The King and Four Queens (1956)

i enjoyed this interesting western starring Clark gable.it's not your typical rip roaring action packed western.it's more of a lite comedy/romance.most of it takes place in one setting.a deserted ghost town inhabited by our young widows and their no nonsense gun packing mother in law.manly this is a showcase for the comedic skills of Gable and his co stars.the banter back and forth between the group is the highlight of the piece.oh,there's also 100,000 in stolen gold hidden nearby.add in some romance and a bit of deception and you have the makings of an entertaining little movie.for me,The King and Four Queens is a 6/10

Clark Gable wanders into town and hears about a nasty old lady and her four daughter-in-laws who are supposedly hiding $100,000 in stolen gold but any many who goes near them is shot by this insane matriarch. So naturally, Clark with his suave and sexy ways infiltrates the ghost town in which they live in order to seduce the gold from them.The script for this film was bad...or at least very, very poor. So no matter how much the actors try, the basic plot idea is dull and not particularly believable. But to make matters worse, an aging Clark Gable who looks every bit a man in his mid-50s (or older) is cast as a stud who uses his seductive wiles on four unsuspecting and horny women. In other words, because he is Gable, the women are to chase after him as if he's Gable circa 1939 and it just isn't convincing. My advice is just see one of his other films--most of which are significantly better than this drivel that is only watchable due to Gable--despite the miscasting. A complete misfire--second only to PARNELL as Gable's worst film since becoming a star.

The King and Four Queens marked the fourth time Raoul Walsh tried his hand in directing a motion picture in Cinemascope, the first three of them being Battle Cry, The Tall Man and The Revolt of Mamie Stover the second of them being also the first film out of three in totality that Walsh made with legendary Clark Gable. In The King and Four Queens Gable plays a handsome middle-aged adventurer Don Kehoe, known in the West for his skills in using a gun who comes to a rancho called Wagon Mound with its entire population consisting of five women, four of them being beautiful widows of the McDade gang brothers recently killed while attempting to rob a bank. They are led by a tough middle-aged Ma McDade (Jo Van Fleet) who is quite feared and respected not only by the four young widows under her command but also by a population of all villages and towns a few hundreds miles around the ranch. Promptly upon our hero's arrival, the rivalry among the four sisters as about conquering of Don Kehoe's heart ensues, resulting in many insignificant troubles manly for the old mother-chief. The purpose of Don Kehoe's joining of such a pleasant company nonetheless is a large sum of money that, as a word goes around, is hidden at the ranch and which hiding place he ought to find by any means. Overall the average Western as it is, The King and Four Queens provides much less viewing pleasure then one may expect from an average one, but nonetheless it has its interesting moments and is a worth watching experience for a genre fan. 6/10

Stranger Gable hears of a treasure of gold, hidden somewhere in a ghost town and guarded by an old woman and four widows. "Man's man" Gable throws all of his charms in the battle to find out where to find the treasure. As you see, the storyline is very very thin here. Most of the film is about Gable trying to charm the women, using every single trick in the book. There are a few minor surprises near the end, but this is really nothing special. Nice to catch on a rainy afternoon. 6/10