The Tramplers

I obtained a used VHS version of this film. The film quality was a bit degraded but I still enjoyed the film. My copy appeared sepia-toned throughout with some great landscape shots. The movie is a real horse opera with a haunting, melancholy mood. The lead actor does a competent job but the real standouts are Joseph Cotton as the evil father and Jim Mitchum as the troubled younger son. Cotton is a man whose character has been warped by slavery and the War Between the States. After the war, he is unable to let go of the past, which causes his children to break away from him and strike out on their own with mixed success. The wife and two daughters and a female love interest only have small roles but they manage to convey a lot of emotion with the little screen time they're given. This film is worth a look if you enjoy westerns. The style is somewhere between a standard American shoot 'em up and a Sergio Leone effort.