The first film Roger Corman actually directed is a Western, one of his first as director, was one of two films he made with Dorothy Malone. It’s got a set up similar to The Dirty Dozen – a bunch of outlaws are pardoned by the Confederate Army during the last days of the Civil War so the can go on a mission. That's a terrific idea - indeed, Corman and the writer later rehashed it as Secret Invasion - and there is a decent cast (John Lund, Mike Connors, Bill Campbell, Jonathan Haze, Malone).
However, this isn’t much of a movie. There’s a lot of standing around and arguing, it’s hard to get a fix on the characters – or, rather, it’s hard to care. Malone doesn’t appear until half an hour which was probably a mistake – nominal hero Lund is very bland.
This film lacks the energy that Corman would later bring to his movies – the action isn’t involving or exciting, the romance between Lund and Malone is uninspiring. The ending is a damp squib (I had to rewind it to check that the old prospector rode away - he just leaves without even a close up).
And why are we meant to feel good that Lund succeeds in his mission for the Confederacy? So he can help propagate the slave trade? And what's with the open ending - why don't we find out what happened to the mission?
NB It just occurred to me - just thinking about it, Corman was never much of a top action director. I mean he could when he needed to, but his strength was more in mood and pace rather than the he-man stuff.
NNB This was one of the first films from the "American Releasing Company" which soon became AIP.
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