The Sundowners [Thunder in the Dust] ** (1950, Robert Preston, Robert Sterling, Chill Wills, Cathy Downs, John Litel, Jack Elam) – Classic Movie Review 13,153

The stalwart 1950 Technicolor Western film The Sundowners [Thunder in the Dust] stars Robert Preston and Robert Sterling as rancher brothers battling one another.

‘He was a target for every man’s bullet… and every woman’s kiss!’

Director George Templeton’s 1950 American Technicolor Western film The Sundowners [Thunder in the Dust] stars Robert Preston, Robert Sterling, Chill Wills, Cathy Downs, John Litel, and Jack Elam, as well as introducing John Barrymore Jr.

Rancher brothers Robert Preston and Robert Sterling battle one another in this stalwart, well-acted and boisterously handled Western, based on screen-writer/ producer Alan Le May’s 1934 magazine story serialised by Collier’s as Thunder in the Dust. Cattle rustling in the Texas Panhandle leads to a range war over grazing rights, and a gun fighter adds to the conflict.

It may be minor and cosily familiar, but it is very niftily done, and shot in lovely Technicolor by the masterly cinematographer Winton C Hoch.

It is the first film of John Drew Barrymore (in a small role playing Preston and Sterling’s youngest brother Jeff), aged 17. He needed his mother’s written permission to act in it as he was a minor, and his fee was $7,500.

It was renamed Thunder in the Dust in the UK.

The cast are Robert Preston as James Cloud (‘Kid Wichita’), Robert Sterling as Tom Cloud, John Drew Barrymore as Jeff Cloud, Chill Wills as Sam Beers, Cathy Downs as Kathleen Boyce, John Litel as John Gall, Jack Elam as Earl Boyce, Don Haggerty as Elmer Gall, Stanley Price as Steve Fletcher, Clem Fuller as Turkey, Frank Cordell as Jim Strake, Dave Kashner as Gill Batson. Alan Le May appears uncredited as The Parson.

The Sundowners [Thunder in the Dust] is directed by George Templeton, runs 84 minutes, is made by Le May-Templeton Pictures, is released by Eagle-Lion Films, is written by Alan Le May, is shot by Winton C Hoch, is produced by Alan Le May and George Templeton, is scored by Rudy Schrager and Irving Talbot, and is designed by John B Goodman.

Release date: 2 February 1950 (US).

John Drew Barrymore Jr.

John Drew Barrymore (born John Blyth Barrymore Jr.; June 4, 1932 – November 29, 2004)

John Drew Barrymore made a follow-up with the star role in High Lonesome (1950), another Western from the same company, this time directed as well as written by Alan Le May.

Le May then also wrote and produced (but did not direct) Quebec (1951), also starring Barrymore.

After Quebec (1951), Barrymore starred in Joseph Losey’s The Big Night (1951) and in Thunderbirds (1952) with John Derek. His films were not particularly successful and he moved into TV.

He died in 2004.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,153

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

John Drew Barrymore Jr..