Cattle Empire (1958) Reviews

• A well made,thoughtful,low budget western.Mr McCrea splendid.

  ianlouisiana2009-12-14

  Mr Joel McCrea appeared in two of cinema's finest works at opposite ends of his career,"Sullivan's Travels" near the start and "Ride the high country" near the finish over 20 years later.In between,many of his roles were like that of John Cord in "Cattle Empire",a tarnished hero with a past.A trail boss wrongly convicted of allowing his men to wreck a town in a drunken orgy,Cord returns to Hamiltonville after being released from prison and is promptly arrested and dragged through the streets by horses ridden by irate townsfolk,only to be rescued by a former friend who was blinded in the incident that put Cord behind bars. Hired to take 5,000 head of cattle across unforgiving country to save the town from bankruptcy,Cord also agrees to take another herd in opposition to the original one,thus virtually guaranteeing to ruin Hamiltonville and gain his revenge. Directed by Charles M.Warren,also an experienced writer and producer, "Cattle Empire" is a bit of a journeyman's movie but is enlivened by Mr McCrea deciding to play the part of Cord as if he were John Wayne. As if that wasn't enough to peak our interest there are two brothers called George Washington Jeffery and Thomas Jefferson Jeffrey who run the chuckwagon and shave each other's beards,a pretty gal who dumped Cord when he went to prison and married the blinded man,and a villain racked with guilt who knows the truth about what happened in Hamiltonville five years earlier. The villain rides along at night singing "Streets of Laredo" in a shaky tenor as a tribute to an earlier Warren movie of that name that earned him a W.G.A. nomination in 1950. Ambitious neither in reach nor grasp,"Cattle Empire" is nevertheless a good example of the sadly long - defunct genre of the low - budget but thoughtful and well made western.And Mr McCrea is splendid in it.

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• The Formal Drama

  boblipton2006-07-06

  In its time the American B western was possessed of a form as rigid as any dramatic form in existence. There would be half a dozen plots that could be used for a western and the story was usually told in a conservative fashion, using techniques that ran back to when William S. Hart, popularizer of the Good Bad Man in the movies, was one of the leading western stars. The conservatism was a combination of practicality and art: the Bs were the stomping grounds of silent A directors who wished to continue to work.... and the fact that the story took place in the outdoors meant that the outdoors formed a good part of the story. In this one, Joel McCrea is the Good Bad Man -- a great trail boss whose men got out of control and wrecked a town. Now the town is struggling to make a comeback, and has hired McCrea to lead the drive -- and much of the town has come along on the drive The movie is beautifully shot and the plot has a revenge drama quality that makes it peculiarly interesting. Unhappily, most of the acting talent, once you get past McCrea, is less than first rate. Still, it does have its not inconsiderable charm and its easy assumption of what may seem like bizarre attitudes may give you the start of an understanding of the genre.

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• Middling McCrea vehicle

  rick_72007-08-30

  This B-Western starts off brilliantly – despite unconvincing use of stock stuntwork – with 'murderer' Joel McCrea dragged through the streets by irate townspeople, then finally hauled, half-dead, onto the wagon of a man he once blinded. The script drops a few tantalising clues to the past, as McCrea encounters his old girl, his protégé and a mysterious local rancher... Then we're out on the trail and the low budget takes its toll, with a disappointing reliance on old footage. How many cows did the filmmakers actually have at their disposal? One? McCrea excelled in Westerns – I could watch them all day – but the plotting here is slack and the revelations far too contrived, leaving holes one could drive a herd through. Does McCrea intend to lead his old adversaries (and their cattle) to their doom? Will he steal the blind man's gal? And what really happened five years ago? You'll want to know, and then when you find out, you'll think: 'Is that it?' A strong action climax calls to mind 'Comanche Station', which is a far better film. Still, 'Cattle Empire' – for all its dead-ends and cattle shortages – remains a fascinating, idiosyncratic watch. (2.5 out of 4)

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• Cattle Empire and the Great Joel Mcrae

  Hollycon12006-07-15

  Cattle Empire has a strong story line and I won't give it away, but give this film a chance. If you like Westerns this is a film you must see! It is probably considered a "B" movie, but so many Western movies are(supposedly). If you look at this film through the eyes of a person in 2006, it may seem like you could have written the script yourself, but it's not that simple. There are subplots galore and Joel Mcrae is involved in them all, to some extent. There are women on this ride and that alone brings problems for the men on the cattle drive. Enjoy this film for the era it was made in and don't judge too harshly. This is an excellent Saturday afternoon rainy day film.If you like your Westerns any time watch it on a Sunny afternoon, you'll enjoy it just the same. We are true Western fans! Enjoy!

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• The Town Of Hamilton Bids You Welcome.

  Spikeopath2010-03-28

  Joel McCrea stars as a trail boss falsely imprisoned for his men's misdemeanours. Released and suffering at the hands of an unforgiving and irate town, he's hired by a blind Don Haggerty to drive his herd - but Haggerty has his own agenda's on this trip. A routine Western that is chiefly saved from the bottom rung by the presence of Joel McCrea. McCrea was a real life cowboy type who owned and worked out of a ranch in California, thus he gives this standard Oater a naturalistic core from which to tell the story. If only they could have given him some decent actors to work with, and, or, a bolder script, then this might have turned out better than it did. Directed by Charles Marquis Warren (more famed for TV work like Gunsmoke and his writing than movie directing), the piece is scripted by Daniel B. Ullman, a prolific "B" western script specialist of the 1950s. This, however, is far from being a good effort from his pen. Shot in CinemaScope with colour by DeLuxe, it thankfully at least proves to be most pleasing on the eye. Brydon Baker proving to be yet another cinematographer seemingly inspired by the Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, locations. Away from the turgid story there's a classical big Western shoot-out to enjoy, while a Mano-Mano shoot out set among the Alabama rocks towards the end is nicely handled. But the good technical aspects are bogged down by the roll call of by the numbers gruff cowboy characters, and worse still is a two-fold romantic strand that is so weak it beggars belief. All of which is acted in keeping with such an unimaginatively put together series of sub-plots masquerading as a revenge thriller. For McCrea this film is worth a watch - as it is for its beauty (the print is excellent), but in spite of the old fashioned appeal, and a couple of action high points, it remains borderline dull. McCrea and the audience deserve far better. 5/10

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