User Reviews

NOTES: Although well-produced, Scott's second last film under his Warner Bros contract was churlishly handled by the studio in post-production and publicity. The movie was deliberately over-lit by cinematographer Carl Guthrie who had been assured that all prints of the film would be washed in a sepia bath. This would restore tone and contrast, making the images that look washed-out and over-exposed in ordinary black-and-white take on sharpness, contrast and color. Without over-lighting, many of the shots would look too dark when printed in sepia. However, the studio decided to save money by releasing prints in black-and-white only. Economy was also exercised on posters and lobby cards - the latter, overprinted in a deep red, are probably the least attractive cards the studio ever issued.

COMMENT: An ingenious little western with a novel plot idea which allows for both action and comedy, plus a touch of romance. Randolph Scott, reaching the end of his career here still delivers the goods in his battle against those delightfully unscrupulous villains, James Craig and Myron Healey. While it's a late appearance for Scott, it's an early one for Angie Dickinson (her 9th actually) - though her fans are going to be mighty disappointed by her prim and modest demeanor and attire (Dani Crayne plays the saloon singer and plays it very nicely) - and an even earlier one for James Garner (his 3rd). He is just as uninspiring (both physically and histrionically) as ever. However, the rest of the support cast is very able.

There's a fair bit of action with Scott doubling as a sort of masked avenger. Interest does flag a bit towards the end but it is revived with a bang by a splendid climax in which Scott and Craig demolish practically the entire contents of a well-stocked general store. Bare's direction is efficient without being in any way distinguished. The film is helped in its early stages by a bit of location shooting and production values generally are first rate - with a special mention for the lavishly stocked sets. There are a goodly number of extras milling about. Photography and other production credits are adequate.

I am a big fan of both Randolph Scott ( Captain Devlin), and James Garner ( Dgt. Maitland), and watched this movie for them But a real standout was someone I had never heard of Dani Crayne ( Nell Garrison) before seeing this move, but she is a real highlight. Spoilers ahead: She is a beautiful saloon singer who is despised by everyone especially Priscilla King ( Angie Dickinson), because they think she is a tramp and untrustworthy ( the only one who believed in her was Devlin ( even Maitland who she really liked did not because she got Private Clegg ( Gordon Jones) drunk which caused him and Maitland to be arrested and almost hung)). As it turns out she was actually a good girl who turned out to be one of the heroes ( along with Scott of course) because she saved them ( and Scott) from evil store keeper Ep Clark.( James Craig) and his gang by letting Scott know what was going on. Does she turn out okay? Yes she does, ending up with Garner, while Scott enda up with Angie Dickenson. The only negative to the movie is Garner really has little to do and even Dickenson contributes more to Scott winning then he does. Again 9/10 stars mostly for Randolph Scott and Dani Crayne.

"Shootout at Medicine Bend" is one of many formula "B" plus westerns turned out by star Randolph Scott in the 1950s. This one, for some reason was shot in black and white, the only Scott western of the decade not shot in color.

Three army buddies, Captain Buck Devlin (Scott), Sgt. John Maitland (James Garner) and Pvt. Wilbur Clegg (Gordon Jones) are returning home after mustering out of the service. They arrive at Devlin's brother's ranch just as it is being attacked by Indians. The brother is killed due to faulty ammunition that fails to work under fire. Devlin and friends set out for the town of Medicine Bend to investigate. Along the way they are robbed of all of their possessions including their clothes.

Coming upon a wagon train of Quaker like people, they are given plain clothes by the group and proceed to the town where they find everything controlled by businessman Ep Clark (James Craig). We learn that Clark and his gang are responsible for robberies of local ranchers including Devlin and his pals.

Maitland and Clegg go to work for Clark under the watchful eye of Rafe Sanders (Myron Healey), Clark's second in command. Devlin meanwhile aligns himself with Clark's competitor Elan King (Harry Harvey) who just happens to have a sweet as apple pie daughter Priscilla (Angie Dickenson). Saloon girl Nell Garrison (Dani Crayne) tries to help out John and Wilbur when they are arrested for the murder of Clark henchman Clyde Walters (John Alderson). Then it gets interesting.

Randolph Scott was nearing the end of a long career, so it was kind of hard to imagining him romancing the young Angie Dickenson even though it's only suggested. The best female part however goes to Crayne who gets to warble a forgettable tune as the good/bad saloon girl.

As with most of Scott's westerns, he was given an excellent supporting cast. In addition to those already mentioned we have Trevor Bardette as the Sheriff, Don Beddoe as the Mayor, Harry Lauter as henchman Briggs, Robert Warwick as Brother Abraham, Ann Doran as Devlin's sister in law and Phil Van Zandt as a street barker all familiar to western fans. Also watch for a brief appearance from Nancy Kulp as a nurse and stuntman Dale Van Sickle as one of the boys.

James Garner was on the brink of stardom as he was about to embark on his long running "Maverick" TV series.

