Johnny Reno (1966)

The more I think about this story the less sense it seems to make. I'm speaking particularly of Lyle Bettger's character, the black-hearted mayor of Stone Junction, Jesse Yates. Where did all the hatred come from? He had the never seen Indian Ed Little Bear killed because his daughter Marie (Tracy Olsen) was interested in him romantically. But Yates had been married to an Indian squaw himself, so where's the rationale? If one was offered I missed it and I'm not going back to figure it out. But if Yates had all that power to sway the citizens of his town to get rid of Joe Conners (Tom Drake) as a fall guy, he could just as easily have convinced them to approve of a marriage between his daughter and the Indian. But then I guess, we wouldn't have had this story.Unlike some of the other reviewers here, I'm not familiar with producer A.C. Lyles, but having read some of the comments my main question about the picture seems to have been answered. That being, why are the principals so old looking? I'm a long time Lon Chaney fan but gosh, he looked about ready to fall over any minute. As gunslinger and sheriff Johnny Reno, Dana Andrews was pushing nearly sixty himself, and even though Jane Russell was only in her mid-forties, she looked a bit worn and tired as well. Well now I know some of the history behind these films, making the picture slightly more palatable.I'll say one thing that was hilarious though. Remember when Reno took that stick of dynamite and threw it toward the town folk shooting at him? What would possess someone to run over and pick it up, but that's just what Jake Reed (Robert Lowery) did, and got blown sky high for his trouble. At least the dummy stand-in did, that was priceless.The other thing that caught my attention was the amount of money the town was willing to pay Johnny Reno to leave Conners behind and keep on riding - ten thousand dollars! It didn't look like there were enough folks in Stone Junction to come up with that kind of dough. But as I said earlier, not a lot here made sense, so that element just added to my puzzlement.

This movie already looked like an anachronism when it was released in 1966;the stars are aging actors such as Dana Andrews ,Jane Russell,John Agar ,Lon Chaney Jr ....;the score is awful and does not sound western at all;the last song is MOR pop.The screenplay is not devoid of interest:it deals with responsibility (French title:" the whole town is guilty");and more than Dana Andrews ' sheriff and his old flame Russell ,Joe Conners is the most interesting character:a very restrained performance whereas John Drake could have turned on melodrama.He is a true loser in a way that Johnny and Nona are not.His sentences in a low voice go straight to the heart: "why my brother?he never did any harm to anyone" "I wish I was never born" "I've never had a chance in life" .The ideal scapegoat,he is the true hero of the final showdown,facing alone the whole bunch of villains.

This film is poor even by the standards of an AC Lyles 'old geezer' western. Audiences back when this was released must have realised that it was bottom of the barrel schlock and laughed throughout. Anachronistic songs and music, old rheumatic actors in need of doubles, pathetic choreography; anyone seeing this in 1966 must have felt that they had gone through a timewarp and re-emerged in the 1950s.The highlight has to be the saloon fight between Dana Andrews and Lyle Bettger or, rather, the fight between their stunt doubles since the faces of the stuntmen are visible throughout and Bettger's has a different hair colour. I also laughed out loud when a rubber dummy was catapaulted into the air after an explosion and when a character was all smiles about 10 seconds after being told that her father was dead.RG Springsteen was a hack but had directed a relatively competent film (Bullet for a Badman) only a little while previously so it is not clear why, other than cheap budget and rushed shooting schedule, he is so slapdash here. Note also that Andrews' ride to Jane Russell's house is conveyed by using footage recycled from earlier in the film.

JOHNNY RENO is just one of many second feature Westerns produced by A.C. Lyles at Paramount in the 1960's. These Westerns were of great interest to me when they were shown at our local cinema as they always had many veteran actors in supporting roles. For example take a look at the credits for "Johnny Reno" - Dana Andrews, Jane Russell, Lon Chaney Jr, John Agar, Lyle Bettger, Tom Drake, Richard Arlen, Robert Lowery, and (uncredited) DeForest Kelley. Quite an impressive cast for a second feature western!! I always used to sit up and pay attention when the words "An A.C. Lyles Production" came up on the screen as I knew this film was going to be rather special!! One of A.C.s best friends was James Cagney who only directed one film in his entire career - "Short Cut to Hell" (1957) which he did purely as a favour to A.C. to get him started as a producer. (It was a remake of the Alan Ladd film "This Gun for Hire"). Now in his 80's A.C. still has an office on the Paramount lot which he visits most days. A.C. can be seen regularly on the TV series "Biography" where he is often interviewed with his memories of the "Golden Days of Hollywood" and the many stars he knew personally from that era. Clive Roberts.