The Sheepman (1958)

This a enjoyable comic B Western that l saw for first time in late 1976 in my hometown when l was a boy...Glenn Ford is amazing as outsider and how he wants that the people know him before to bring all sheep to a Cattle's valley...but for me the movie resume in two different and amusing persons Milt (Edgar Buchanan) and Jumbo (Mickey Shaughnessy) Milt is clever,peaceful and funny....Jumbo is thug,stupid and funny... they are the true stars of this comic western....the remains of the movie is usual as always but Milt and Jumbo is remarkable guys!!Resume:First Watch: 1976 / How Many: 5 / Source: TV-Cable TV-DVD / Rating: 7.5

Directed by George Marshall, and written by William Bowers and James Edward Grant (who earned an Oscar nomination for their story & screenplay written directly for the screen), this above average Western comedy features Glenn Ford in the title role. Though three of the other leads are Shirley MacLaine, Leslie Nielsen and Mickey Shaughnessy, the rest of the cast is full of familiar faces (like Ford's) from this genre, though many have merely cameo roles (like Slim Pickens as the Marshal who goes fishing every time there's trouble).The first 20 minutes of the film are the funniest, as Ford's "stranger in town" character blows through so many of the "tried and true" Western clichés, spoofing them as he goes. The latter two thirds grow more serious as Ford and Nielsen battle each other for control of the town, and MacLaine. I'm not sure where this one was filmed, but the "purple mountains majesty" and the abundant yellow aspen trees made for a beautiful backdrop.Jason Sweet (Ford) made quite an impression on the people of Powder Valley within the first few minutes of his arrival by train. After "insulting" the town's station master (Percy Helton, uncredited), a lady who's having trouble controlling her horse that turns out to be Dell Payton (MacLane), its wise guy Milt Masters (Edgar Buchanan; Roscoe Ates appears uncredited as another of its loafers), whom he later out horse trades, and its general store proprietor (Harry Harvey), he describes and then asks the town folk where their toughest hombre might be. Finding the aptly named Jumbo (Shaughnessy) in the Chinaman's (Lee Tung Foo, uncredited) restaurant, Sweet picks a fight, which he wins, and then states his intention to bring sheep to graze among the cattle on the area's public lands. On the way out, he has a brief conversation with Milt, whom he'd sized up a man without honor (e.g. willing to rat out anybody for $1), before checking into the town's only hotel.Though Dell shows up to warn him that Powder Valley is now a peaceable place without the usual Western trouble, Sweet is greeted by Jumbo, who insists upon taking him to meet his boss, "the Colonel". Sweet then demonstrates that he's easily the quickest man (with a gun) in town and that, if the Colonel wants to see him, he should come to see Sweet. However, Jumbo and a couple of other toughs later persuade, at the point of a gun, Sweet to come with them. Upon being taken to the Colonel's, where Sweet learns that Dell is his fiancée, he comes face to face with the town's leading rancher (Nielsen). As it turns out, Sweet knows this "Colonel", who is really Johnny Bledsoe, a former gunslinger like Sweet who'd decided to go straight and settled in Powder Valley six years ago. The two decide not to resolve their conflict at this time, though it's clear neither will back down - Sweet is determined to raise sheep in the valley, Col. Stephen Bedford will figure out a way to drive Sweet out of "his" town.The two men's methods are completely different - Sweet is straightforward, Bedford's are more underhanded. Though Sweet is able to use Dell and her carriage to surprise Jumbo and some other toughs, making them help his Mexican sheepherder Angelo (Pedro Gonzales-Gonzales) unload his sheep from the train, he is later manipulated by Dell himself. Her father (Willis Bouchey) and her fiancé convince her to invite Sweet to a party and then use her charm to distract him while Bedford's men round up Sweet's sheep and load them back on the train. During this time, Dell learned that Sweet once had a fiancée that was killed, and had settled down to raise sheep after winning them in a poker game. Jumbo, with pistol drawn, then "puts" Sweet, Angelo, and also Milt on the train, whose conductors are instructed to drive 200 miles before stopping to unlock it cars.However, Sweet is able to turn the tables on Bedford once again, and informs the rest of the town's people that Bedford had been using Milt to buy up all the area's public grazing lands for himself. After her father checks out Sweet's story, Dell breaks her engagement and later, with Milt, helps Sweet avoid an unfair fight with Chocktaw (Pernell Roberts), a former foe hired by Bedford to run off Sweet's sheep and kill his hired help. Once the odds are evened, Sweet easily wins the shootout with Chocktaw and Jumbo rides off to inform Bedford. Inevitably, this all leads to a showdown between Sweet and Bedford, who's naturally got more surprises up his sleeve. Whereas Bedford's trick, using a seemingly harmless (but actually armed) old pistol, enables him to wound Sweet, Sweet's shot kills Bedford. Having made his point, being too stubborn to let anyone tell him what to do, Sweet decides to have Jumbo corral his sheep to market where Milt will sell them. Naturally, Sweet then decides to become a cattle rancher and win Dell as his own.