Scott wasn't through yet as he was about to appear in a series of acclaimed Budd Boetticher directed films.

"Prisoners of the Casbah" director Richard L. Bare's "Shoot Out at Medicine Bend" qualifies as an entertaining, lightweight, black & white western with Randolph Scott and James Garner. This fish-out-of-water oater looks like it might have been inspired by the Gary Cooper's Quaker Civil War movie "Friendly Persuasion." Our rough-riding heroes impersonate Quakers after the dastardly villains rob them of everything. This western has the flavor of a vintage Warner Brothers' with Errol Flynn.

This western gets off to an exciting start with Captain Buck Devlin (Randolph Scott), Sergeant John Maitland (James Garner), and Pvt. Wilbur 'Will' Clegg (Gordon Jones), freshly mustered out of the cavalry, showing up at Buck's brother's house as Indians are shooting the place up. It seems that Buck's brother Dan Devlin (Ed Hinton) has been sold defective cartridges for his repeating rifle. The Indians kill Dan because he cannot get his long gun to fire. Buck and company run the Indians off. Dan's neighbors explain how they came to get the faulty ammunition. Buck and his friends decide to ride to Medicine Bend to clear up the skulduggery. Before our heroes reach town, they bathe in a pond, and several stealthy owl hoots steal not only their horses but also their guns, uniforms, and the money that they had taken up from the community. Left with little to wear, the destitute threesome wander into a congregation of Quakers camped out on the prairie. The Brethren explain that they, too, have been robbed by three ruffians in cavalry uniforms. They furnish our heroes with Quaker garments and horses, and Buck and company head off to Medicine Bend. No sooner do they ride into Medicine Bend than they discover the chief culprit is shady entrepreneur Ep Clark (James Craig of "Drums in the Deep South"). Clark stole Buck's horse, and he owns a crooked mercantile store where he sells shoddy goods. He has the town sheriff, the mayor, and most of the townspeople under his thumb, and he acts like a gangster when anybody threatens his business.

Our heroes masquerade as Quakers after they enter Medicine Bend. Buck watches as Clark's henchmen, Rafe Sanders (Myron Healey of "African Manhunt") and Clyde Walters (John Alderson of "Cleopatra"), vandalize King's General Store. They smash eggs, sabotage a canister, and smear black grease on white muslin. Intervening on behalf of the storekeeper, Buck makes his interference appear like a blundering buffoon who gets in the way of Rafe and Clyde, while he picks Rafe's pocket and steals the amount sufficient to replace the damaged goods. Meantime, Buck persuades Maitland and Clegg to go undercover and work at Clark's Pioneer Emporium. Buck approaches Mr. Elam King (Harry Harvey) about helping him contend with Clark and his hooligans. Buck, Maitland, and Clegg undermine Clark's business, and Buck becomes romantically involved with King's pretty daughter Priscilla King (Angie Dickinson of "Rio Bravo") after she catches him trying to clean up his wounds. Rafe tried to set a trap to catch Maitland and Clegg, but Buck warned them off. He falls into the trap, but he manages to escape before Clark and company can catch him red-handed in the act. Instead, Clyde winds up plunging into the deep well hidden beneath the floor of Clark's office. Later, the pioneers that were robbed are privately reimbursed.

Clark discovers the masquerade after saloon songbird Nell Garrison (Dani Janssen of "Written on the Wind") exposes Clegg as an impostor. Sheriff Bob Massey (Trevor Bardette) arrests Maitland and Clegg, but Buck gets away. Clark has Massey stage a kangaroo trial that sentences the sergeant and the private to swing on the gallows. When Nell convinces Massey to release them, Rafe surprises the lawman and kills him. Meanwhile, Clark and his henchmen ambush the wagon train bound for King's General Store. Although Clark waylays the wagon train, Buck manages to save his companions from swinging. Inevitably, Clark and Buck shoot it out in Clark's general store and then swap blows in a rugged fistfight. Clark has Buck subdued and is poised to shoot him down in cold blood when he gets a taste of his own medicine. The cartridges in the rifle don't work, and Buck kills him with a scythe. This tongue-in-cheek western features a solid cast headed by the ever dependable Randolph Scott. James Garner plays second banana and former Green Hornet star Gordon Jones provides the comic relief. Craig makes a stern villain in city slicker's regalia. Harry Lauter and Myron Healey are well cast as Clark's accomplices. Warner Brothers' stock players proliferate in this amusing dust raiser.

This is a classic western that incorporates the calvary and some religion. I am a big fan of Randolph Scott. While I prefer him in more serious roles, it was interesting to see him in a semi-comedic role. He does seem to have an air of mischief about him. In this movie he is smart, clever, and classy. I liked seeing some future stars in minor or uncredited roles. Angie Dickinson was very cute. She also had more weight in her earlier days of acting. This is the second western that I have seen her in. Remember Rio Bravo with John Wayne? James Gardner was good looking too. Also, a nice surprise to see in this movie was actor Nancy Kulp, better known as Miss Jane Hathaway from the Beverly Hillbillies. The storyline was a bit complicated and drawn-out in some areas, but overall a good story where good wins over evil.

