MamaGravity
good back-story, and good acting
Supelice
Dreadfully Boring
Merolliv
I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.
Stephan Hammond
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
utgard14
Randolph Scott plays James Barlow, a Pinkerton agent who goes undercover as an outlaw to infiltrate the Reno brothers gang. A tried and true plot very familiar to anybody who's seen many of the cheap westerns of the '30s. What helps this some is the fine cast. Scott's solid as ever but doesn't show up until twenty minutes in. The brothers are played by J. Carrol Naish, Forrest Tucker, Myron Healey, and Denver Pyle as the law-abiding one. Edgar Buchanan, Ray Teal, and Kenneth Tobey also have supporting roles. Beautiful Mala Powers plays Scott's love interest. The Reno brothers were real-life outlaws. Their story is loosely told here mixed with the formula plot about the undercover agent who falls in love with the outlaws' sister. It's all pretty standard stuff. The Reno brothers story would be told again the following year in Elvis Presley's film debut, Love Me Tender. That movie was even more historically inaccurate than this one.
disdressed12
i enjoyed this western starring Randolph Scott.i liked the story,the pace was good,as was the acting.i liked the story as well.this movie is colourised,but the colour isn't always that great.it seems to change shades and brightness periodically,which was a bit distracting.otherwise,though,it's not that bad.Edgar Buchanan also appears,in a non comedic role.he must have been in almost every western ever made.a very young and almost unrecognizable Denver Pyle(TV's Dukes of Hazard)also stars in the film,as well as J. Carrol Naish.i'd recommend this film for western and/or Randolph Scott fans.for me,Rage at Dawn is a 6/10
johnmiatech
I am a great fan of westerns. Knowing the state of California quite well, I particularly like to identify locations used in films. As the primary California locations are the Alabama Hills in Inyo Co., Vasquez Rocks in LA Co., Red Rock Canyon in Kern Co. and various areas near Bishop, I was interested in the locale used here....just south of the present New Melones Reservoir in Calaveras Co. and the state park in Columbia... especially as they were supposed to be somewhere in southern Indiana. This movie had a very strong cast but a bit of a choppy plot. I would also add that neither the vegetation nor the rock outcroppings fit with Indiana, and for a western buff, will distract from an otherwise acceptable film.
oldsenior
First a bit of trivia: In the opening segment as the Reno Boys are riding into the Indiana Territory township for the robbery you can see an American Flag (with 48 stars I imagine) in the background with a California state flag underneath it, with it's bear in the center. The movie was shot in part in California's Columbian Historic Park in 1955..................... Anyway, I thought the movie was excellent and realistic, well told, the writing was excellent and well acted by everyone involved. What a superlative cast: Tucker was excellent, as evil as I ever saw him in any movie, Buchanan, a wonderful actor, was his sly self to perfection, as usual, Mala Powers as beautiful as usual in what I consider an unnecessary part (I wonder if this was a true part of the story), in 1955 you had to have a love interest to sell movie tickets or they supposed it to be. You also had Jimmy Lydon (Henry Aldrich), Arthur Space, Myron Healey, Kenneth Tobey, Denver Pyle, all familiar faces even today, doing what they did best; act, under the fine direction of Tim Whelan, creating what I would think 1866 was like. Also with great music by Paul Sawtell and photographed beautifully by Ray Rennahan. A Fine film that held my interest.
