Colt .45 (1950)

Simply A Masterpiece

Load of rubbish!!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

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.

A great cast adds life to this violent western about civil war hero searching for the two guns stolen from him that frame him for a series of brutal robberies and murders. Scott (Randolph) must find the villainous Scott (Zachary) and stop his reign of terror. "Pour yourself some backbone and shut up", Scott (Zachary) tells one of his men, turning coward as he attempts to warn the nasty boss of Scott's pending arrival. He has no qualms about killing his own men or brutally beating up the crooked sheriff (Alan Hale Sr.) in order to keep his reign of terror going.The beautiful Ruth Roman is excellent as the wife of allegedly forced in gang member Lloyd Bridges who is obviously lying to her. She's pretty crafty, escaping from a locked shed in a very creative way and willing to risk her life to expose evil Scott and clear heroic Scott. Colorful but predictable, this is merely just moderate entertainment filled with all the familiar western trappings, even adding a local Native American tribe into the plot for good measure.

This can't be. A routine western starring Randolph Scott? Well, you have to have a measuring stick, and almost all of his other westerns are better than this one. It's juvenile fare, with several continuity errors, a stretch of a story and a mediocre script. But Randolph Scott is in it. He is joined by a pretty good cast of Hollywood veterans in Alan Hale Sr., Ruth Roman and Lloyd Bridges. The villain is played by Zachary Scott, who tries too hard as an irredeemably bad guy with anger issues. He sneers and shouts his lines for emphasis, as this is his first western and he seems uncomfortable in the role. There is lots of gunplay and fistfights, Indians who often come to R. Scott's rescue and a lot of questionable motivation on the part of all involved. If it sounds more interesting than it actually is, you are right. But don't forget - Randolph Scott is in it.

Randolph Scott stands tall and stately with a smile dancing on his lips throughout much of this semi-moving movie, even though it's not a comedy.Dapperly dressed, Scott pitches pistol features and benefits, befriends native Americans, and does his darnedest to make the old West a better place to sell repeating revolvers in this shoot-em-up flick.Some interesting points center around the other actors and characters in this two-and-a-half-star 1950 western extravaganza.Watching Alan Hale (Sr.) as the wayward sheriff is positively intriguing. There are a couple of scenes where his resemblance to his son is so apparent that it seems as though Gilligan's familiar cry of "Skipper" might pierce the dusty air of Bonanza City at any second.In one somewhat intense bad-guy scene, Zachary Scott's pinkish flower-sprouting pajama-esque shirt is accessorized oh so tastefully with a sandy brown neck scarf, and a deliciously dazzling silver belt with a sterling home-on-the-range flair. It doesn't necessarily detract from the scene, but this pastel ensemble worth raving about doesn't necessarily enhance the uber masculine character he portrays in this film. Maybe the wardrobe staff forgot the film was in color, and not in the more commonly used black-and-white format.Meanwhile, Ruth Roman learns the hard way why it's important to avoid marrying a guy who rides roughshod on the wrong side of the law. And speaking of odd couples, who would have guessed that she'd end up cinematically wed to Lloyd Bridges? All in all, this classic tale of the old west warrants one solid uninterrupted viewing as it is at least worth its weight in lead.

In the 1950s, Randolph Scott made a number of westerns at Warner Bros., ranging from the sublime (Andre De Toth's CARSON CITY) to the ridiculous (this one). COLT .45 (1950) has got a number of things wrong with it, including ludicrous plotting, but is at least fast-paced, well-cast and dotted with frequent bursts of violence and gunplay. The screenwriter seems to have bent over backwards to tie a standard lawman-vs.-stage robbers tale to the Colt .45 revolver which is apparently being introduced to the west at the time this film takes place. The plot has to do with an outlaw's theft of a pair of the title six-shooters and the robbery-and-killing spree that results. The owner of the guns, Steve Farrell (Randolph Scott), a salesman for the Colt company, takes off after the villain with a second pair of the six-guns. At various points during the action, Farrell is accused of complicity with Brett (Zachary Scott), the robber he's pursuing.Zachary Scott makes a suitably snarling, mustachioed villain in a performance seemingly fueled by ample infusions of "fire water" consumed between set-ups. Ruth Roman makes a spunky and attractive heroine as the wife of a miner (Lloyd Bridges) who's in cahoots with Zachary. Alan Hale (Sr.) plays a corrupt sheriff also working with Zachary.The most interesting thing about this western is the inclusion of a tribe of Indians who pop up at convenient moments to help hero Farrell. Given the pervasiveness of corrupt whites in Bonanza Creek, the backlot town where the film takes place, the Indians prove to be Farrell's only dependable allies. The chief is played by respected Indian actor Chief Thundercloud, who adds virtually the only note of historical authenticity to the entire film. At one point, one of the Indian women supplies heroine Roman with a very fashionable white buckskin jacket that she sports for the rest of the film.The film is set during the James K. Polk administration immediately after the Mexican War, placing the action sometime in the 1840s. Given that photography was a brand-new (and quite time-consuming) technology back then, it's anachronistically amusing to see posters featuring a black-and-white head shot of Randolph Scott distributed to peace officers in the film.Shot in color, COLT .45 is a relatively low-budget affair with shooting restricted to the Warner Bros. backlot and nearby studio ranches.