Untamed Frontier

A tyrannical rancher and his two sons defend their huge ranch spread against encroaching homesteaders.

Pretty good western, with Cotten and Brady fitting easily into their roles. I like the way the movie starts since the characters are too ambiguous to tell how the story will end. Most westerns, on the other hand, are all-too predictable in that respect. However, as the movie progresses battling sides begin to form and the outcome becomes more predictable.

The producers do a good job making the scale of the film-- with its cattle drive and wide open spaces-- appear bigger than it is. I suspect from some locations that the production actually never left the greater LA area. Also, I really like Brady as the headstrong Glenn; he injects real energy into the part. Of course, Shelley Winters is Shelley Winters. She makes a good floozie, but a not so good ranch lady. Still, it's a fine supporting cast, Van Cleef in an early bad guy role, plus Fess Parker doing a walk-on. But check out the luscious Suzan Ball as Lottie. Her brief life was indeed a tragic one.

Universal turned out a number of Technicolor oaters during this period. I imagine the westerns were upgraded to color in order to compete with early TV. They were usually done cheaply but smartly, and this, all in all, is one of the better ones.

The picture concerns a cattle baron Matt Denbow (Minor Watson) who takes his nephew Kirk (Joseph Cotten) as his own son , originating in the legitimate one named Glenn (Scott Brady) a certain resentment . Squeezed between Mexico and the Denbow family lands lies the U.S. government free grazing land but the incoming settlers cannot reach it without trespassing on the Denbow property . When Glenn kills a suitor and to evade a murder charge, he marries the beautiful witness Jane (Shelley Winters) to undercover evidences , but then his recent wife falls for Kirk . When Glenn goes back to his blackmailing old flame Lottie (Susan Ball) , he is seeing an opportunity to obtain his father's cattle and along the way he develops an enormous rivalty for the adopted cousin . Thing go wrong when settlemen attempt to cut the barbwire and it coincides with a rustling foray which is defended by an army of Denbow cowhands. The last great Texas range wars ! ... against the iron hand of the ruthless cattle barons !

The movie is a good western with extraordinary landscapes that were shot on location in natural parks of Naco, Canelo, Elfrida, Hereford, Arizona . The picture has western action , drama , round-up , stampedes , horseman pursuits and results to be quite entertaining . Dealing with the classic confrontation , Close range , Open range , between cattlemen and settlemen ; as the Denbow family hope to freeze out homesteaders by denying access across their land . It carries a surprising feeling of authenticity for a Western of this Universal Picture's classic period . Serious Western professionally made by Hugo Fregonese and with Joseph Cotten as a foreman trying to live a pacific existence and keeping calm an impending range war . The picture is produced in budget enough by Universal International Pictures (UI) where director Fregonese made some nice films . Scott Brady plays competently as Glenn Denbow who marries the only witness, Jane , well played by Shelley Winters , who's conveniently in love with him. They are well accompanied by a fine support cast , such as Suzan Ball ,Minor Watson, Katherine Emery, John Alexander , Richard Garland , Fess Parker , Ray Bennett , David Janssen's first on-screen credit movie performance , and , of course, the usual nasty Lee Van Cleef , pre-Sergio Leone.

The movie attained lukewarm reception by the public , it achieved a limited success ; however a similar film titled ¨Vengeance Valley ¨ (by Richard Thorpe) with Burt Lancaster , Robert Walker , was much better as reviews as box office . . The motion picture was directed in sure visual eye by Hugo Fregonese . He directed lesser Western and thrillers and realized a variety films of all kind of genres . Direction by Fregonese maintains a steady pace and is partially as good in interiors as in outdoor action scenes . Hugo Fregonese is familiar remember the Argentine director for his Hollywood work , that began with One Way Street in 1950 and included some biggies such as Blowing Wild (1953), his biggest hit . Fregonese started in Argentina, and Pampa Bárbara , first version , is the first first film he directed he is listed as co- director with Lucas Demare . He had done his apprenticeship with Demare as assistant director in two previous films. Hugo was an Argentina director who emigrated to Hollywood, then became technical adviser on latino themes at Columbia Studios in Hollywood, and subsequently under contract at Universal from 1950 to 1952 filming ¨Man in the attic¨ with Jack Palance , ¨Blowing wild¨with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck , ¨Decameron Nights¨with Joan Fontaine , ¨Harry Black and the tiger¨with Stewart Granger . Spent the rest of the decade in Europe directing Euro-westerns as ¨Apache's last battle¨ , this ¨Savage Pampas¨ and potboilers as "The Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse" , Terror as "Dracula vs. Frankenstein" before finishing his career back in the country of his birth . Rating : 6.5/10 , acceptable and passable . Worthwhile seeing for marvelous landscapes and breathtaking outdoors .

Scott Brady, scion of the local big ranch, shoots Shelley Winters' boyfriend. To avoid her testifying against him, he marries her, but the marriage is unconsummated. Instead, she becomes friendly with his cousin, Joseph Cotten in this visually interesting Universal western.

Director Hugo Fregonese gives cinematographer Charles Boyle his head, with lots o high lights in dark backgrounds. Notice the large number of twilight long shots, and medium grey walls with black shutters, couches and ironmongery. Could the print I looked at be darker than intended? that's always a possibility, of course, but I think the choice was deliberate, to yield a worn parchment look to the movie; even Miss Winters' hair looks more grey than blonde; this makes the white-faced cattle and the occasional splashes of bright color far more dramatic. Long shadows in the brightest-lit scenes give them a "late afternoon" look, as if to indicate the end of the day of ranch's dominance.

While the visuals of the movie make it interesting, and the acting talent is impeccable -- that's Minor Watson as the head of the ranch; if you look hard, you can see Lee van Cleef and Fess Parker (in his first screen appearance) in the cast. Yet this early attempt to make a soap-opera western seems a bit overblown to my B-movie-loving taste.

You'll recognize the plot early, ranching family conflicts, a bit of soapy love stories and homesteaders changing Texas. The surprise is the number of Hispanic actors playing authentic Vaqueros.