Bobby Darrin returns to Kansas after the Civil War. He finds his old friend, Leslie Nielson prospering, and about to marry Darrin's old girl. However, things are not well in the old home town, and at Darrin reluctantly becomes sheriff, but refuses to strap on guns. Meanwhille Nielson's henchman, Donnelly Rhodes, is killing farmers, threatening a war.

It's an unambitious little movie, lent some size by using clips from SHENANDOAH. In an era when the influence of spaghetti westerns was dirtying up the once clean image of the B western, their influence is carefully limited to giving Nielson a wooden arm and a whipping scene.... something that was mandatory in old Alan Ladd movies. A minor effort in every way.

Are you kidding me - Bobby Darin - in a Western? I would have lost that bet big time. But you know what, he wasn't that bad. There were a few times I thought he was over-acting the role but in general a credible job. One problem though, was his casting as a baby face in the starring hero role. Like Audie Murphy, the matinée good looks don't always work when going up against the town bully or a gnarly gunslinger like Joe Slade (Donnelly Rhodes). Not only that, but when sized up against some of the other players, he was pretty much on the small side.

But all in all, the story was pretty good. Now Leslie Nielsen - I guess I've seen him too many times in Airplane and Police Squad pictures to take him seriously in a dramatic role. So with that club hand of his, injured by Cal Wayne (Darin) when they were youngsters, it looked like a caricature and any minute I was expecting the kind of treatment we got from Kenneth Mars as the inspector in "Young Frankenstein". It came pretty close at one point too, when he started banging the hand on the back of a chair, but that was it. You have to admit though, Nielsen's character Grant Evers looked pretty fast on the draw for a cripple. It would have been something if the final showdown was between him and Cal.

You know who got the short end of the stick here though, don't you? After all her fussing over Cal, Leann (Barbara Werle) got broomed so quickly she didn't even show up at the end of the picture. She could at least have gotten eighteen yellow roses for her trouble.

The film is set post civil war (181-1865) in Abilene (a biblical name meaning city of the plains ) , the pattern of the other celebrated cow towns of the Old west . Batting in the Civil War a soldier called Cal Wayne (Bobby Darin) accidently murders his friend. Going back Abilene after the American Civil war he finds his previous girlfriend about to marry the brother (Leslie Nielsen) of the man he murdered . To pay his debt he not only refuses to win her back but takes the job of Marshall , a job he doesn't wishes , when the brother asks him . Later on , Darin becomes the brave sheriff of Abilene and along with his deputy are fighting to stifle the conflicts between homesteaders , cattlemen and a wealthy owner who hire gunfighters . Along the way he develops a loving triangle between two beautiful girls : Amy Martin ( Emily Banks) and Leann (Barbara Werle). The time: Noon! The odds: Desperate ! The result: Memorable !

The picture gets Western action , shootouts , go riding , a love story , and results to be quite entertaining . It's a medium budget film with acceptable actors , technicians, production values and pleasing results . Although it has some stock footage , such as the prison scene near the riverboat and the battle scene in the beginning of the movie , being taken from the 1965 film , Shenandoah directed by Andrew MacLagen with James Stewart . The flick is totally set in Abilene (Kansas) which was the first of the major railhead cattle towns , and including ordinary problems between the ranchers and the farmers . From 1867 to 1872 it was a booming depot , shipping some one million Texas Longhorns by railroad to Kansas City and Chicago and meat markets in the East . The place was selected as a terminus for Texas cattle drives in 1867 . Then the long drives began from Texas over the Chisholm trail . At trail's end in Abilene the rowdy,free-spending cowboys attracted saloon keepers, gamblers , brothels and all types of frontier riff-raff , the town became notorious for its lawlessness . Gunmen were hired for a time to keep the peace in Abilene . With the numerous presence of homesteaders the town prospered , stabilized and grew , its lawabiding citizens decided to discourage the troublesome cattle trade with his transient cowboys and early requested the Texas cattlemen to drive their herds elsewhere , which they soon did and Abilene's role as a wild cow town came to an abrupt ending.

Bobby Darin gives a decent acting as a good guy haunted by a killing refusing to carry a gun , but , subsequently , he straps on a pistol and heads after the cutthroats . Darin was a successful singer and song composer . His music career started out with writing songs and taking demos around to different music producers . His next goal was to make a movie, and that opportunity came in 1960 with the film Come September (1961),for which he also wrote the title song. The movie was filmed in Rome and that's where he met Sandra Dee. She was 16 years old and at the top of her career. They were engaged two months after they met and their son, Dodd Darin, was born a year later. Bobby continued to perform in night clubs and make movies. In 1964 he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Captain Newman (1963). Despite very good reviews, he lost the Oscar to Melvyn Douglas. He went in for heart surgery in 1971 and from that point on he had bouts of ill health. After his recovery he continued to do nightclub acts and the next years singing , until his early death at 37 . He did a popular summer variety show called The Bobby Darin Show (1973) and played other films such as : Run stranger run , The happy end , Cop-out , Hell is for heroes , Pressure point and State Fair . Co-stars the great Leslie Nielsen . His acting career started at a much earlier age when he was forced to lie to his father in order to avoid severe punishment. Leslie starred in over fifty films and many more television films . Oustanding in comedy genre in which he delivered sophomoric punchlines with a deadpan expression, being nicknamed "the Laurence Olivier of spoofs" . He played all kinds of genres as Sci-Fi , Western , and drama , such as Harlow , Forbidden planet , The reluctant astronaut , Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler , Four rode out , The Amsterdam kill , Project kill , Creepshow , Prom night ; but he performed comedy especially , such as : Camouflage , 2001 a space travesty , Wrongfully accused , Mr. Magoo , Dracula : dead and loving , Repossessed , Naked gun : From the files of police squad , Naked gun : The smell of fear , Naked gun : final insult . Support cast is pretty good , including various familar faces , such as : Donnelly Rhodes , Don Galloway , Frank McGrath ,Don Dubbins , Ross Hagen ,Bryan O'Byrne and Michael Sarrazin's film debut .

Enjoyable music by Bobby Darin himself and uncredited Shorty Rogers . Colorful and shimmering cinematography by director of photography Maury Gertsman , Universal International Picture's ordinary . The motion picture was directed in sure visual eye by William Hale , though it has flaws and gaps , being a bit boring . He realized a variety films of all kind of genres , such as : One shoe makes it murder , Stalk the wild child , Journey to Shiloh , Murder in Texas , though especially made TV episodes from famous series , such as : The time tunnel , The invaders , The streets of San Francisco, Kojak , Cannon , Fugitive , Judd for the Defense , Lancer , The Virginian , FBI , Night Gallery . Rating . 5.5/10 , acceptable and passable .