Los indomables

Barry Sullivan is a Pinkerton agent. He's sent to gather information on the Hole In The Wall Gang. Barbara Stanwyck, who fronts for them and is Scott Brady's lover -- he plays the Sundance Kid -- falls in love with Sullivan. There's also a subplot about Mary Murphy, whose cattle keep getting rustled.

It's hard for me to judge this movie, because I saw it with the visuals wrecked. Released by Republic at a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, I saw it in TV-standard pan-and-scan, wrecking cinematographer Jack Marta's compositions and reducing every shot to an undistinguished series of close-ups and medium close-ups. The story is one of those A Westerns from the 1950s, meant to star a woman or two in trousers, but with the action carried by the men. I'm pretty sure that if you got to see it at its proper aspect ratio, you'd like it a lot. The way I saw it, though, reduces it to mush.

Perhaps the first thing to note about this film is that the Maverick Queen herself, Kit Banion - cattle trader, saloon proprietor, hand in glove with Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, and the richest woman in Rock Springs - doesn't actually appear until ten to fifteen minutes into the action! Even then, we initially assume she must be a minor character; surely the lady of the title song must be Lucy Lee - sweeter, younger and far less hard-faced - the girl the hero has already rescued in the first scenes? (Mary Murphy, just two years into her career, as opposed to Barbara Stanwyck, at this point a full twenty-five years into - and almost at the end of - hers.)

But Kit soon takes charge of the situation; and she can look after herself. There is a scene which cleverly subverts the audience's expectations, in which she is attacked and her lover rides to the rescue - only, before he can arrive, she saves the situation single-handed by deliberately sending her opponent over a cliff. When her would-be saviours arrive, they find her already bruised but triumphant. And in the final gun-battle, it is she who takes an active part when her lover is wounded, forcing him to keep moving, shooting without hesitation to protect him and taking a bullet in his defence.

The outlaw gang in this film are not the usual brutal but dim-witted cannon fodder provided for the hero's benefit, either. As it turns out, they've spotted the plot twist long before the audience (or before me at least!) When the fugitives hole up in a cabin, the pursuers actually take advantage of their superior numbers to surround the cabin and force their way in - and later on, instead of obligingly shooting it out, they simply set fire to the building in order to smoke out their quarry. The hero's ruse to lead them off fools them for a while - but as soon as they see through it, they jump to the right conclusion and head back in time to foil the planned escape.

The casual amorality of the outlaws is also well depicted. Sundance's disappearance after he gets the worse of a struggle with Kit is greeted by Cassidy with no more than "Well, I guess he deserved it", and his subsequent return is accepted with an equal shrug: "Thought you were dead, but I'm glad you ain't." There is no question, for example, of the rest of the outlaws hesitating for a moment to attack when they ride up just because Kit happens to have two of their number held at gunpoint.

My main problem with this film is that none of the principal characters seem to have any real motivation for what they are doing. Jeff at least has a plot rationale for his inconsistent actions - and for why we never see beyond his surface - but neither Kit nor Sundance seem to have sufficient justification for acting clean against their own best interests. In both cases, they are presumably intended to be in the grip of an overwhelming and unreciprocated affection - but Sundance spends the entire film chasing Lucy Lee rather than the woman who has supposedly prompted him to wild jealousy, and the Maverick Queen also displays an unjustified and distinctly surprising concern towards her. After all, not only did we see Kit cold-bloodedly engineering this same girl's bankruptcy for her own profit earlier in the film, but she also has to know by this stage that Lucy is her rival for Jeff's affections!

But whether due to bad acting or a poor script, Kit doesn't really give the impression in any case of having fallen passionately enough for Jeff to make it plausible that she should give up everything for him. Kit Banion is no lovable rogue with a heart of gold; she is depicted as a ruthless and hard-headed businesswoman - albeit with a slightly unusual turn of trade - who is deliberately toying with a young newcomer in order to pay out the lover of whom she has tired. At some point this is presumably supposed to betray her into genuine affection, but for all the kissing in evidence, it somehow fails to convince - particularly when faced with Jeff's lack of response.

Lucy too remains something of a cipher. Her early appearance, when we naturally assume she is the title character, leads us to expect that she is going to have a much larger role than ultimately transpires, but in fact, that initial scene more or less sums up her entire function - to act as a (repeated) plot device so that Sundance's pursuit of her can allow Jeff to get the better of him, and to provide the token 'good woman' required as the hero's love interest. There is no convincing relationship of any kind established between her and Jeff, any more than there is between Jeff and Kit - or Kit and Sundance.

