Audiences can do worse for pure entertainment than The Outriders, an uneven 1950 Western starring one of America’s greatest actors. As a Confederate prisoner of war in the last weeks of the Civil War, Joel McCrea stands out. Action movie star, leading actor and cinematic hero McCrea rarely gets the attention he deserves. His performance in this otherwise middling Western is a fine example.
McCrea’s native Texan, teamed with James Whitmore and Barry Sullivan as a trio of Confederate POWs who escape, witnesses an early act of brutality that sets the tone for this tale of three men on a wagon train. Too many subplots clog the conflict which should’ve focused on rivalry between the Sullivan and McCrea characters. Various twists build tension. Both men eye Arlene Dahl as a voluptuous widow with her wide-eyed nephew. There’s also an ailing priest and what may be a secret stash of gold and a scheme to steal it. Southwestern mesas, thunderstorms and harsh landscapes figure like stunning postca…
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