Stampede ** (1949, Rod Cameron, Gale Storm, Johnny Mack Brown, Don Castle) – Classic Movie Review 12,969

‘LAST OF AN UNTAMED BREED!’ Writer/ producers Blake Edwards and John C Champion, director Lesley Selander and star Rod Cameron quickly re-team for the capable 1949 Western film Stampede.

‘LAST OF AN UNTAMED BREED! Ruthless cattle baron… fighting to hold a range stronghold against the march of empire!’

Writer/ producers Blake Edwards and John C Champion, director Lesley Selander and star Rod Cameron made the 1948 Western film Panhandle together and quickly re-teamed for the similar 1949 B-movie Western film Stampede.

Director Lesley Selander’s capably handled, nicely shot, decently written 1949 American Western film stars Rod Cameron, Gale Storm, Johnny Mack Brown and Don Castle. The star acting is OK and regulation, if less than exciting, though some of the seemingly more involved character acting makes up for it. The set-up, plotting, dialogue and character writing are all good, all very eager and professional, working on a low budget.

In 1887 Arizona, as settlers battle cattleman, two rancher brothers, Mike McCall (Rod Cameron) and Tim McCall (Don Castle), fall in love with the same settler woman, Connie Dawson (Gale Storm), while crooked businessmen Stanley Cox (John Eldredge) and LeRoy Stanton (Donald Curtis) try to swindle everybody.

The screenplay by John C Champion and Blake Edwards is based on the 1934 novel Stampede by Edward Beverly Mann.

Ironically Cameron had replaced cowboy star Johnny Mack Brown as Universal’s Western series star when Brown left Universal Pictures for Monogram Pictures. Then Universal downsized its roster of contract players when it reorganized as Universal-International in 1947, firing Cameron, who was hired by Monogram.

The cast are Rod Cameron as Mike McCall, Gale Storm as Connie Dawson, Johnny Mack Brown as Sheriff Aaron Ball, Don Castle as Tim McCall, Donald Curtis as LeRoy Stanton, John Miljan as T J Furman, Jonathan Hale as Varick, John Eldredge as Stanley Cox, Adrian Wood as Whiskey, Wes Christiansen as Slim, James Harrison as Roper, Duke York as Maxie, Steve Clark as John Dawson, I. Stanford Jolley as Link Spain, Marshall Reed as Henchman Shives, and Philo McCullough as Charlie.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,969

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