weezeralfalfa
Lorne Green's Ballad of Waco during the opening credits is very effective in introducing Waco(Howard Keel) as a legendary character, given the chance to redeem himself as sheriff of the notorious Wyoming town(Emporia) where he hailed from. Someone at the prison where he was housed for 5 years must have been sufficiently impressed by his devotion to reading religious material to have him recommended for release by the governor's proclamation, provided he localized himself as sheriff of Emporium, with the goal of cleaning up the crooked gambling, and bringing law and order to the town. As an added bonus, he hoped to marry his sweetheart Jill(Jane Russel) who he hoped had waited for him. But when he arrives, he soon discovers that Jill has married a preacher: ( Wendel Cory, as Sam Stone). Seems that formerly, she had been a wild woman and, like Waco , decided that she needed to get religion. Actually, her husband made that transition some years ago, as he was a member of Quantrill's raiders. Now, Waco is not so sure he wants to stay on as sheriff. The last one(played by Richard Arlen) was shot dead when he tried to snuff out the rowdies inside and outside of Joe Gore's saloon, by ordering the saloon closed. Could Waco do better?.......When Waco arrived by stage, he had a hostile group ready to fill him full of lead as he got off. But he outfoxed them by jumping off the stage before it got to the relay station. He trained his pistol on the 3 from his hiding place. Waco had them disrobe completely. He burned their clothes, and had them ride out of town. In this manor, Waco quickly established his suitability to fill the vacant sheriff position........Waco would face other seemingly impossible odds, such as when he was lured out to the Jenner's ranch, and greeted by a rifle-toting Ma Jenner, who was determined to make him pay for killing one of her sons, some years back. He was nearly branded, but escaped to tussle with the would be brander. But, he still needed the sudden arrival of the deputy sheriff((Gene Evans) to get him out of this situation.....Then, there's the climax scene, where he apparently has to face a consortium of enemies, who will be riding into town, with no backup. His anticipated backups, led by badman Ace Ross(Brian Donlevy), turn tail and leave town when they surmise the odds against their survival.. When Waco strolls out into the street, we see men all over, some low, some high, with rifles pointed at him. We are waiting for someone to shoot him. But, it doesn't happen. Turns out these are men that preacher Sam has convinced that Waco is worth saving. They are actually waiting for the arrival of the mounted would be assassins, including the Jenners, and saloon owner Joe Gore. Quite a shootout results, with the main baddies, including Ma Jenner, biting the dust. Preacher Sam even totes a rifle, and kills an enemy about to shoot Waco. But Sam then strolls out into the middle of the street, and pleads to stop the killing. Not unexpectedly, he is shot dead. Thus, widow Jill is now available for Waco to woo her. She convinces him to stay on as Waco's sheriff........There is the secondary romance between Scotty Moore(Ben Cooper) and Patricia West(Tracy Olson), daughter of the mayor(played by (Robert Lowery). Patricia was characterized as a prude, but is raped by one of the saloon revelers. She cries that she is a ruined woman, and is about to take a job as a saloon girl. But, Waco and Moore finally convince her that she needs to forget the incident and continue as Moore's girlfriend, as we see in the finale.......Some wonder if this film is supposed to be a spoof of westerns, or a conventional western. To me, it's a blend of the two, with the spoof aspects mostly subtle. See it at YouTube.
HotToastyRag
If you decide to sit down and watch Waco, you'll probably think it belongs to the genre of western spoofs. I considered the possibility, but as the movie dragged on and didn't contain any actual jokes or banana peel pratfalls, I realized it was an actual western.Jane Russell is married to Wendell Corey, a preacher, but her ex-sweetie-pie Howard Keel has just gotten released from prison and is travelling to their town to take over as sheriff. The only trouble is, he doesn't know Jane's married, and Jane still has feelings for him. Plus, the town is desperately in need of proper law and order, and when Howard shows up and causes a stir, it turns into a shooting free-for-all. Yes, Waco is a ridiculously cheesy western, but it's the acting that really places it in terrible movie territory. Jane Russell was the main one who made me think the movie was a spoof, because almost all her lines were delivered like she thought the cameras were off and she wanted to make fun of the terrible lines she was given. Wendell Corey gives his best John Wayne impression, but it just doesn't work to see him as a preacher, since he's usually very unlikable bad guys. This movie just isn't worth watching, unless you're die-hard fans of the cast and insist on watching every movie your favorite actor or actress made.
bkoganbing
A.C. Lyles turned out another good geezer western with Waco starring Howard Keel a recently released outlaw from prison who's been hired to clean up a really bad town run by saloon owner John Smith and his hired gun DeForest Kelley. Keel is kind of hoping to take things up where they left off with Jane Russell, but turns out she's gone and married preacher Wendell Corey. That sort of disillusions him as he wavers back and forth between doing the job he was hired or resuming his old outlaw ways.If it's action you want than Waco will not disappoint. Keel in the title role and we never do learn his real name because he probably was not born with that name, has a number of nasty fights and shootings. Besides Smith and Kelley, he's also got the Jenner family to contend with he killed one of them years ago. Willard Parker and Reg Parton are the remaining Jenner brothers and there's Anne Seymour, Ma Barker of the old west. In many ways, she's the one you'll remember from this film.Waco's also a pretty adult western with such themes as infidelity lightly touched upon and rape of Tracy Olsen an integral part of the story. The final shootout in the town involves just about every member of the cast.If you like western action you can't go wrong with Waco.
