Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Allissa .Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

MartinHafer Despite having Joel McCrea in the lead, this is a rather dull western...dull and pretty predictable. About the only part that was unexpected was how less than honorable McCrea's character was through much of the movie.The story is set during the Civil War. Three buddies all arrive in Yankee occupied Texas on the lookout for Cottrell (Victor Jory). Cottrell is fashioned after the real life Civil War raider, Quantrill...though oddly he's fighting for the Union in this one. Despite Kip Davis (Joel McCrea) and his friends wanting to kill Cottrell, soon Lee (Douglas Kennedy) joins the Confederate army and Kip and Charlie (Zachary Scott) help the South by running the blockades. Eventually, however, Charlie comes to enjoy getting rich much more than helping the Confederacy and this brings a very predictable showdown at the end.Everything about this film is mediocre at best and the story only occasionally interesting. I had a hard time caring about the characters and the story.

zardoz-13 "Coroner Creek" director Ray Enright's Civil War-era western "South of St. Louis" ranks as both entertaining and distinctive for the three Texas cattle ranchers (Joel McCrea, Zachary Scott, and Douglas Kennedy) who share a bond of kinship as stout as brotherhood. This heroic threesome is symbolic because their communal ranch, called 'The Three Bell Ranch,' is burned down by the villainous likes of Victor Jory and his raiders. Jory's Luke Cottrell is equivalent to the murderous William Quantrill who committed atrocities galore. Kip Davis (Joel McCrea of "The Virginian"), Charlie Burns (Zachary Scott of "Mildred Pierce," and Lee Price (Douglas Kennedy of "Dark Passage") all wear one small bell attached to their spurs. The first glimpse we get of this trio in action occurs they corner obnoxious Yankee guerrilla fighter Luke Cottrell in a Brownsville, Texas, saloon. Kip refuses to slap leather with the evil Cottrell. Nevertheless, he sheds his gun belt and batters Cottrell into submission with his fists before he banishes the brigand from Texas. The American Civil War that spawned Cottrell shatters the solidarity of our three protagonists. Lee decides to enlist in the Confederacy and dons a gray uniform. Meanwhile, Kip and Charlie enter the gunrunning business. The color of their hats reflects the morality of their characters. For example, Lee wears a white hat, while Charlie sports black headgear. Kip comes up in the middle with a brown one. Indeed, Lee is virtue incarnate; Charlie is malevolent incarnate, while Kip stands somewhere between them. During all these early shenanigans, we see Kip and his future wife Deborah Miller (Dorothy Malone of "The Big Sleep") delay their marriage plans indefinitely because the three men aim to punish Cottrell for his act of arson. "Humoresque" scenarist Zachary Gold and "The Big Country" writer James R. Webb have drummed-up a historical oater that chronicles the way that the Civil War fractures the tight bond among the three. The other recurring character--introduced later--that takes a fancy to Kip is red-haired, dance-hall warbler Rouge de Lisle (Alexis Smith of "Gentleman Jim") who dresses seductively and knows how to belt out a song. Confederate sympathizers will like the way that the rebels triumph over Union. This rugged western shoot'em up is a mite more complicated because it thrusts Kip into a predicament. Charlie and he are running guns across the Texas/Mexico line dressed up in stolen Union outfits when Confederates attack them. Initially, Kip refuses to return fire, but Charlie convinces him otherwise. German lenser Karl Freund of "Metropolis" is responsible for the exemplary cinematography.

bkoganbing Joel McCrea, Douglas Kennedy, and Zachary Scott are partners in the Three Bell Ranch in Texas as the Civil War starts. When war does come it splits the partners up. The ranch is raided by Victor Jory and his cutthroats and the partners are wiped out. Kennedy opts for enlisting in the Confederate Army. McCrea and Scott decide to go into gunrunning to make enough money to re-stock the ranch. McCrea makes enough, but Scott likes the profits and he wants to keep on gunrunning.As you can see the three partners all have different agendas. In fact everyone in this movie is working on his own agenda. The female leads Alexis Smith and Dorothy Malone have a hankering for McCrea. Victor Jory rides for the Union the Confederates and for himself. Bob Steele who's a slimy sort that Scott recruits in the gunrunning business has his own plans.Believe it or not it all jells into a very nice plot and is good entertainment. Joel McCrea was his usual stalwart hero as was Douglas Kennedy. Zachary Scott was no better than he had to be on any occasion. It's a good western and I wish it was shown more often.

kyle_furr This movie is filled with every cliche you can think of, and absolutely none of them work. The plot is predictable and the characters are not interesting, but boring. The acting is pretty bad, even by Joel McCrea. Even western fans should stay away from this one.