The Silver Whip ** (1953, Dale Robertson, Rory Calhoun, Robert Wagner) – Classic Movie Review 10,815

‘All its stinging slashing fury explodes like the crack of 1000 six guns… A GREAT SAGA OF THE SILVER WEST MAKES ITS MIGHTY MARK ON THE SCREEN!’

Robert Wagner co-stars as cocky young drifter Jess Harker in director Harmon Jones’s minor but impactful Western, The Silver Whip (1953), along with Dale Robertson and Rory Calhoun, and all three men give solid performances.

Robertson plays the tough but sympathetic stagecoach armed guard Race Crim, who persuades the coach line’s boss, Luke Bowen (James Millican), to give Jess the stage driver job. Race is handy with a gun and his friend, Sheriff Tom Davisson (Rory Calhoun), is worried about Race’s lack of respect for the law.

The screenplay is by Jesse L Lasky Jr, based on the novel First Blood (originally called Solistice) by Jack Schaefer, his second Western novel following Shane.

Twentieth Century Fox make it cheaply and quickly but efficiently in black and white for $560,000, with a short running time of 73 minutes.

Also in the cast are Kathleen Crowley as Kathy Riley, James Millican as Luke Bowen, Lola Albright as Waco, J M Kerrigan as Riley, John Kellogg as Slater and Ian MacDonald as Hank.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,815

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