Town Tamer (1965)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

This is Selander's first film for Producer Lyles and his best Western for years. Like all of Lyles' Westerns, the main fault is the pedestrian screenplay which features Andrews as the hired killer seeking revenge for the death of his wife at the hands of Bettger and Cabot. He finds them ensconced as sheriff and saloon owner respectively, from which positions they're bleeding the town dry. Thus Andrews can liberate the town as well as secure his revenge in a corpse-strewn finale. Jaeckel has a marvellous part as Bettger's sadistic deputy.Phil Hardy

For a western film, it's a pretty fun watch. Two of my favorite actors are in this one which makes it all that much better: Lon Chaney and Deforest Kelley.Tom Rosser is hired to help clean and straighten up a town where some of the folks in the area want to keep the town as wild as possible - and running it the way they want it ran, not the way mayor and law want it to be. It's up to Rosser take the men out get the town back to good.The movie does take a few turns which keeps the story on the interesting side. All the actors give fine performances - so it's worthwhile watching if you like a good old fashioned gun-slinging western film.7.5/10

Having just seen this movie for the first time, I am surprised by the amount of skepticism thrown at it by other reviewers. I found the movie to be quite captivating, not only by virtue of the constant intensity, but also the deep relational intrigue between the characters. The hatred between Dana Andrews and Bruce Cabot is scathing. DeForrest Kelly is excellent as the cowardly, wife-beating "tin-horn" without an ounce of decency. Dana Andrews is gives an appropriately sullen performance, in light of his wife's death the first scene. Silent Star Richard Arlen gives a solid performance as the honorable town doctor. The most compelling performance in the movie without doubt was Lyle Bettger's. The viewer is never quite sure where his tormented character's allegiance lies. Colleen Gray's appearance here is similar to her minor but famous appearance as John Wayne's love interest in Red River. Bruce Cabot is excellent as the perpetually conniving and cold-blooded arch villain. The tension between the two town factions is perpetual, with Andrews character always caught in the crossfire. Solid Western feature with a fantastic cast.

An average and low-budgeted motion picture by prolific Lesley Selander , filled with presences of old Western-movie . Kansas 1879 , the life of sheriff Tom Rosser (Dana Andrews) , takes a turn when a bullet meant for him , from the gun of an outlaw called Lee Ring (Lyle Bettger) , kill's Rosser's spouse, Carol (Coleen Gray) , instead. Ring, had been sent by nasty Riley Condor (Bruce Cabot) , to kill Marshal Rosser . Two years later , the latter goes to Montana , supposedly to look over lands to but his agenda is to murder Condor and his gunslinging henchmen ; he then will use the law to eliminate him . Once there , he has to straighten out a few bad guys (Richard Jaeckel , Phil Carey , DeForest Kelley) led by Bruce Cabot . Rosser gets involved in shootouts , gun-play and betrayal . There he uncovers a land-grabbing plot led by the pillar of the community and Saloon owner . As Rosser is in town and Condor realizes that his hoodlums are no match for him , and he sets in motion a scheme to finish his power .This ordinary and sometimes laughable western is plenty of thrills , go riding , shootouts and suspense as the dreaded final showdown approaches and the protagonist realizes he must stand alone against impossible odds , as his fellow town people for help , nobody is willing to help him ; meanwhile he attempts to clear a dark issue . This routine Western has the customary story of a sheriff-for-hire who takes the law on his own hands and based on a story and screenplay by expert Frank Gruber. It begins as a slow-moving Western but follows to surprise us with dark characters and passable plot . This short runtime tale is almost ordinary , a pacifier comes to a town just in time to make sure its citizenry but later the events get worse . Although made in low budget by the producer A.C. Lyles , it has its good moments here and there . Acceptable acting by Dana Andrews as a town-taming gunman-for-hire who takes a dangerous job . Notable for the presence of old Western-movie veteran such as Pat O'Brien ,Lon Chaney Jr. , Bruce Cabot , Lyle Bettger , Richard Arlen , Richard Jaeckel , Philip Carey , Sonny Tufts , Coleen Gray , DeForest Kelley ,Don 'Red' Barry , Barton MacLane , Bob Steele , and James Brown . Atmospheric and colorful cinematography in Technicolor , though is necessary a remastering.This horse opera was realized in low-budget by producer A.C. Lyles and distributed by Paramount Pictures . Lyles produced a lot of Western in short or average budget such as ¨Black spurs¨(1965) , ¨Apache uprising¨(1966); ¨Johnny Reno¨ , ¨Waco¨ , ¨Red Tomahawk ¨and ¨Hostile guns¨(67) , among others ; many of them directed by R.G. Springsteen or Lesley Selander and starred by old glories such as Dana Andrews , Rory Calhoun , George Montgomery and Howard Keel . This quickie was middlingly directed by Lesley Selander , a craftsman working from the 30s . Selander is generally considered to be the most prolific director of feature Westerns of all time, with at least 107 to his credit between 1935 and 1967 . He realized his first feature in 1936, a horse opera , genre in which he would not only excel but one where he would spent much of the rest of his career . He began in this genre with series starred by Buck Jones and ¨Hopalong Cassidy¨ series starred by William Boyd such as ¨Silver on the sage¨ , ¨Three men from Texas¨ and ¨Wide open town¨. In Republic production he directed his better movies such as ¨Panhandle¨and ¨Stampede¨ starred by Rod Cameron and in RKO he directed Tim Holt in 20 films such as ¨Rio Grande patrol¨ and ¨Overland telegraph¨. He subsequently shot B-movies such as ¨Fort Vengeance¨, ¨Arrow in the desert¨, Shotgun¨, ¨Town tamer¨ and his last picture ¨Texas Kid¨. Although Selander couldn't be deemed an "A"-list director, his movies had a professionalism and a verve that many of those made by his fellow B directors lacked . He also filmed detective thrillers , action/adventure motion pictures and even a horror film or two . Rating : 5,5 . Acceptable and passable , though mediocre ; being of interest for star-watching only .