Trooper Hook *** (1957, Joel McCrea, Barbara Stanwyck, Earl Holliman) – Classic Movie Review 9215

Director Charles Marquis Warren’s 1957 star-powered black and white action Western film Trooper Hook stars veteran stalwarts Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea.

McCrea plays Sergeant Clovis Hook, who escorts Cora Sutliff (Stanwyck) and her half-breed son to her new rancher husband Fred (John Dehner). The kid is her son by Apache chief Nanchez (Rodolfo Acosta) who had accosted Stanwyck and insisted on marriage. But Stanwyck has more problems when Dehner doesn’t take to the little boy.

Trooper Hook is afflicted by a few routine, regulation Western clichés of Indian attacks and cavalry rescues, but they are polished up pretty freshly. Stanwyck and McCrea are excellent, and there is a good support cast, as well as some intelligent dialogue and good-looking images to feast on.

Also in the cast are Earl Holliman, Edward Andrews, Susan Kohner, Royal Dano, Sheb Wooley, Celia Lowsky, Stanley Adams and Dick Shannon.

The screenplay is by Charles Marquis Warren, Martin Berkeley, David Victor and Herbert Little Jr, based on a story by Jack Schaefer.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9215

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