Highly watchable Western comedy about confrontation between Sheepmen , cattlemen and homesteaders . This is a classic Hollywood Western , it turns out to be a mixture of action , fights , shootouts and humor . In a Western little cattle-town , a pattern of the other celebrated cow towns of the Old west , appears a stranger called Jason Sweet (Glenn Ford) and behaves impulsively . The reason appears with his stock : a herd of sheep . Glenn Ford is the brave gunslinger along with Edgar Buchanan , they are fighting to stifle the conflicts between Sheepmen , homesteaders and cattlemen who hire gunfighters (Pernell Roberts of Bonanza) . Meanwhile , astute as well as imaginative Sweet develops a loving triangle between a copper-haired haired heroine tomboy (Shirley MacLaine) and a treacherous villain called Col. Stephen Bedford (a young Leslie Nielsen) . The astonished inhabitants decide to run him out at all costs . Ford finally cleans up an uncontrollably lawless Western town. ¨Draw fast when you call him the Sheepman¡ ¨ .This fresh , genial picture gets action Western , shootouts ,laughters marvelous outdoors , a lot of attractive roles and turns to be quite entertaining . It's a medium budget film with good actors , technicians, production values and pleasing results . This spirited realization that never flags results to be a potpourri of Western , comedy , irony and action . Glenn Ford is pretty good in the title role , he is a Sheepman faced in by cattle ranchers but determined to stay , as he intends to graze on the range . Glenn Ford ideally cast as an obstinate Sheepman and he shows his usual delicious fair play for comedy . He plays a gunfighter/Sheepman , a roguish revenger with remarkable self-assurance and establishing himself as a man to be reckoned with . Main cast is frankly good , the great Leslie Nielsen as a nasty villainous , his enthusiasts will be surprised to find him and not least Shirley MacLaine . Furthermore , an extraordinary support cast such as chubby Mickey Shaughnessy as Jumbo McCall , Edgar Buchanan as Milt Masters , Willis Bouchey as Frank Payton , Pernell Roberts as Chocktaw Neal and always likable Slim Pickens as Marshal . Interesting as well inspired screen play by William Bowers and James Edward Grant , it includes splendid roles . Glamorous cinematography , photographed in glowing Metrocolor by Robert Bronner . Evocative and atmospheric musical score by Jeff Alexander . The motion picture well produced by Edmund Grainger was directed in sure visual eye by George Marshall . He realized a variety films of all kind of genres , though especially Western , the best are starred by James Stewart and Glenn Ford . Marshall directed Western along half century , his first Western was ¨Wild gold¨(1934) and he subsequently made his masterpiece ¨Destry rides again¨(1939) in which combines action , charmingly natural story , humor and drama ; in 1951 directed a new version under title ¨ Frenchie ¨ with Eddie Murphy and Marie Blanchard in similar characters to James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich . As Marshall introduces comicalness in realist Western , including a little genre satire on the conventional Western thrown in for good measure . As he directed Western with funniness such as ¨Texas¨ also starred by Glenn Ford and Edgar Buchanan . He went on filming parody/western such as ¨Fancy pants¨(1950) , ¨Advance to the rear¨(1964), and musical Western as ¨Red Garters¨and ¨The second greatest sex¨. Others Western he directed are the following : ¨When Dalton rode¨, ¨Valley of the sun¨, ¨The savage¨, ¨Pillars of sky¨, ¨the guns of Fort Petticoat¨ and the episode titled ¨The railway¨ from ¨How the West was won¨ .

The interface between cattle ranchers and sheep herders is played for more amusement than viciousness. This movie came out before the violence reached the degrading state, but still has lots of excitement and suspense. Families with fairly young children can see this together without fear, boredom, or embarrassment. While it may not quite meet the current PC view of women, it still shows the female lead with a lot of personality and originality, without trying to make the men look stupid.