''The Broken Star'' is a 1956 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 directed by

Lesley Selander Lesley Selander (May 26, 1900 – December 5, 1979) was an American film director of Western (genre), Westerns and adventure film, adventure movies. His career as director, spanning 127 feature films and dozens of TV episodes, lasted from 1936 to ...

and written by John C. Higgins. The film stars

Howard Duff Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

Lita Baron Lita Baron (born Isabel Castro; August 11, 1923 – December 16, 2015) was a Spanish-born American actress and singer who appeared in movies and television shows for over 30 years. Early life Baron was born Isabel Castro in Almería, Spain ...

, Bill Williams, Douglas Fowley, Henry Calvin, Addison Richards, Joel Ashley and John Pickard. The film was released in April 1956, by

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

Plot

A deputy marshall (Smeed) kills a ranch hand and steals a sack of gold. He claims it was a fair fight but the marshal of Arizona's Southern Territory (Forrester) has his doubts. Unknown to Smeed, there was a witness to the murder (Nachez). While the investigation unfolds, Smeed tries to cover up the evidence and eliminate people who can implicate him. Another deputy (Gentry), who has always admired Smeed, defends him to his girlfriend (Alvarado) but is astonished when Alvarado translates the written eyewitness account (from the Spanish) by Nachez. Smeed kidnaps Nachez, taking him to a mine, where he kills him and hides the body. Gentry shows up at the mine but is over-powered by Smeed, tied up, and left to be buried in a cave-in caused by Smeed setting a charge. The marshal arrives with his posse and hunts down Smeed inside the mine, using an alternate entry. In the meantime, Gentry, who survives the cave-in, unties himself and joins the hunt. The posse corners Smeed, who draws first, and is killed by Gentry. In the closing scene, Gentry (with his new bride, Alvarado), is presented with a new badge by Forrester and congratulated for being appointed to the position of marshal of Arizona's Northern Territory.

Cast

as Deputy Marshal Frank Smeed *

as Conchita Alvarado * Bill Williams as Deputy Marshal Bill Gentry * Douglas Fowley as Hiram Charleton * Henry Calvin as Thornton Wills * Addison Richards as Marshal Wayne Forrester *Joel Ashley as Messendyke * John Pickard as Van Horn *William 'Bill' Phillips as Doc Mott *Joe Dominguez as Nachez

References

External links

* 1956 films 1950s English-language films United Artists films American Western (genre) films 1956 Western (genre) films Films directed by Lesley Selander Films scored by Paul Dunlap 1950s American films American black-and-white films {{1950s-western-film-stub