''Fort Dobbs'' 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 ...
film, the first of three directed by
Gordon Douglas to star
Clint Walker
Norman Eugene "Clint" Walker (May 30, 1927 – May 21, 2018) was an American actor. He played cowboy Cheyenne Bodie in the ABC/ Warner Bros. western series ''Cheyenne'' from 1955 to 1963.
Early life
Clint Walker was born Norman Eugene W ...
. The other two were: ''
Yellowstone Kelly'' in 1959 and ''
Gold of the Seven Saints'' in 1961.
Released by
Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
and based on a screenplay by
George W. George
George W. George (born George Warren Goldberg; February 8, 1920 – November 7, 2007) was an American theater, Broadway and film producer. His credits included the film '' My Dinner With Andre'' (1981) and several hit Broadway productions.
...
and
Burt Kennedy
Burton Raphael Kennedy (September 3, 1922 – February 15, 2001) was an American screenwriter and director known mainly for directing Westerns. Budd Boetticher called him "the best Western writer ever."
Biography
Kennedy was born in 1922 i ...
, the film runs for 93 minutes with black-and-white photography provided by William H. Clothier. It was intended to capitalize on Walker's success in the ''
Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...
'' TV series, but box office returns were modest.
Plot
Gar Davis has to get out of Largo in a hurry because a man he threatened to kill has been found dead. He comes across a man in
Comanche territory killed by an arrow. Gar trades jackets with the dead man and then shoves the corpse over a cliff, hoping the posse pursuing him will think he's the one who is dead.
Trying to steal a horse, Gar's face is grazed by a bullet shot by young Chad Grey, whose mother Celia tends to the stranger's wound. Indians attack the house. Gar helps fend them off, after which he and the Greys take off on horseback toward the safety of Fort Dobbs.
On the trail, an outlaw called Clett kills a Comanche who's about to bushwhack Gar, saving his life. Gar doesn't trust him, though, because Clett is carrying rifles that he could be selling to the Indians rather than to buyers in Santa Fe.
Clett tries to take advantage of Celia, but even though Gar comes to her aid, Celia no longer trusts him because she's found the jacket Gar stole. It belonged to her husband, so Celia is now convinced that Gar murdered him, making her a widow.
Gar successfully escorts Celia and Chad to the fort and then rides away so he won't be arrested. Celia and Chad enter the fort, but all of the soldiers are dead. Gar turns around when he hears Comanche war cries and helps the citizens of Largo who are fleeing toward the fort for protection. A sheriff appreciates Gar's help fighting the Indians, but lets him know he must place Gar under arrest. Gar claims he killed the Largo man in self-defense after an argument. Permitted to ride to Santa Fe to get help, Gar ends up killing Clett for the rifles, bringing them back to save the fort and to win the widow's trust.
Cast
*
Clint Walker
Norman Eugene "Clint" Walker (May 30, 1927 – May 21, 2018) was an American actor. He played cowboy Cheyenne Bodie in the ABC/ Warner Bros. western series ''Cheyenne'' from 1955 to 1963.
Early life
Clint Walker was born Norman Eugene W ...
as Gar Davis
*
Virginia Mayo
Virginia Mayo (born Virginia Clara Jones; November 30, 1920 – January 17, 2005) was an American actress and dancer. She was in a series of comedy films with Danny Kaye and was Warner Brothers' biggest box-office money-maker in the late 1940s. ...
as Celia Grey
*
Brian Keith
Brian Keith (born Robert Alba Keith, November 14, 1921 – June 24, 1997) was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his six-decade career gained recognition for his work in films such as the Disney family film '' The Parent T ...
as Clett
*
Richard Eyer
Richard Ross Eyer (born May 6, 1945) is an American former child actor who worked during the 1950s and 1960s. He then became a teacher and taught at elementary schools in Bishop, California until he retired in 2006. He is the older brother of R ...
as Chad Grey
*
Russ Conway
Russ Conway, DSM (born Trevor Herbert Stanford; 2 September 1925 – 16 November 2000) was an English popular music pianist and composer. Conway had 20 piano instrumentals in the UK Singles Chart between 1957 and 1963, including two number on ...
as the Sheriff
*
Michael Dante
Michael Dante (born Ralph Vitti; September 2, 1931) is an American actor and former professional minor league baseball player.
Early life
Dante was born Ralph Vitti in Stamford, Connecticut. Growing up, he would sneak into a local movie theater ...
as Billings
Production
Parts of the film were shot in
Duck Creek, Aspen Mirror Lake,
Paria,
Kanab
Kanab ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Kane County, Utah, United States.[Find a County]
". ''N ...
Canyon, Cave Lakes Canyon,
Kanab movie fort The Kanab movie fort was a filming set near the current Kanab Municipal Airport in Kanab, Utah.http://movielocationsplus.com/KANABFRT.HTM Movie Making Locations The military fort is an 1800s-era recreation constructed for '' The Yellow Tomahawk'' ( ...
,
Colorado River
The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...
, Mat Martin Wash, and Professor Valley in
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
.
Reception
Critical response
Howard Thompson of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' gave the film a mixed review, writing, "As for the plot, written by Burt Kennedy and George W. George, Mr. Walker plays a murder fugitive who rescues a widow and her small son from some Comanches and finally clears his name by leading a stockade defense against a mass attack. For the first two-thirds of this Martin Rackin production almost nothing happens, as the hero, Miss Mayo and young Richard Eyer drag across the prairie. The picture drags right along with it. Gordon Douglas, its director, has given the climax a neat turn or two. And toward the end, a couple of nice sideline performances click into place—namely, Brian Keith, as a renegade, and Russ Conway, as a sheriff. Miss Mayo also perks up considerably at the homestretch, minus her initial Southern accent. What happened, honey chile?"
Thompson, Howard
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', film review, "Western and 'Lafayette Escadrille' Open", April 19, 1958. Accessed: June 23, 2013.
See also
* List of American films of 1958
A list of American films released in 1958. The musical romantic comedy film '' Gigi'' won Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
A-B
C-F
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S-Z
See also
* 1958 in the United States
References
External links
1958 filmsat the Inter ...
References
External links
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* via TBS
{{Gordon Douglas
1958 films
1958 Western (genre) films
American Western (genre) films
American black-and-white films
Films directed by Gordon Douglas
Films scored by Max Steiner
Films shot in Utah
Warner Bros. films
1950s English-language films
1950s American films