''South of St Louis'' is a 1949 American Technicolor Western film directed by

Ray Enright Ray Enright (March 25, 1896 – April 3, 1965) was an American film director. He directed 73 films between 1927–53, many of them for Warner Bros. He oversaw comedy films like Joe E. Brown vehicles, five of the six informal pairings of Joa ...

and starring Joel McCrea,

Alexis Smith Margaret Alexis Fitzsimmons-Smith (June 8, 1921 – June 9, 1993) was a Canadian-born American actress and singer. She appeared in several major Hollywood films in the 1940s and had a notable career on Broadway in the 1970s, winning a Tony Awar ...

, Zachary Scott and

Dorothy Malone Dorothy Malone (born Mary Dorothy Maloney; January 29, 1924 – January 19, 2018) was an American actress. Her film career began in 1943, and in her early years, she played small roles, mainly in B-movies, with the exception of a supporting role ...

. It chronicles the friendship between three ranchers after their ranch is destroyed by raiders led by the infamous Luke Cottrell. The film was originally titled ''Distant Drums'', but was later changed to its current title, which refers to

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

army deserters.

Plot

During the Civil War, Kip Davis ( Joel McCrea), Charlie Burns ( Zachary Scott), and Lee Price ( Douglas Kennedy), are run out of town by the guerilla raider and Union Army leader Luke Cottrell, who burns down their ranch. Though Kip's fiancée, Deb (

) begs them to stay in the small Texas town of Edenton, the three ranch owners vow vengeance on the Cottrell and decide to head south to find him. When they get to Brownsville, Texas, Lee decides to join the Confederate Army, while Kip and Charlie attempt to rebuild Three Bell ranch. Before they do, however, they take on offer from an attractive local lounge singer, Rouge de Lisle (

), to transport a box of furniture for fifty dollars. It turns out, however, that the box is instead filled with an illegal shipment of firearms and Kip is subsequently arrested. Before he is punished, however, he is freed and is picked up by Rouge, who offers him a job gun-running for the Confederacy. He accepts the offer, hoping to get enough money smuggling to rebuild the ranch. The trio then hires a group of gunmen, one of which is Slim Hansen, who used to work for Cottrell, and heads to Matamoros, Mexico to pick up a shipment of guns for the Confederacy. As they attempt to cross the border, they run into Cottrell and his gang. In the ensuing gunfight, Kip and Charlie are saved by a company of Confederate soldiers led by Lee, one of which is Lee. The three return to Edenton, where Kip's fiancée again attempts to convince him to stay. Kip is determined, however, to get enough money to restart his farm and instead continues to smuggle guns. When Brownsville is finally captured by rebel soldiers, the three must decide what the next course of action is. Lee continues to fight with the Confederate army, Kip wants to restore Three Bell ranch, and Charlie, more interested in the money, opts to continue smuggling guns. When Deborah refuses to leave her duties as a nurse to join him at the ranch, Kip decides to go with Charlie and return to smuggling. This pleases Rouge, who has fallen in love with Kip. As they near the border, they get word that Cottrell has threatened to kill Charlie and Kip if they return to Matamoros. At Slim's suggestion, they decide to steal the shipment of guns. The men dress up as Union soldiers in order to steal the guns, but then run into Confederate soldiers who confuse them for the enemy and open fire. Lee, who suspects that Kip and Charlie are behind the attack, breaks off all connections with his two former friends. When Cottrell kills one of Kip's men, Kip resolves that he must kill him. Before he can, however, Slim warns Cottrell, who ambushes Kip. Kip avoids the ambush, but Cottrell is killed by Slim. When Kip returns to Edenton, he finds out that his fiancée has fallen for Lee. Realizing that he has lost both of his closest friends and his fiancée, he leaves with Rouge to Matamoros. After the war is over, Lee joins the Texas Rangers. While serving in Brownsville, he is threatened by his former friend, Charlie. Hoping to resolve the situation, Deb goes to Matamoros to ask Kip for help. With the help of Rouge, Deb convinces Kip to go to Brownsville. Kip gets there just in time to stop the fight, but Charlie is shot by the treacherous Slim. With Charlie dying in his arms, Kip promises Charlie that he will rebuild the Three Bell ranch.

Cast

* Joel McCrea as Kip Davis *

as Rouge de Lisle * Zachary Scott as Charlie Burns *

as Deborah Miller * Douglas Kennedy as Lee Price * Alan Hale as Jake Everts *

Victor Jory Victor Jory (November 23, 1902 – February 12, 1982) was a Canadian-American actor of stage, film, and television. He initially played romantic leads, but later was mostly cast in villainous or sinister roles, such as Oberon in ''A Midsummer N ...

as Luke Cottrell * Bob Steele as Slim Hansen * Art Smith as Bronco *

Russell Hicks Edward Russell Hicks (June 4, 1895 – June 1, 1957) was an American film character actor. Hicks was born in 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland. During World War I, he served in the U.S. Army in France. He later became a lieutenant Colonel in the Cali ...

as Col. Kirby (uncredited) * Jack Mower as Marshal Billings (uncredited) * Forrest Taylor as Jason (uncredited)

Box office

According to Warner Bros records the film earned $2,236,000 domestic and $1,146,000 foreign.

References

External links

*
South of St. Louis
at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

{{Ray Enright 1949 films 1949 Western (genre) films American Civil War films American Western (genre) films 1940s English-language films Films scored by Max Steiner Films directed by Ray Enright Warner Bros. films 1940s American films