Relentless ** (1948, Robert Young, Marguerite Chapman, Willard Parker, Akim Tamiroff, Barton MacLane) – Classic Movie Review 12,988

George Sherman’s great-looking 1948 Technicolor Western film Relentless stars Robert Young, Marguerite Chapman, Willard Parker, Akim Tamiroff, and Barton MacLane.

‘Violence… love… and sudden death!’ It’s a Western, so what else is new? Nothing much, it turns out.

Director George Sherman’s great-looking 1948 Technicolor Western film Relentless stars Robert Young, Marguerite Chapman, Willard Parker, Akim Tamiroff, and Barton MacLane, along with Will Wright, Mike Mazurki, Robert Barrat, Clem Bevans, and Frank Fenton.

Robert Young plays Nick Buckley, an innocent man who tries to save himself from the gallows by tracking down the real killer, Tex Brandow (Barton MacLane) with the help of his girlfriend Luella Purdy (Marguerite Chapman).

This formula Western is jam packed with clichés and stereotypes. Robert Young and Marguerite Chapman are oddly cast, and not really at home in a Western. Though the acting and direction are uninspired and unimaginative, the splendid cinematography in Technicolor by Edward Cronjager and the exciting exterior shooting in Arizona lift it above the otherwise relentlessly ordinary, and give it a certain real distinction. And there are also enough in the way of busy story developments and lusty action to maintain interest.

Also in the cast are Hank Patterson, Paul E Burns, Emmett Lynn, Byron Foulger, and Nacho Galindo.

The screenplay by Winston Miller is based on the story Three Were Thoroughbreds by Kenneth Perkins, first published in the June 1938 issue of Blue Book and then as a hardback novel in 1939.

Relentless is directed by George Sherman, runs 93 minutes, is made by Cavalier Productions, is released by Columbia Pictures, is written by Winston Miller, based on the story Three Were Thoroughbreds by Kenneth Perkins, is shot in Technicolor by Edward Cronjager, is produced  by Eugene B Rodney, and is scored by Martin Skiles.

Winston Miller began in silent films, went to Princeton and in 1937 started working as a screenwriter for Republic Pictures. He assisted David O Selznick in rewriting the Gone with the Wind screenplay. He joined Universal TV in 1960, and was a producer for the William Conrad show Cannon from 1971 to 1975.

Release date: February 20, 1948 (US) and November 1, 1948 (UK).

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,988

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