Confederate Captain Alan Westcott, posing as a horse supplier for the army, is ordered to infiltrate the Union lines and contact William Quantrill to arrange a raid on the arsenal at Lawrence, Kansas. Westcott meets and falls in love with Sue Walters. Westcott's activities and associations begin to cause the Union vigilante committee to become suspicious of him, and he moves quickly in utilizing the Quantrill raiders. After laying their plans to attack Lawrence, Westcott learns that the arsenal is being moved out by wagon trail. He calls off the attack on Lawrence in favor of attacking the wagon train, but Quantrill pulls a treacherous double-cross and rides into Lawrence on a personal mission of bloodshed, murder and looting. A Civil War guerilla gang plans an attack on a Kansas arsenal. On one level this is quite an entertaining western in glorious Technicolor and Cinemascope with good action sequences directed in a no nonsense fashion by Edward Bernds who works in the confines of a limited budget.<br/><br/>Steve Cochran plays a rather colorless hero (one wonders whether Rory Calhoun turned the part down) but where the film benefits is in the presence of Leo Gordon,one of the great western villains.In this film he plays William Quantrill as a thoroughly nasty piece of work without any redeeming features whatsoever.<br/><br/>Don Siegal, who directed Gordon in "Riot in cell block 11" was quoted as saying that Leo Gordon was the scariest man he ever met.Incidentally that film was made at San Quentin where Gordon had been imprisoned for three years for armed robbery.It says a lot for his character that he completely reformed and became a successful actor and screen writer,he was also happily married for fifty years.<br/><br/>The plot supposedly tells the story of Quantrill's raid on Lawrence,Kansas in August 1863.It trashes history to such an extent that one cannot take it seriously and as for the firearms used we are talking 1880's rather than 1860's.If one wants to see an accurate film based on the Civil War in Missouri I would recommend Ang Lee's "Ride with the Devil".<br/><br/>William Quantrill has always been seen by Hollywood as a cold blooded killer whether played by the likes of Walter Pidgeon,John Ireland or Brian Donlevy.Leo Gordon's version is even nastier.Types like Billy the Kid and Jesse James have on occasion had their characters whitewashed.As another reviewer has suggested perhaps its time to re-evaluate Quantrill<br/><br/>Quantrill was indeed a colourfull character,a violent man who lived in violent times.In his defense he held a genuine Captains commission in the Confederate Army and he did try to maintain a modicum of discipline even hanging two of his followers for raping and murdering women.In that respect he had a certain decency.He was eventually replaced by the likes of Bloody Bill Anderson and Archie Clements.Members of his gang included the James and Younger brothers.<br/><br/>On the other side of the coin Jennison's Jayhawkers and James Lanes Redlegs who supposedly fought for the Union committed just as many atrocities.As the James Lane character says in "The Outlaw Josey Wales" to the victor the spoils.<br/><br/>Enjoy the film on its own level,Leo Gordon is always worth watching. Probably the shortest widescreen film in Technicolor, this Civil War themed western is unique in the sense that it utilizes some very different themes to tell its story. Quadrill (Leo Gordon) is an outlaw who seems to sell himself to the highest bidder to both sides of the war, and plays both ends against the middle. In other words, a traitor to both sides, and agent Steve Cochran is out to stop him from doing any further damage. He's willing to break laws and risk imprisonment to fulfill his mission, even risking the love of the heroine (Diane Brewster). MGM musical supporting star Gale Robbins ("The Barkley's of Broadway", "Three Little Words") gets some good moments as a tough moll with a typical heart of gold. Attractive scenery and some great action sequences take this from "B" level to a light "A", one of the few widescreen movies released by Allied Artists, the poverty row studio formerly known as Monogram.
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Josenenn replied
293 weeks ago