Way Out West

Three new examples of Hollywood's staple commodity, the horse opera, all filmed in color, contain the full quota of galloping and gunplay:

The Savage (Paramount) considers the predicament of a white boy adopted by Sioux Indians. In time, the youth grows up to be a handsome brave named Warbonnet (Charlton Heston). When his foster father Chief Yellow Eagle goes to war with the white men, Warbonnet's loyalties are naturally torn. Matters become even more complicated when Warbonnet falls in love with a white girl (Susan Morrow).

At intervals, during the unfolding of this blood-brother plot, there are some red-blooded cavalry charges, Indian attacks, wild-horse chases and assorted ambushes. There is even a scene--a wagon loaded with dynamite being shoved over a cliff--that is almost as old as horse opera.

The Raiders (Universal-International). According to this pseudohistorical western, California might never have become a state had it not been for hard-fighting Prospector Richard Conte. Backed up by a group of angry miners and homesteaders, Conte kills off crooked Land-Grabber Morris Ankrum, who is trying to keep California from statehood. Fortunately, just as Conte is about to be hanged for Ankrum's death, California joins the Union, a general amnesty is declared, and he is free to rejoin beautiful Viveca Lindfors, who plays the daughter of a dispossessed old Mexican family but speaks with a charming Swedish accent. When the scenario doesn't get in the way, the moviegoer can enjoy some handsome California scenery.

Springfield Rifle (Warner) shows how Major Gary Cooper helped outwit Confederate spies during the Civil War and thus insured victory for a decisive Union Army offensive. Cooper is cashiered out of the cavalry, supposedly for cowardice. Actually, he has been assigned as an undercover agent to crack a Southern spy ring that is hijacking horses. With the help of the new, rapid-firing Springfield rifle, Cooper finally triumphs over the horse raiders, and is rewarded with an appointment to head a department of military intelligence in Washington.

Much of the dialogue in Springfield Rifle misfires, but in the rugged performances of Cooper, Paul Kelly and David Brian and some bang-up battle sequences, the picture manages to hit the mark.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.