Cattle Empire *** (1958, Joel McCrea, Gloria Talbott, Don Haggerty, Phyllis Coates) – Classic Movie Review 8400

Joel McCrea stars in the 1958 Western movie Cattle Empire as an ex-con called John Cord, who enlists as a cattle-drive trail boss to avenge himself on the cattlemen who had got him into prison.

The old tale is efficiently written in the screenplay by Endre Bohem and Eric Norden, and professionally handled by director Charles Marquis Warren, and a well-cast McCrea knows exactly what to do in a sturdy performance that livens up a slackly paced, predictable yarn, based on a story by Daniel B Ullman. Despite the short running time of 82 minutes, there are still some sluggish stretches and some longueurs in the script.

Also in the cast are Gloria Talbott, Don Haggerty, Phyllis Coates, Paul Brinegar, Bing Russell, Hal K Dawson, Duanne Grey, Richard Shannon, Charles H Gray, William McGraw, Jack Lomas and Patrick O’Moore.

Cattle Empire is made by Emirau Productions, is released by 20th Century Fox, and is shot in Color by Deluxe by Brydon Baker.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8400

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