A Colorful, Winner Western with Audie Murphy in His Element and a Solid Back-Up Cast including Walter Brennan in an atypical Super Serious Role as Murph's Dad.

Some Recognizable Bad-Guys including the always Grinning Lyle Bettger, Bob Steele, and Hugh O'Brian as a Psycho Gunslinger. Jay Silverheels and that always Recognizable Voice has a Small but Important Role as an Indian Chief.

It is quite Striking just how much Plot was Woven into these 80 Minute Westerns, it's just a Treat to Watch it Unfold at a Blistering Pace. The Action Never Lets Up and the Story Layers are Simple and Significant.

The Movie features that Glorious Technicolor that Drips from the Screen, a Look that has been Lost in Time. Overall, this Cowboys and Indians Movie is the Stuff that made Saturday Matinees the Favorite Spot for Kids of the Fifties.

Downtown at the Movie Palace there were Western and Sci-/Horror Entertainment along with Color Cartoons, and Short Subjects and the Kids were there because that was where it was at, through the 1950's.

Crown City, Colorado was born and built on gold, but by 1880 the town was tapped out, with the only remaining mineral left to mine located in the San Juan Mountains, right in the middle of Ute Indian Territory. Gary Brannon (Audie Murphy) is on the side of the miners, and wants to see his town survive along with it's citizens. But father Sam (Walter Brennan) has been able to maintain an uneasy peace with the Utes and their Chief Ouray (Morris Ankrum),even after the death of his wife at the hands of a drunken Ute brave. Gary finds it harder to forgive and forget, and would rather consider all Indians his enemy based on the actions of a few.

Heavy Frank Walker (Lyle Bettger) leads the mining faction and insists on creating havoc with the Indians, finding ways to undo the truce established with the Utes by the elder Brannon. He brings in a black clad gunman named Morgan, enthusiastically portrayed by Hugh O'Brian in an uncharacteristic role. The future TV Wyatt Earp plays his part with gusto until brought down by Gary.

Ouray's son Taos (Jay Silverheels) becomes Chief when the elder Indian dies, setting the stage for what will figure in the movie's finale. With young Brannon present for the Chief's burial on sacred ground, Taos warns him never to return at the risk of death. Knowing this, and having been framed for murder by Walker, Brannon leads Walker and his men into the sacred mountain area to be ambushed by the Utes, thereby risking his own neck in order to save it.

In 1954, Jay Silverheels was still in the middle of his co-starring role as Tonto in the Lone Ranger Television Series. In this film though, he's brought to more regal bearing as the Indian Chief Taos, and looks particularly impressive in full war bonnet. For his part, the young Audie Murphy looks a bit out of his element among the heavies of the film, though he manages to prevail against every henchman presented. The film ends with the Utes and the Crown City citizens exchanging mining rights for hunting privileges on each other's side of the mountains, a reasonable enough compromise that probably could have been worked out without the bloodshed, but then, there wouldn't have been a story.

As this film opens with Gary Brannon preparing to lead a group of men in to the San Juan Mountains; the mountains are the territory of the Ute Indians but with no other gold left near the mining town of Crown City people are prepared to take a chance and cross the river into the San Juans. Gary's father tries to persuade him not to go but he ignores him; shortly after the group leaves his father is attacked; that doesn't stop him heading after the group though. They don't get far into Ute territory before they get jumped and one of the group is captured. Gary captures an Indian and thanks to his father's negotiating they trade him for the captured man. This wasn't what Walker, the man who hired Gary wanted... he wanted to ferment a war with the Indians so that the army could be called in to force them off their land and into a reservation. To this end he and his men open fire on the departing Indians killing many of them. A war seems inevitable but Gary goes to the Indians alone and talks to the new chief; it looks like he has established a peace but Walker hasn't given up yet. He has a second plan that will frame the Brannon's for a robbery and make it look as though they were working with the Utes... Gary will have his work cut out if he is to save his father, avoid getting hanged and prevent a war!

This is another solid western staring Audie Murphy; as usual he does a fine job as the hero. His character is given a bit of depth by the fact that he can't forgive the Utes because one of them killed his mother; we later learn that the killer was the chief's son and the chief had him killed for his crime... of course Gary comes to see that he can't judge a people by the actions of one man and comes to respect them. The bad guys are suitably villainous; Lyle Bettger does a decent job as the devious Walker and Hugh O'Brian is menacing as the hired gun Morgan. Director Nathan Juran kept the action going nicely with fistfights, shootouts and villains being dragged behind Indian horses. Filmed in California, as were so many B Westerns, rather than in Colorado the film still looks good with some spectacular scenery shot in vivid Technicolor. While this isn't a classic I'm sure fans of the genre will enjoy it.