Masterson of Kansas * (1954, George Montgomery, Nancy Gates, James Griffith, Jean Willes, William Henry, David Bruce, Bruce Cowling) – Classic Movie Review 7029

Given the wealth of material available in the legends surrounding these real-life characters, director William Castle’s 1954 movie is an unnecessarily dull Western about the trio of famous gunslingers Bat Masterson (George Montgomery), Doc Holliday (James Griffith) and Wyatt Earp (Bruce Cowling) battling to stop the bad guys led by crooked land baron Clay Bennett (David Bruce) and Charlie Fry (William Henry). Their plan is to do this by protecting a land exchange treaty between honest rancher Merrick (John Maxwell) and peace-seeking Indian chief Yellow Hawk (Jay Silverheels), and thus prevent a threatened Indian war.

Treaty negotiator Amos Merrick (John Maxwell) has been framed for murder by the crooked cattlemen, but Holliday is persuaded to help by the film’s heroine, Merrick’s daughter Amy (Nancy Gates), despite his long-standing feud with Masterson.

Douglas Heyes’s story and screenplay are flat, fanciful, predictable and thin, and the performances are totally unremarkable, helping to drive the movie right down into the ground, but there is a slight lift from Henry Freulich’s superb Technicolor cinematography.

Also in the cast are Jean Willes as Dallas Corey (aka Mrs Bennett), Benny Rubin as the coroner, Gregg Barton as henchman Sutton, Donald Murphy as Virgil Earp, Gregg Martell as Mitch Connors, and Sandy Sanders as henchman Tyler.

Masterson of Kansas is directed by William Castle, runs 72 minutes, is a Columbia release, is written by Douglas Heyes, is shot in Technicolor by Henry Freulich, scored by Mischa Bakaleinikoff (conductor and composer of stock music), is produced by Sam Katzman, with Art Direction by Paul Palmentola and stunts by Jack Hendricks.

Jay Silverheels is fondly remembered as Tonto in TV’s The Lone Ranger (1949–1957).

Trail Street (1947) tells another version of the Bat Masterson story.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7029

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