Six Black Horses (1962)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Six Black Horses is a film I don't want to over analyze, because I just enjoy it for what it is, an entertaining western. The film begins with Duryea saving Murphy from a lynching after being accused of being a horse thief. Next they arrive to a town where Joan O'Brien, an alluring blonde pays the two, to escort her across some dangerous territory to be with her husband. Into the journey Murphy begins to have suspicions about the woman, but Duryea wants the money. But it seems Murphy's suspicions were right, O'Brien is setting Duryea up to kill him because he killed her husband in a shootout. Audie Murphy and Dan Duryea worked great together in this story, Duryea doing what Duryea does best, playing the perfect sleazy, greedy character, with Murphy the conscientious one. The journey isn't a smooth one, as they encounter hostile Indians, and Murphy begins to fall in love with O'Brien. Finally at the end a showdown takes place between Murphy and Duryea. Murphy rides off with the girl and Duryea gets his wish as his coffin is carried away in a fine coach being drawn by six black horses with fancy plumes. Burt Kennedy's screenplay is well directed by Harry Keller, and this 80 minute film is perfectly paced and also nicely filmed on enhancing locations. I also thought the stray dog who takes a loyal liking to Murphy's character and joins him throughout the story, added an interesting touch. I enjoyed this Western and encourage the reader to watch and decide for themselves.

For two-thirds of this film I thought it was pretty good, but I ended up feeling that it had disappointed.It did seem improbable that a very attractive woman would risk a very dangerous journey with two wanderers she didn't know, but that's Hollywood for you. It seemed a very foolhardy way of seeking revenge, and, like another reviewer, I couldn't work out what she was trying to achieve by building up the fire so that it smoked. And from her knowing smirk it was she who had loosened a horse's shoe to delay the journey. And she chose a darned funny time to try to get her revenge, during the fight in the old mission, when the trio was already out-numbered.A nod of approval to the script-writer for putting into context the $1,000 that Kelly was offering to Ben and to Frank - three or four years' pay. But a big frown for the improbable long-distance effectiveness of Ben's revolver. (I wonder what Audie Murphy, with his WWII experience of fire-arms, thought of that.) I'm not sure what was achieved by including the dog, except to show that Ben was kind to ill-treated animals. During the chases, it looked fixed improbably securely to the pack-horse saddle.And the ending was an anti-climax.

Six Black Horses is directed by Harry Keller and written by Burt Kennedy. It stars Audie Murphy, Dan Duryea and Joan O'Brien. Photography is by Maury Gertsman and the music scored by Joseph Gershenson. It's filmed in Eastmancolor and location for the shoot is St. George, Utah, USA. Plot sees Murphy and Duryea hired by O'Brien to take her across dangerous Indian country to her husband. But are ulterior motives at work?There's no getting away from it, this film has striking similarities to the far superior Budd Boetticher/Randy Scott movie, Ride Lonesome. Also scripted by Burt Kennedy, the plot follows the same format and Kennedy even scripts some of the same dialogue. While the keen Western fan will note the name of Murphy's character, Ben Lane, was also used for a character in Boetticher's Comanche Station. So far so regurgitated then, but although it goes without saying that to watch this piece in conjunction with Ride Lonseome is a futile exercise, this does have enough about it to warrant a viewing on its own terms one Sunday afternoon.It's a professional and well put together movie, Murphy and Duryea (owning the film from the second he turns up on his horse, shotgun in hands) aren't asked to extend themselves but make an engaging duo (see also their pairing in James Stewart starrer Night Passage 1957). While O'Brien (The Comancheros) is gorgeous and does a nice line in sultry devious. Editor turned director Keller does a competent job, his action construction solid if somewhat hamstrung by the odd daft moment involving the Coyoteros Indians. Stunt work is very good and Gershenson's (No Name on the Bullet/Lonely Are the Brave) score is brisk and tonally correct. Bonus here is the location scenery, beautifully realised by Gertsman's (Cattle Drive 1951) photography, the St. George craggy hills form an imposing backdrop as the protagonist's journey grows more perilous and their emotional states come under scrutiny.Enjoyable with genuine moments of quality, even if it's ultimately the second cousin to a far better movie. 6.5/10

"Six Black Horses" is a mild and mediocre western with only one real point of interest. Burt Kennedy's screenplay plagiarises his own screenplay for "Ride Lonesome"! Not only does Kennedy re-use some of the plot points - the redskins offering to trade a horse for the lushly feminine white woman/the sudden race across flat lands to a refuge just over the ridge - but also recycles some of his dialogue: "Some things a man just can't ride around" /"just thinking about it gives me a shiver deep down inside"/"a man needs a reason to ride this country". Like "Ride Lonesome" and several other westerns written by Kennedy, "Six Black Horses" is a journey movie. A woman (Joan O'Brien) offers two saddle-sore drifters who are adept with guns (Audie Murphy and Dan Duryea) a thousand dollars each to escort her across Indian territory. Predictably, they encounter various dangers and, sadly, everything is resolved predictably.There is nothing special about "Six Black Horses". Most of the situations and relationships are tired clichés, and none is depicted with any originality or imagination. Audie Murphy and Dan Duryea were old hands at this sort of thing in 1962, and they do not put a foot wrong. Joan O'Brien is more interesting, partly because she was an extremely attractive woman, even by movie star standards, and partly because her role carries some mystery. It is regrettable that her movie career did not prosper for longer.If the gun fights had been expertly choreographed by a directer who knew how to do it (like John Sturges or Don Siegel), "Six Black Horses" would not be so forgettable.