of them work. The plot is predictable and the characters are not interesting, but boring. The acting is pretty bad, even by Joel McCrea. Even western fans should stay away from this one.

Joel McCrea, Douglas Kennedy, and Zachary Scott are partners in the Three Bell Ranch in Texas as the Civil War starts. When war does come it splits the partners up. The ranch is raided by Victor Jory and his cutthroats and the partners are wiped out. Kennedy opts for enlisting in the Confederate Army. McCrea and Scott decide to go into gunrunning to make enough money to re-stock the ranch. McCrea makes enough, but Scott likes the profits and he wants to keep on gunrunning.

As you can see the three partners all have different agendas. In fact everyone in this movie is working on his own agenda. The female leads Alexis Smith and Dorothy Malone have a hankering for McCrea. Victor Jory rides for the Union the Confederates and for himself. Bob Steele who's a slimy sort that Scott recruits in the gunrunning business has his own plans.

Believe it or not it all jells into a very nice plot and is good entertainment. Joel McCrea was his usual stalwart hero as was Douglas Kennedy. Zachary Scott was no better than he had to be on any occasion.

It's a good western and I wish it was shown more often.

Entertaining western film. Suitable for family viewing. Follows the lives of three friends; the different paths their lives take. Watch for the mole on Alexis Smith face. In one scene, when she sings "Dixie", the mole has left her face and is seen on her chest area.In the closing scene there is no trace of the mole.

Good old fashioned Western, the plot however is very similar to the Jimmy Cagney classic "The Roaring 20's" re-fashioned to a Western setting and with a sanitised ending, McCrea as the Cagney character survives and Scott as the Bogart character is killed after changing sides back to the law and Order camp. Worth watching as a good example of Hollywood in its pre message era when a Western was for entertainment. The production values were good with great Technicolour and a strong cast. McCrea was always good in his Westerns having played both comedy and drama in his earlier years and Zachary Scott was a very under-rated actor, good in any movie he was in.

Kip Davis (Joel McCrea), Charlie Burns (Zachary Scott) and Lee Price (Douglas Kennedy) are best friends and partners in the Three-Bell Ranch, but the Civil War breaks out and their home is destroyed by Union raiders led by Luke Cottrell. Kip tracks down Cottrell in the local saloon and beats him. It won't be their last meeting.

But with the Three-Bell ranch gone, the partners split up. Lee joins the Confederate army. At the urging of saloon singer Rouge de Lisle (Alexis Smith), Kip becomes a gunrunner and Charlie joins him in the gun-running business.

Kip just wants to get enough money to restart the Three-Bell Ranch, however Charlie is more interested in the money than the ranch. Meanwhile,Lee winds up being more interested in Deborah Miller (Dorothy Malone) - the girl Kip planned to marry - than a renewed partnership with his two friends.

Turns out the close bond between the Three-Bell partners is going to be severely tested, during the war and after.

A decent Joel McCrea western highlighting the turbulence that war can cause by splitting three friends apart, but it's the rousing action scenes that drives this fast-paced western splashed in Technicolor. Great stunts, horse riding and gun smoke! Plus you get two hotties Alexis Smith and Dorothy Malone. The performances are great too, especially from McCrea who is an honourable character, something he would continue to play later in his career. Zachary Scott does what it's expected, and sneers in bad guy fashion. So does Victor Jory. It's a well- directed colourful western, but that's what you expect from the director of the superb Coroner's Creek!

They stick together and separate occasionally, taking opposite stands, sometimes with the confederates and sometimes with the unionists, but in spite of wide gulfs of differences they always end up together again, Joel McCrea, Zachary Scott and Douglas Kennedy, they are bound together by a ranch which they share called "Three Bells", and that's why they attach small bells to their spurs to make them tinkle more distinctly wherever they go. Two dames are also involved, the lovely and adorable Dorothy Malone, who is marrying Joel McCrea, and Alexis Smith as a saloon entertainer, singing occasionally and sticking her fingers into their business occasionally. She is the best acting performance here, with great nuances making her character the most intriguing, occasionally (when no one sees it) wiping off a tear or two. There is a great villain also, Victor Jory at his most unpleasant, a thoroughly vicious sadist who likes to burn ranches, kill people and steal any kind of loot. The frame of the drama is the civil war and how it affects Texas, being torn apart by unionists and confederates and ultimately in the hands of the Texas Rangers, and the political shifts of the drama add to its interest. Joel McCrea never gets his Dorothy Malone as another gets her instead, but he finds someone else, or perhaps she is the one who finds him, after having looked for him throughout the film.