Cast a Long Shadow ** (1959, Audie Murphy, Terry Moore, John Dehner) – Classic Movie Review 9,080

The sturdy 1959 Western film Cast a Long Shadow stars Audie Murphy as boozing, gambling Matt Brown, who drifts back to his one-time ranch and fuels the fights of yesteryear.

Director Thomas Carr’s 1959 black and white Western film Cast a Long Shadow stars Audie Murphy as boozing, gambling Matt Brown, who drifts back to his one-time ranch and fuels the fights of yesteryear when he meets up with Chip Donahue (John Dehner), the foreman of the ranch of an old cattle baron, Jake Keenan, who has died.

The cattle baron believed that Matt was his illegitimate son, and Matt inherits his estate of his 87,000-acre ranch and his fortune. Matt rekindles his relationship with his former girlfriend Janet Calvert (Terry Moore) but loses his gal and makes new enemies.

Matt discovers the ranch is deep in debt and about to be foreclosed on, so he tries to drive the ranch’s cattle to Santa Fe in just three days to sell them for the money to pay off the debt. But Sam Mullen (James Best) and his friends are determined to sabotage Matt’s plans and get the ranch.

Cast a Long Shadow is a sturdy psychological Western, with enough story, gunplay and intelligence packed into the taut screenplay by Martin H Goldsmith and John McGreevey, based on the 1957 novel by Wayne D Overholser, to satisfy Murphy’s fans.

Also in the cast are James Best, Denver Pyle, Rita Lynn, Ann Doran, Stacy S Harris, Robert Foulk, Wright King and Mason Alan Dinehart.

Cast a Long Shadow is directed by Thomas Carr, runs 82 minutes, is made by The Mirisch Company and Mirisch-Murphy Company, is released by United Artists, is written by Martin M Goldsmith (screen story and screenplay) and John McGreevey (screenplay), based on the novel by Wayne D Overholser, is shot in black and white by Wilfred M Cline, is produced by Walter Mirisch, is scored by Gerald Fried, and is designed by Dave Milton.

It was shot at Corriganville, Ray Corrigan Ranch, Simi Valley, California, and Janss Conejo Ranch, Thousand Oaks, California; and in the studio at Monogram/ Allied Artists Studios, 1725 Fleming Street, Los Angeles, and 20th Century Fox Studios, 10201 Pico Blvd, Century City, Los Angeles.

It is the director’s final film. Born to actors William Carr and Mary Carr, he started out as an actor, but in 1945 turned to directing, making numerous B movies for Hollywood’s poverty row studios. Most of his films were Westerns but in 1948 he co-directed the Kirk Alyn Superman serial. He worked on TV and retired from directing in 1968 and died in Ventura, California. on 23 April 1997.

It is one of the first films the Mirisch Brothers – Walter, Marvin and Harold – made after leaving Allied Artists. Walter Mirisch (November 8, 1921 – February 24, 2023) later formed the independent film production company The Mirisch Corporation in 1957 with his brother Marvin and half-brother Harold. Walter won the Academy Award for Best Picture as producer of In the Heat of the Night (1967).

Ron Howard said of Mirisch: ‘When I acted in one of his productions, The Spikes Gang, I learned that a prolific and brilliant producer could also be a terrific guy and a wonderful teacher.’

The cast are Audie Murphy as Matt Brown, Terry Moore as Janet Calvert, John Dehner as Chip Donahue, James Best as Sam Mullen, Rita Lynn as Hortensia, Denver Pyle as Harrison, Ann Doran as Ma Calvert, Stacy Harris as Brown, Robert Foulk as Hugh Rigdon, Wright King as Noah Pringle, and Mason Alan Dinehart as Dick Calvert.

Murphy died in a plane crash in Virginia in 1971, aged 45.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9,080

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