Tension at Table Rock *** (1956, Richard Egan, Dorothy Malone, Cameron Mitchell, Angie Dickinson) – Classic Movie Review 11,632

Director Charles Marquis Warren’s 1956 RKO Radio Pictures Western film Tension at Table Rock stars Richard Egan, Dorothy Malone, Cameron Mitchell and Angie Dickinson, and is based on Frank Gruber’s novel Bitter Sage, with a screenplay by Winston Miller.

Egan stars as outlaw Wes Tancred, who has killed his gunslinger buddy Sam Murdock (Paul Richards), and arrives at Table Rock and saves yellow-bellied lawman Sheriff Fred Miller (Cameron Mitchell) and his town from a gang of ruffians, while falling for the sheriff’s lovely sexpot wife Lorna (Dorothy Malone).

High Noon and Shane are successfully raided for ideas in this brooding, better-than-average Western, made in glorious Technicolor, with a master cameraman at work in Joseph F Biroc, and a strong score by Dimitri Tiomkin.

A fine cast of character actors helps bring out the tension, with Edward Andrews scoring strongly as the baddie, Kirk.

Angie Dickinson is once again typecast in Westerns as she started her early career. Still, it got her to her breakthrough in Rio Bravo.

Richard Egan as Wes Tancred.

The cast are Richard Egan as Wes Tancred, Dorothy Malone as Lorna Miller, Cameron Mitchell as Fred Miller, Billy Chapin as Jody Burrows, Royal Dano as Harry Jameson, Edward Andrews as Kirk, John Dehner as Hampton, DeForest Kelley as Jim Breck, Joe De Santis as Ed Burrows, Angie Dickinson as Cathy, Lauren Chapin as Singer, Charles H Gray as Zecca, Joyce Jameson as Singer, Suzanne Ridgeway as Saloon Girl, Jeanne Bates as Mrs Brice, James Anderson, Joel Ashley, William Fawcett, Harry Lauter, and Dabbs Greer.

Richard Egan starred in another Western in 1956: Love Me Tender. Egan was top billed but it was Elvis Presley’s film debut and he was the main attraction.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,632

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