''The Desperadoes'' is a 1943 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 Charles Vidor and starring Randolph Scott,

Claire Trevor Claire Trevor ( Wemlinger; March 8, 1910April 8, 2000) was an American actress. She appeared in 65 feature films from 1933 to 1982, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in ''Key Largo'' (1948), and received nomina ...

Glenn Ford Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who often portrayed ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford was most prominent during Hollywood's Golden Age as one of the biggest box-offi ...

Evelyn Keyes Evelyn Louise Keyes (November 20, 1916 – July 4, 2008) was an American film actress. She is best known for her role as Suellen O'Hara in the 1939 film ''Gone with the Wind''. Early life Evelyn Keyes was born in Port Arthur, Texas, to Omar Do ...

and

Edgar Buchanan William Edgar Buchanan II (March 20, 1903 – April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the ''Petticoat Junction'', ''Green Acres'', and ''The ...

. Based on a story by

Max Brand Frederick Schiller Faust (May 29, 1892 – May 12, 1944) was an American writer known primarily for his Western (genre), Western stories using the pseudonym Max Brand. He (as Max Brand) also created the popular fictional character of young ...

, the film is about a wanted outlaw who arrives in town to rob a bank that has already been held up. His past and his friendship with the sheriff land them both in trouble. ''The Desperadoes'' was the first

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

production to be released in

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

Plot

In 1863, Sheriff Steve Upton tries to keep the law in Red Valley, a small town 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 ...

. While he's away, the bank is robbed. The holdup was secretly masterminded by corrupt banker Stanley Clanton and the livery stable's boss, "Uncle Willie" McLeod, with the help of ruthless gunman Jack Lester, who shoots three innocent men. Cheyenne Rogers rides to town. At the stable, Allison McLeod, daughter of Uncle Willie, recognizes the horse as one belonging to Steve. As the stranger goes to the saloon for a drink, Allison rides out to find Steve, whose mount was stolen on the trail. "The Countess", who runs gambling at the saloon, is in love with Cheyenne, who was hired to help rob the bank but arrived too late. She blames herself for steering Cheyenne toward crime in the first place. Cheyenne finds a legitimate job, breaking broncos at a ranch. Steve returns to town and is glad to see Cheyenne, an old friend. Lester turns the town against Cheyenne, revealing his outlaw past, and then his sidekick Nitro pulls off another robbery of the bank. A posse rounds up Cheyenne and Nitro and a judge sentences them to hang. But they are sprung from jail by Steve, who is then placed behind bars himself. Alison goes to the Countess to beg for her help. She does, even though Cheyenne now loves Allison instead of her. Cheyenne slips a gun to Steve through a jailhouse window, and together they set about making things right. Uncle Willie, feeling guilt about his part in the robbery, ends up shooting Clanton in a gunfight. Allison is wed to Cheyenne while her father goes off to jail.

Cast

* Randolph Scott as Sheriff Steve Upton *

as Countess Maletta *

as Cheyenne Rogers *

as Allison McLeod *

as Uncle Willie McLeod *

Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams Guinn is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname: *Bill Guinn or Lew Meehan (1890–1951), American film actor *Colin Guinn, contestant in ''The Amazing Race'', a U.S. TV series *Dominick Guinn, (born 1975), A ...

as Nitro Rankin *

Raymond Walburn Raymond Walburn (September 9, 1887 – July 26, 1969) was an American character actor of stage and screen who appeared in dozens of Hollywood movie comedies and an occasional dramatic role during the 1930s and 1940s. Life and career Born i ...

as Judge Cameron * Porter Hall as Banker Clanton *

Bernard Nedell Bernard Jay Nedell (October 14, 1898 – November 23, 1972) was an American film actor. He appeared in 50 films between 1916 and 1972. He was born in New York, New York and died in Hollywood, California. He was married to actress Olive Blak ...

as Jack Lester (uncredited) *

Joan Woodbury Joan Elmer Woodbury (December 17, 1915 – February 22, 1989) was an American actress beginning in the 1930s and continuing well into the 1960s. Early life Woodbury was born in Los Angeles, California on December 17, 1915. Her father was Elmer ...

as Sundown (uncredited) * Irving Bacon as Dan Walters (uncredited) * Glenn Strange as Lem (uncredited)

Production

The assistant director was Budd Boetticher, then using his real name, Oscar Boetticher, Jr. It was on this film that he met Scott and producer Brown. Fourteen years later, they would all re-team at Columbia to make the series of westerns known as the Ranown cycle (Ranown being a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsParia, Utah.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Desperadoes, The 1943 films 1943 Western (genre) films American Civil War films Columbia Pictures films Films directed by Charles Vidor Films scored by John Leipold Films shot in Utah American Western (genre) films Revisionist Western (genre) films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films