Gehaßt, gejagt, gefürchtet

Hannah Brockway, daughter of the leading citizen of Prairie Dog, prosperous insurance man Nathan Brockway, is engaged to be married to Dr. Sam Martin, but she meets and falls in love with Ben Dembrow, the youngest son of outlaw leader Kirk Dembrow. Ben, unwilling to lead the life of his father and two brothers, Frank and Cash, has taken a new name, and he and Hannah are married.

But the suspicions of the townspeople hound him and he is tried for a crime he did not commit. His father and brothers rescue him from the courtroom at gunpoint, and the disillusioned Ben joins his family, taking Hannah with him. Months of fleeing from the law, and the approaching birth of a child impels Hannah to send for Martin, who has never stopped loving her. Martin takes her back to her family home and the baby is born. But Ben kidnaps the child in an effort to make Hannah rejoin him, and Martin and Ben soon face a shoot-out against each other.

Renegades is a well made Western directed by the underrated George Sherman, and William Snyder's eye catching Technicolor cinematography is glorious to look at. The acting is fine; Willard Parker is sincere as the doctor, Evelyn Keyes adds some glamour, Larry Parks is ok though a more charismatic lead would've been better, but Edgar Buchanan in a rare heel role as head of the sociopathic Dembrow family is a scene stealer. It's not a typical western in a sense that the emphasis is more on characters and drama and I liked how the last hour switched from a light-heartedness (accordions playing, dancing, the community love the town's own Dr Kildare who is engaged to a red headed beauty) to a more adult story with a few twists and turns. It's a bit of a slow burner, though, but some fine action and good characterisation keeps things interesting. It's actually a good western with a nice story.