An enjoyable Saturday afternoon matinee Western, RAILS TO LARAMIE (1954) was Robert Nott’s choice for this Western Night session.
When Jefferson Harder (John Payne) arrives in the hell on wheels town of Laramie with orders to get the railroad crew back to work building the line, he’s greeted by the outraged town fathers who expected the troop of soldiers they requested. More anger follows when Harder shakes hands with his old friend Jim Shanessy (Dan Duryea), the shady owner of the saloon and hotel where the work crew spends their time and money.
Payne convincingly plays a tough guy hero. But it’s Duryea’s villain that stands out. He’s corrupt without being oily. The film also features Mari Blanchard as Duryea’s possibly scheming business partner, James Griffith playing an in-over-his-head deputy, and Lee Van Cleef as a nasty-tempered gunslinger.
Various plot holes in the script by D.D. Beauchamp and Joseph Hoffman are not enough to ruin the film but still leave you scratching your head. There are some historical surprises as well, like an all-female jury. (Wyoming Territory did give women the right to vote and serve on juries in 1869, but the first all-female jury wasn’t seated until 1951.) Also, much of the action plays well, particularly the climax, featuring gunplay, fistfights and trains on a collision course.
Shot on location near Lone Pine and on the Universal Studios backlot, RAILS TO LARAMIE has a running time of 81 minutes.
Along with Robert, award-winning journalist and author of several books on Western films, including his most recent RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY that examines the production, themes and legacy of the film that launched Sam Peckinpah’s career, our group includes Johnny D. Boggs, record ten-time Spur Award-winning author and Owen Wister Award winner whose work includes his latest BLOODY NEWTON; Kirk Ellis, Emmy winning screenwriter and producer, as well as author of THEY KILL PEOPLE about the making of BONNIE AND CLYDE; his wife Sheila Ellis; and David Morrell, award-winning author and New York Times best-selling author of FIRST BLOOD that introduced the character Rambo.
