halhorn Reviews

Trouble in the Glen (1954)

Not one of Tucker's best

[4/10 · 31 August 2005]

Although Orson Welles is prominently featured on the VHS box cover, Forrest Tucker and Margaret Lockwood are the leads here, together again after LAUGHING ANNE. Republic leading man Tucker headlined several solid westerns and war films throughout the 1950's, but this is far from his best. Definitely a poor man's THE QUIET MAN, as noted earlier, this film pales in comparison, only competently directed by Herbert Wilcox and featuring very little action---the 'climactic' fight leaves a lot to be desired, and the story moves along at a snail's pace. Welles hams it up delightfully, but he's barely on screen for ten minutes.

Forgettable film; there's really not much going on here. Fans of THE QUIET MAN may be interested in this lesser work by the same author, but if you're looking for lots of comedy OR action, you'll be disappointed. To see Tucker and Lockwood in a more interesting film, check out LAUGHING ANNE (1954).

Rock Island Trail (1950)

Solid action, with a few wrinkles

[8/10 · 31 August 2005]

Forrest Tucker had numerous leading-man opportunities following his breakthrough role in SANDS OF IWO JIMA. This was his first and arguably best. As Reed Loomis, he is persuasive as he attempts to raise money for his railroad expansion but is a worthy man of action as well, great with a gun, his fists and, as he demonstrates in a memorable scene with Bruce Cabot, even a mop dipped in boiling soup (you have to see it). Adele Mara makes an appealing leading lady as always, Bruce Cabot is a sturdy villain, and there's great support from erstwhile Republic leading lady Adrian Booth and perennial sidekick Chill Wills.

As action-packed as just about any Republic western, with one of the studio's strongest overall casts. Fast-paced and well handled by Joseph Kane. Turns up frequently these days on Encore's Western Channel. Recommended.

The Wild McCullochs (1975)

Baer's debut as director is proposterous but entertaining

[29 April 2004]

I had no idea that men were wearing their hair long in 1949, or that a Texas Catholic family would still have enough southern pride to hang a confederate flag in the den, or that William Demarest still thought that stupid red wig was fooling people in 1975.

Inconsistencies and anachronisms aside, Max Baer's debut as director (he was screenwriter/producer/star only on MACON COUNTY LINE) is a fun little low-budget flick, a family melodrama with the same pacifist leanings he expressed in MACON COUNTY LINE.

Forrest Tucker is at his blustery best as a two-fisted Texas millionaire, a self-made man who began as a trucker but fought his way to the top, eventually owning his own trucking company and putting his name on everything in the county. Max Baer plays his employee and nemesis, for he is dating Tucker's teenage daughter.

Baer's hairstyle is the single most glaring anachronism. The odd mix of 1950s and 1970s fashions is straight out of middle-year HAPPY DAYS.

The best sequence is the terrific fight that closes the film, as Tucker and Baer duke it out in a long sequence that apparently the entire town has been expecting for quite some time!

The primary joy is the opportunity to watch a lot of old pros really put on a show: in addition to Tucker and Demarest, we get Vito Scotti, Harold J. Stone, Don Grady, Julie Adams, Billy Curtis and Mike Mazurki rounding out a great cast. Easy to watch and easy to forget. 6/10.

Barquero (1970)

Tremendous cast and scenery

[21 April 2004]

Beautiful Colorado scenery and a fine attention to detail in this western set in the late 1860s.

Several American attempts at a spaghetti western surfaced in the late 1960s: this one is a much more compelling film than Eastwood's "Hang 'Em High", in that all of the lead characters are well-drawn and mysterious.

Van Cleef, in his finest lead, plays the title character, a man more interested in protecting his barge than in the well-being of the "squatters" who populate the town. Oates is a bit hammy as Remy, but an effective psychotic villain nonetheless.

Tucker practically steals the film in a role that would have gone to Edgar Buchanan two decades earlier, that of Mountain Phil, a man loyal enough to put his life on the line for his best friend, and who holds the "squatters" in even more contempt than the barquero does.

Should be on DVD by now. An overlooked gem that anticipated "Tom Horn", "Unforgiven", and other stripped-down westerns that would follow over the next 25 years.

Thunder Run (1985)

Classic Cannon cheese from the 1980's.

[10/10 · 20 April 2004]

The low budget, the synthesized soundtrack, the emphasis on action scenes over script...it has to be a Cannon studios action film from the 1980's!

Forrest Tucker was one of the key action stars for Republic Studios in the 1950's. In many ways, Republic was the Cannon of its day. Like Cannon, it specialized in low budget action films, occasionally luring a big star from other studios (John Wayne, for example) and eventually overextending itself with pricey flops (i.e. "Jubilee Trail" and "Fair Wind to Java") and going bankrupt. Almost 30 years after leaving Republic to do a series of films for the British Hammer studio, Tucker's theatrical swan song would be his lone action effort of the 1980's.

"Thunder Run" is hurt by its low budget and inexperienced director (Hudson was doing his first feature), but many action sequences deliver the goods; terrorists chase Tucker through the desert, Road Warrior-style, in VW beetles equipped with heat-seeking missiles; Tucker jumps over a moving train in his 18-wheeler; "space age plastic" and some well-placed Molotov cocktails are among Tucker's defense mechanisms; and the chief terrorist is played by Dharma's TV dad (with a scar on his face, so we'll know he's the bad guy).

MGM/UA has been slowly, but surely releasing Cannon's 1980's output on DVD, but this classic slice of cheese has yet to be released. Hurry up, MGM/UA! This one is not to be missed!

A fun chase movie and a fitting farewell for veteran action icon Tucker (Cannon would do the same for another long-time action icon, Lee Marvin, in THE DELTA FORCE the same year). 7/10