FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

zardoz-13 Gary Cooper heads a stalwart cast in "Day of the Outlaw" director André De Toth's western "The Springfield Rifle" set on the frontier during the American Civil War. The Union Army needs horses to launch its offensive, but Confederate spies out west are stealing those horses. Desperately, the Yankees want to thwart this Southern espionage with counter-espionage of their own, but high-ranking Federal officials insist that spying is not honorable and refuse to go toe-to-toe with the South with spies. Major Lex Kearney (Gary Cooper of "High Noon") is bringing in a herd of horses when he spots superior numbers of horses thieves. Reluctantly, Lex decides to let the rustlers have the horses, and he is cashiered from the service. After he has a yellow streak painted down his back and his escorted from the army fort, our hero launches his own counter-espionage effort and discovers that the spy who has been stealing their horses is a high-ranking official that nobody would have suspected. Meantime, Lex infiltrates the rustlers and gains their confidence. "Gunsmoke" creator Charles Marquis Warren penned the screenplay that is thoroughly routine, but entertaining nonsense. Cooper is in top form, and the mountainous scenery provides a scenic background for all the hard riding and shooting. David Brian makes a good villain, too!

vincentlynch-moonoi This film has 3 strikes against it from the beginning. First, production values were not the highest (for example, in one scene in the mountains, panning shots show a heavy snow, while closeups show a distinctly powdery snow...actually white sand). Second, the print currently being shown on TCM is very poor (in one scene it looks as if black snow is falling). And, third, Gary Cooper is the only big star in the picture. And, along with production values, there's a big difference in the Rockies of Colorado, where this is supposed to have taken place, and the Sierra Nevadas of California, where this was filmed.Putting those issues aside, it's not a bad story. It's pretty clear early on that Cooper is working undercover, and is not really a disgraced former army officer -- branded yellow. He's working to discover who is selling horse to the Confederates through Colorado. And, as we discover who the real traitors are...well, there are a few surprises.An interesting aspect of this picture are the supporting actors. Lon Chaney, Jr. (a long way down from his salad days as a werewolf), Alan Hale, Jr. (a la "Gilligan's Island"), Fess Parker ("Daniel Boone"), Martin Milner ("Route 66"), among others.

gazzo-2 Quite enjoyable-as the others have said, it's an obvious answer movie to 'Winchester 73', while not as good-you still can't go wrong here. Check the cast-Gary Cooper, Martin Milner(!), the skipper on Gilligan(!), Clark Kent's Mom(!) and of course, the recently departed Phillip Carey-who not to speak ill of the departed, was sort of a block of wood here-but no matter. He did his routine stuff here okay too. Oh and Fess Parker shows up too as the 'I had you in my sights once Coop' reb.Thaxter had the token woman role, really doesn't have much to do, Cooper shows his years some but is sturdy, Paul Kelly is great as the Real Villain of the piece Col Hudson (see Spoiler Warning at start of review for more!), and of course there's the terrific scenery.The plot-well it has Cooper going under cover to stop some Reb horse-thieves who are trying to short-circuit Yankee war-efforts East. And there's an Inside Man(Kelly!) in league w/ Lon Cheney and co. gumming things up.This has all the great horse stunts, riding and shootouts you could ask for, to go w/ the familiar faces and great Big Sky vistas. Well worth your time.*** outta ****

lord woodburry The Springfield Rifle is a fantastic counterespionage story. Sent to the Confederates as a Counterfeit Traitor, Major Lex Kearney (Gary Cooper) penetrates the horse thief ring to uncover the identity of the confederate ring leader. The simple plan is complicated when Major Kearney's son enlists to make good his father's apparent misdeeds and Major's contact is killed. Will the good Major successfully ex-filtrate and prevent the Confederacy from launching its last offensive?Although the title is deceiving, as rifles have comparatively little to do with the story, the plot is fast moving and the tension increases incrementally with each new disaster. The film favorably compares to John Ford's great cavalry trilogy and many of the techniques of Rio Grande seem to have been successfully repeated.