Starting off with an Indian raid on a rural farmhouse, this quickly turns into a story of corruption in the nearby town. It's a convoluted trip from the countryside to the town square, with veteran Randolph Scott joining up with rising star James Garner, tossing in saloon singer Dani Crayne and respectful Angie Dickinson with a story that really isn't interesting or well structured. James Craig, leading B actor of the 1940's, is the ruthless town boss who was responsible for inferior ammunition which lead to Scott's brother's death on the opening scene. This is a late example of one of the major studio's attempt to draw in TV viewers (when westerns were everywhere during the late 1950's) and color was taking over the movies. This suffers from being in black and white and wide- screen, as well as overly long. There isn't even a comic sidekick to add humor, leaving this colorless in more ways than one.

Here's something I never thought about before - Randolph Scott and James Garner appearing in the same picture. Appropriately it was a Western, with the pair, along with Gordon Jones, comprising a trio of cavalry men resigning their posts to investigate the killing of Captain Buck Devlin's (Scott) brother due to faulty ammunition he purchased via a trading post in Medicine Bend. Along the way, the boys are hijacked of their clothes and horses while taking a swim, and manage to reinvent themselves due to a chance encounter with a band of Quakers who have been similarly robbed by the same bunch. Interestingly, by the time the story was over, it was never established who those robbers were, but all signs point to Ep Clark (James Craig) and his bunch at Medicine Bend.

If I hadn't seen Angie Dickinson's name in the opening credits, I wouldn't have been on the lookout for her, and probably would have missed her presence as Priscilla King, niece of a shopkeeper in competition with the entire Clark enterprise. She manages to figure out Buck Devlin's connection to recovered stolen money and goods suffered by local homesteaders, becoming a willing ally and nominal romantic interest for Scott's character. Garner and Jones have to tough it out under wraps as Quakers for the entire picture, swigging buttermilk at the local saloon instead of whiskey. Except for that unfortunate incident when Private Klegg (Jones) spills his guts to Ep Clark's saloon singer Nell (Dani Crayne) when he drops his guard and starts knocking 'em down. It all worked out OK though; about that time Nell had a change of heart and opted out of the murder racket.

Whenever I see Randolph Scott pop up in a picture, I'm always on the lookout for a fair share of outfit changes, and in this one, they were built into the story. His character is in and out of the Quaker duds more than once, exchanging them for an all black outfit in which he lays waste to Clark's henchmen while recovering money and jewelry for the homesteaders. As I think about it now, Devlin shouldn't have been able to get out of that scrape of falling through the trap door in the floor of Clark's business office, but then the story would have ended right there. After all, the good guys have to come out on top.

Here's the thing I couldn't figure out - in the early going, Devlin managed to filch a couple hundred bucks from Clark and his goon Walters without their knowledge. Clark got so incensed that he had Mayor Sam (Don Beddoe) set a reward of a thousand dollars for the capture of the perpetrator. You don't need a whole lot of math experience to know that that was a bad deal.

If you're interested in a 1957 Randolph Scott Western, this may be what you're looking for. It's reassuringly routine. There are virtually no surprises. This is a fixed point in a changing and disappointing universe.

Scott and two friends (Garner and Jones) are just mustered out of the US Army and are jumped and robbed outside of the town of Medicine Bend. They adopt the dun clothing of the members of a local religious cult and pose as members of the sect while they investigate the town and try to find the thieves.

They discover that the town is run by one corrupt gang and its leader, Craig, who have stolen everything from migrants passing through on their way to greener pastures. Scott steals it all back, routs the gang, restores the town to a state of probity, and continues on his way West, with Angie Dickinson at his side.

It's interesting to see Scott in masquerade, wearing his "Quaker" hat and saying "thee" and "thou", though never without a slight smirk. There are a couple of incidents of interest too. At the climax, in a mano a mano fist fight with the mastermind -- the kind of fight Scott always wins -- he gets knocked unconscious. That's curious in itself. But then the director explicitly shows us a ripped-open bean sack on the balcony spilling its seeds onto the metal tops of a couple of empty cans and the sound is that of a small hailstorm. It has nothing to do with the plot. The director, Richard Bare, probably indulged his whim to film what looked like a cinematically interesting flow of beans onto metal -- and it nicely breaks up the series of easily predicted actions. Good for him.

In the same fight, the ritual always requires the bad guy to pick up a piece of furniture or something to use as a weapon and play dirty pool. Craig picks up a rifle but it misfires. Then he pulls from the wall a gigantic SCYTHE suitable for use by the Grim Reaper, Father Time, or Chronus himself, and takes a roundhouse swing at Scott's head. Alas, he misses and perishes by the scythe.