All these characters come across as masks, without little or nothing real going on behind their faces. There is quite an intelligent plot going on in the background, but I simply couldn't find it in me to care very much about what happened to any of them. That lack of engagement on the part of the audience is, I think, the fatal flaw in this film.

I gather it is a Zane Grey adaptation. The virtues of the plot - such as they are - are owed entirely, I would guess, to the source novel. Any essence of the original characters would seem to have got lost in the translation from page to screen. Given its intelligently-drawn villains, morally ambiguous title character and cleverly set-up twist, the material might have made even a great off-beat Western...I'm afraid, however, that this isn't it.

The Maverick Queen (1956)

Well Barbara Stanwyck made a lot of Westerns in the 1950s, and most of them are routine stuff, and in them she has often limited if still central roles. This is a great example. She's in the film much less than her co-stars, and the story is a patched together set of common problems--the cattle rancher faces trouble from the cattle rustlers and a hero has come to town, and a little love is going to cross the frontier.

The key difference in all these movies is that Stanwyck plays a strong, sometimes very very strong, woman. That alone makes them watchable. But don't expect "The Maverick Queen" to hold up critically or even hold your attention fully. The plot even has so many little confusions, on purpose. you have to pay close attention (and show some patience) to keep in on track.

For one example, without giving too much away, the main man, played well by Barry Sullivan, is new in town, and he says he's Jeff Younger, a famous gunslinger. This suite Stanwyck's character perfectly--she runs the tavern but also the general racketeering schemes for the province. But then another man arrives in town and says he's Jeff Younger. Hmmm. Along the same lines, the pretty young girl in town is another strong woman, clearly a good one, and her sidekick is a lazy loaf but a good guy, until you see him start telling people things he shouldn't. And so on. These are really great plot twists but they aren't handled with total clarity or given the impact you might expect so the movie totters a bit.

The director, it might be noted, is Joseph Kane, who pretty much only did Westerns, over a hundred of them, and he probably didn't distinguish one from another very well. He's not even trying to create a masterpiece on the small budget this small studio gave him. (It's a full color Republic Pictures production, and there are corners cut.)

The one other interesting side note is the presence of Sundance as a major character (and Butch Cassidy as a very minor one). Of course, history is thrown to the wind on what happens to Sundance, so never mind that . (Watch the Newman/Redford one for the classic outline.)

And Stanwyck? She's strong, and I mean physically tough, and she busts out with good acting in a few scenes. But she, too, seems to realize she's doing routine stuff.

A final note--I saw this on TCM, and for the first time in twenty years of watching movies there I saw one that was not shown full screen. Yes. A shame. It's a wide wide screen enterprise and it uses an unusual system called Naturama, and it was the first Republic movie to use it. It was really just a compatible anamorphic widescreen system like Panavision, but for some reason it was cropped (given the awful "pan and scan" treatment) for this release. That didn't help with the fluidity of the filming, or the appreciation of the big landscape of Colorado so proudly announced in the opening credits.

Should you see this? Not really. There are better Stanwyck Westerns, and better Westerns. And better movies.

Willful and attractive Kit Banion (Barbara Stanwick) is the Maverick Queen. She is a saloon owner and one of the chiefs of an outlaw gang nicknamed the Wild Bunch . As the story unfolds Kit proves she is tough and smart, and can ride and shoot as well as any man. But a Pinkerton agent , posing as Jeff Younger , nephew of the infamous outlaw Younger brothers , is sent to infiltrate the Wild Bunch and gather evidence against the band . There appears Jeff Younger (Barry Sullivan) who teams up with the gang led by Sundance Kid (Scott Brady) . But Kid is a very jealousy man and when he finds out his girlfriend Kit falls for Jeff he becomes into a nasty and vengeful gunslinger who seeks for vendetta against him . Then the gutsy saloon keeper gets in trouble while squabbling over two men . While the powerful Pinkerton is relentlessly dedicated to catching Butch Cassidy and the members of The Wild Bunch. Hear Joni James sing !. Photographed in the colorful state of Colorado in exquisite Trucolor by Consolidated Film Industries !.

