''Cattle Empire'' is a 1958 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

DeLuxe Color DeLuxe Color or Deluxe color or Color by DeLuxe is Deluxe Laboratories brand of color process for motion pictures. DeLuxe Color is Eastmancolor-based, with certain adaptations for improved compositing for printing (similar to Technicolor's "sel ...

movie in CinemaScope directed by Charles Marquis Warren, starring

Joel McCrea Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he bec ...

and released by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

. The film also features

Gloria Talbott Gloria Talbott (February 7, 1931 – September 19, 2000) was an American film and television actress. Early life and career Gloria Maude Talbott was born in Glendale, California. Her great-grandfather Benjamin F. Patterson arrived from Oh ...

Don Haggerty Don Haggerty (July 3, 1914 – August 19, 1988) was an American actor of film and television. Early life and education Before he began appearing in films in 1947, Haggerty was a Brown University athlete and served in the United States Army ...

Phyllis Coates Phyllis Coates (born Gypsie Ann Evarts Stell; January 15, 1927) is an American former actress, with a career spanning over fifty years. She is best known for her portrayal of reporter Lois Lane in the 1951 film ''Superman and the Mole Men'' and ...

, and Bing Russell and serves as something of a forerunner for director Warren's subsequent television series '' Rawhide'' starring

Eric Fleming Eric Fleming (born Edward Heddy Jr.; July 4, 1925 – September 28, 1966) was an American actor known primarily for his role as Gil Favor in the CBS television series '' Rawhide''. Early life Fleming was born as Edward Heddy Jr. in Santa Pau ...

and Clint Eastwood, which used the picture's writer Endre Bohem, as well as some of its supporting cast (

Paul Brinegar Paul Alden Brinegar Jr. (December 19, 1917 – March 27, 1995) was an American character actor best known for his roles in three Western series: ''The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp'', '' Rawhide'', and ''Lancer''. Early years Brinegar was b ...

, Steve Raines,

Rocky Shahan Rocky Shahan (March 4, 1919 – December 8, 1981) was an American actor and stuntman. He was a regular cast member of '' Rawhide''. In 1957, he had a rare integral & speaking part as Dodge’s stagecoach driver “Hank” in the ending of an epi ...

, and

Charles H. Gray Charles H. Gray (November 27, 1921 – August 2, 2008) was an American television and film actor. Gray was best known for his work in the TV series '' Highway Patrol'' as Officer Edwards, trail scout Clay Forrester in '' Rawhide'' and as Wil ...

Plot

The story starts with John Cord (

) apprehended by the townsfolk, who have lynched him, and are dragging him through the streets with the intent to kill him. Cord is despised for a range of things done to the town by men for whom he was responsible when they went on a wild drunken rampage. Cord is saved from death by Ralph, a prominent cattle owner and major businessman of the town, who turns up with his wife and his brother. Ralph is blind, and Cord is shown to be responsible for that, as well. Despite this, Ralph reveals that he has, in fact, invited Cord to the town. As the most experienced cattle man in the area, he is the only one who can drive the townsfolks and his cattle to Fort Sumter, where they can be sold. The town is on the verge of economic collapse, and the sale of the cattle will save the town. Cord is a skilled cattleman and one of the few people capable of driving the cattle across land, at a time of the year when little grass is available and many of the rivers are dry. He initially refuses the offer from Ralph. He later meets the rival of Ralph, Garth, who wants to drive his own cattle across town. Cord instead accepts an offer from Garth to drive the cattle, and then goes back to accept the offer from Ralph, as well, secretly plotting his revenge against the townsfolk, while committing to get Garth's cattle to Fort Sumter first. He departs the town on the cattledrive with Ralph, his wife, many of the townsfolk who tried to kill him, and a young girl who is in love with him. Things occur on the cattle drive, though, which lead Cord to reconsider.

Cast

as John Cord *

as Sandy Jeffrey *

as Ralph Hamilton *

as Janice Hamilton * Bing Russell as Douglas Hamilton * Richard Shannon as Garth *

as Tom Jefferson Jeffrey *

as Tom Powis (billed as Charles Gray) * Hal K. Dawson as George Washington Jeffrey *

Patrick O'Moore Patrick O'Moore (1909–1983) was an Irish actor who appeared in a variety of American films and television shows. Keaney p.445 A character actor, he appeared in a number of Hollywood's British-themed films during the 1940s and 1950s. Selected fi ...

as Rex Cogswell * Duane Grey as Juan Aruzza * William McGraw as Jim Whittaker (billed as Bill McGraw) * Jack Lomas as Sheriff Brewster *

Nesdon Booth Nesdon Foye Booth (September 1, 1918 – March 25, 1964) was an American film and television actor. He appeared in over 100 films and television programs, and was known for his recurring role as Frank the bartender in the American western televi ...

as Barkeep

References

External links

* * * * 1958 films 1958 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films Films directed by Charles Marquis Warren Films scored by Paul Sawtell 1950s English-language films 1950s American films {{1950s-Western-film-stub