Big Cole (Clint Walker) is an ex-lawman who wants a peaceful existence as a rancher heads to Wyoming along with his family formed by wife (Marta Hyer) and children with aim to begin a new life in wild country left him by a relative. He faces off opposition from a neighbor (Keenan Wynn) who wishes that land for his own sons , and especially is threatened by a killer grizzly bear, nicknamed "Satan", that goes on a murderous rampage , attacking his family , friends and keeps killing Cole's livestock. Big Jim Cole had come to the rim of Hell and nobody but nobody was going to push him over! The story of a night lengthened by a thousand terrors!...Big Jim Cole Had Come to Stay!!!
Nice Western contains adventures , thrills , brawls , swoops , an enjoyable family life and colorful outdoors well filmed by top-notch cameramen . A decently paced , well made and decidedly action Western in which normal human lives are intertwined correctly with just that proportion of natural tragedy that have haunted families in the old West . Clint Walker gives a good acting as Marshal "Big Jim" Cole who turns in his badge attempting to forge a new life in order to settle on some land inherited from a relative . The highlights of the movie are the creepy appearances of the marauding killer bear terrorizing the residents of the Wyoming countryside that have a savage realism and some funny scenes as a drunken cockered . Support cast is pretty good , such as : Keenan Wynn ,Nancy Kulp , Ellen Corby , Jack Elam , Ron Ely , Don Haggery , Regis Toomey , and especial mention for Leo Gordon as a bounty hunter . It contains colorful and evocative cinematography by Loyal Griggs and Harold Lipstein, the photography catches perfectly the feel of countryside . Lively and stirring musical score by Leith Stevens , including songs by Jay Livingstone .
The motion picture produced by Burt Dunne was professionally directed by Joseph Pevney . This veteran filmmaker Joseph Pevney was a good artisan , being well known as a very organized and precise filmmaker who was nonetheless relaxed on the set . He was even a singer kid and participed at WWII , subsequently he acted in only five films (1946-1950) , all of them films noir, his first as a piano-playing killer in Nocturne (1946). He spent most of his career behind the camera and his first film as a director was Shakedown (1950) in which he makes a Hitchcock-style cameo as Keller the reporter, his last on-screen part. After spending the 1950s as a contract director at Universal, he switched to television where his early credits include five episodes of Alfred Hitchcock presnts (1962) , and many others . He directed a lot of movies of all kinds of genres such as Wartime : Torpedo run , Away all boats , Air cadet . Adventures as Yankee Pasha , Tammy , Twilight for the God, Congo crossing ,Ring circus , Legion of desert . Western : Lady from Texas , The plunderers . Thriller : Undercover girl , Flesh and fury , Man of a thousand faces , Iron Man , Shakedown , The strange Door , 6 bridges to cross , Istanbul. Rating : 6.5/10 . Passable and decent adventure movie . The flick will appeal to Clint Walker fans .