Exciting classic Western with a love triangle , crosses , double-crosses , gun-play and rousing action . Weird and hysterical Western with peculiar touches , dreamlike emotionalism and magnificent dialogue in which is blended domination , jealous , humiliation and a deadly confrontation ; resulting to be a fascinating and melodramatic film . This Western has acquired something of cult following along the lines of the magical and mythic ¨Joan Crawford's Johnny Guitar¨ , perhaps because it comes from the same studios : Republic . It has another Hollywood legend , Barbara Stanwick who gives a stunningly dominating acting in a similar role and Scott Brady as Sundance Kid who bears remarkable resemblace to his character in the Crawford picture . This isn't as excellent as Johnny Guitar , but notable enough , altough it does have some impressive shootouts , and more action than the vintage film . Love and hate are woven into three protagonists : Barbara Stanwick , Barry Sullivan and Scott Brady ; the fabulous trio sharing a mythical confrontation . Exceptional performances by all casting as top-notch Barbara Stanwick as a feisty lady saloonkeeper , Barry Sullivan as the mysterious , stubborn drifter and Scott Brady as saddle-tramp bandit who turns a psychopathic temper caused by jealous while taking up his pistols . Sensational plethora of secondaries , such as : gorgeous Mary Murphy at an important role as Lucy Lee , Wallace Ford , Howard Petrie , Jim Davis, Emile Meyer , Walter Sande , George Keymas , Taylor Holmes and John Doucette.

It contains colorful and brilliant cinematography in Trucolor by director of photography Jack A. Marta . As well as sensitive and atmospheric musical score by the classic composer Victor Young . This vintage as well as traditional movie was produced by Herbert J Yates from Republic Pictures and professionally directed by Joseph , ¨Joe¨ , Kane , containing some vigorous scenes , though virtually the Republic studio's last major production before it lurched towards extinction. Kane was a good craftsman who made around 100 titles from the 30s . This motion picture The Maverick Queen (1956) was well directed , though with no much enthusiasm . Kane directed a great number of films and several episodes of notorious TV episodes . Kane started directing career started with co-directing serials for Mascot and Republic, and he soon became Republic's top western director . He handled many of John Wayne's Republic westerns of the 1940s , and piloted numerous Roy Rogers and Gene Autry films . Unlike most Republic house directors, Kane was credited as associate producer on many of his films. He stayed at Republic until the studio's demise in 1959, and after freelancing for mostly independent production companies, he turned to directing TV series as Bonanza . Kane usually worked with Vera Ralston, whom husband Herbert J. Yates, president of Republic Pictures and Kane's boss, attempted without success to make a star . He made a lot of westerns , such as : King of the Cowboys 1943 , Idaho 1942 , Ridin' Down the Canyon 1942, Heart of the Golden West 1942 , Sunset Serenade 1942, Sons of the Pioneers 1942 Romance on the Range 1942 , Sunset on the Desert 1942 , South of Santa Fe 1942 ,Man from Cheyenne 1941 , Red River Valley 1941 , Jesse James at Bay 1941, Bad Man of Deadwood 1941, Rags to Riches 1941 , Nevada City 1941 ,Sheriff of Tombstone 1941, In Old Cheyenne 1941, The Great Train Robbery 1941 , Robin Hood of the Pecos 1940 , The Border Legion 1940 , Young Bill Hickok 1940 Colorado 1940 ,The Ranger and the Lady 1940 ,The Carson City Kid 1940 ,Young Buffalo Bill 1939, Days of Jesse James 1939 , Saga of Death Valley 1939 , The Arizona Kid 1939 , In Old Monterey 1939 , Wall Street Cowboy 1939 , and many others . The flick will appeal to Western/adventure buffs ; it's an agreeable popcorn story plenty of breathtaking scenes , emotion , adventures , colorful exteriors and anything else . It's a wonderful enjoyable story for kids , teens and old people . Rating : Decent Western 6.5/10 .

Stanwyck's portrayal of the outlaw woman Kit Banion is an all-time classic. This role sets the standard for strong western women in the cinema. Stanwyck perfect for the role of the beautiful and strong-willed Kit Banion, leader of the Wild Bunch outlaw gang who can ride and shoot with the best of them. Stanwyck more than holds her own, matching wits and pistol shots with outlaws and lawmen alike. However, her lawless days are numbered when she falls in love with a Pinkerton agent (Barry Sullivan) who infiltrates the gang. Good supporting cast with familiar supporting actors. Visually pleasing with great western scenery, shot on ___location in southrn Colorado. Exciting action scenes liven up a sometimes plodding script. Well worth watching. A must see for fans of classic westerns.