The Outriders (1950)

"Gun Glory" director Roy Rowland's "The Outriders" is an American Civil War western set during the twilight days of the conflict with actors Joel McCrea, James Whitmore, and Barry Sullivan cast as three Confederates who escape from a Union prison camp and make their way west. Interestingly, Barry Sullivan is the weak link in this threesome because he is the villain. This represented the first time that I had several the typically heroic Sullivan as a heavy. Anyway, the three escape after Sullivan kills a Union guard and they find themselves eventually to the camp of Confederate renegade terrorist Keeley (Jeff Corey of "True Grit") and his minion Bye (Ted de Corsia of "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral"). Keeley wants our three protagonists to rob a wagon trail heading from Santa Fe to St. Louis. Everything appears to be going according to plan, except that Will Owen (Joel McCrea) is losing his allegiance to the cause. He meets and falls in love with Jen Gort (Arlene Dahl of "Land Raiders") and he changes his mind. Meantime, Jesse Wallace (Barry Sullivan) turns more treacherous than ever. Rowland stages several good genre scenes, but the one that stands out prominently is the scene when our heroes must cut wood to get the wagon trail across a rapidly flowing river that has risen far above its normal level. Although not as good as "South of St. Louis," "The Outsiders" is nevertheless a solid western well worth watching.

This film begins in a Union prison camp filled with Confederate prisoners. Three of them (Joel McCrea, Barry Sullivan and James Whitmore) escape and eventually meet up with Confederate raiders. During the war, raiders were Southern soldiers who are a bit more like bandits and specialized in making fast strikes on mostly civilian targets in the North. In this case, the leader picks these three men to head west on an undercover mission. It seems that a wagon train is headed east...and there's gold hidden in some of the wagons. The plan is to use this gold to help finance the war. However, there are a few complications, Will Owen (McCrea) is a decent guy and his conscience bothers him about leading the folks into an ambush. Second, Jesse Wallace (Sullivan) is a bit of a scum-bag and Will needs to keep an eye out for him as well...especially since Jesse is much more concerned about making himself rich instead of helping his cause. Finally, Will likes these folks and has fallen for one of the women (Arlene Dahl). So what's to become of this secret plan?This is a pretty standard film done about a topic that's been covered quite a few times in other films. This isn't so much a complaint as an observation that it's not the most original movie ever made! Still, despite this, McCrea was such a wonderful actor in westerns that I was able to cut the film some slack. It's also very competently made, enjoyable and in full color and worth seeing if you like the genre. My only gripe is late in the film when Will tells everyone he HAD intended to lead them into an ambush...and never really explains why he was planning on doing this. His doing it for his Confederacy is far different than his possibly being a bandit since he'd just learned that the war was over!!!By the way, one of the interesting bits of casting here is Ramon Novarro as Don Antonio. In the 1920s and 30, Novarro was a huge star...handsome and on top of the MGM food chain. But with time and changing tastes, in the 1940s, Novarro made very, very few films and this is one of your rare opportunities to see the middle-aged actor.

McCrea, Sullivan, and Whitmore escape from a Yankee prison camp during the Civil War. In the process, Sullivan manages to stab the young guard multiple times with what seems like a bit too much relish. It is. Sullivan turns out to be a shallow and greedy womanizer, while McCrea is the man of principle as always. James Whitmore is an elderly soldier with kidney stones.The three men are swept up in a gang run by one of Quantrill's lieutenants. In case you don't know, Quantrill was a Confederate irregular responsible for several killings of innocent civilians. After the war, some of Quantrill's raiders continued their criminal activities for their own benefit, including Jesse James.This particular band of raiders is led by Jeff Corey who coerces the escaped prisoners into guiding a wagon train full of Mexicans, refugees, and gold from Santa Fe into an ambush. It's expected that the civilians will be killed and the gold sent to Richmond for the Confederacy. Among the travelers is Arlene Dahl, looking splendid in her echt-Hollywood fashion, and her nephew, Claud Jarmon, Jr., who wants to prove his manhood -- always a bad sign.The Civil War ends before the train reaches the ambush site but it's revealed that Sullivan knows that the gold would never have reached Richmond anyway. The plan was always for Jeff Corey to keep it for himself and the gang. Sullivan leaves the train and joins the gang.The film would be utterly routine and without interest if it weren't for a couple of elements. The location shooting is colorful, for one thing. The story is an early effort by Irving Ravetch, later responsible for gems like "Hud." The dialog has its outstanding lines. When Sullivan informs McCrea that their wartime friendship is now at an end, McCrea's reply is: "The gullies are awash with my tears. The rain is wholesale." I mean -- okay, it's not Shakespeare and it's not Burt Kennedy's folk poetry, but an exchange like that enlivens an otherwise unexciting conversation. The sarcasm is more lyrical than, say, "It don't surprise me none." Also well written is when the company must cross a dangerously raging river. McCrea by this time is perfectly willing to miss the ambush date and suggests camping until the current subsides -- if it ever does. But Sullivan, with his eye on the gold, explains exactly how he managed to transport heavy cannon across such barriers when he was in the artillery. An arousing and really perilous sequence shows how it's done. The climax is more or less predictable.This was released in 1950 and Joel McCrea had already decided to work on nothing but Westerns. He was over forty and most of the efforts were humdrum. This one is a bit better than most. And his final entry, "Ride the High Country", is considerably better.

Joel McCrea was no more the romantic lead of "Colorado's territory" which was made the year before.At the beginning of the movie he is a bearded man and seems much older than the year before ."The outriders" is a routine western,but an entertaining one,with at least two very good scenes:Arlene Dahl's young brother-in-law ,on guard,afraid of everything,and seeing Indians everywhere ,this very short sequence packs a real wallop; and the scene of the river which almost compares favorably with that of Vidor's "northwest passage".Although the plot is much predictable -with gorgeous Dahl,it could not be any other way-,the plot retains suspense and the colors are fine.