Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

GazerRise Fantastic!

Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

audacious1 I just watched this movie on Netflix. Although I am a big western fan, I had never seen this movie with its wonderful cast. The general story line is about a nervous confederate man shooting a boy and then becoming more cowardly than ever, allowing his brother to take the blame. That's not what this movie is truly about. It is about the psychological effects people had as the Civil War ended. On one side, we have the heroic Northern officer who can't resist always assisting the law and his perspective of the Confederacy that he has passed on to his son. On the other side, we have five war-weary confederate soldiers, four brothers and a father, having just robbed a bank in a nearby town, but having a need for water. Three of them ride into town and one is involved with a shooting. The youngest brother feels guilt and wants to do the right thing. The father of the shooting victim wants revenge against the soldiers, regardless of the fact it was an accident. The story hinges on the tug and pull of the emotions and feelings people had, due to the War. If there was something I would criticize, it would be the writer finding the easy out by making the shooter become cowardly and unconcerned about anyone but himself. What made this western stand out to me was the material it covered. It was not a simple plot. The emotional content is what makes this story special, the right and wrong perspective idea consistently flows throughout this movie with only Ruth Roman being the voice of reason and logic. All the actors did great jobs with their characters and it was refreshing watching actors, normally portrayed as stereotypical heroes playing people with huge flaws that pinpointed their humanity. I would like to have seen more of Ben Johnson (side bar complaint). Very worthy of watching more than once.

classicsoncall "Rebel in Town" offers up an interesting character reversal with the portrayals of John and Nora Willoughby (John Payne, Ruth Roman), in that it's the wife's role to maintain a balance of composure and common sense when her only child is accidentally shot and killed when a trio of ex-Confederate soldiers makes it's way to the town of Kittreck Wells. One would expect the woman in the situation to become hysterical and call out for blind vengeance, but here she maintained the voice of reason long enough for the truth of the incident to reveal itself.The Mason clan was an interesting bunch I'd have to say. Led by Bible thumper Bedloe (J. Carroll Naish), the clan always took a vote when it came to important family decisions. Although I didn't catch any vote when Pa took a whip to bad boy Wesley (John Smith) for scheming against brother Gray (Ben Cooper). You know, I would have sworn that the part of Gray Mason was portrayed by Richard Thomas, except the math wouldn't have worked for the year the picture was released. Thomas would have been five years old, but if you pull up their pics on IMDb you'll see the resemblance.The movie eventually reestablishes your conventional norms by the end of the story, as John Willoughby realizes his wife's advice is sound and successfully dissuades the good folks of Kittreck Wells to lay down their hangman's noose. I always hate to see a young kid get killed in one of these old time Westerns, so that's my biggest downside for the picture. However it was satisfying that Pa Willoughby was vindicated, and didn't have to exact revenge with a restless gun.

jjnxn-1 Small scale western that holds together well despite unoriginal situations and a low budget.Most of that can be attributed to the lean direction by the little known Werker and the competence of the players. John Payne is brooding and bitter in the lead occasionally going overboard with with the righteous indignation but by and large he does well. Ben Cooper is also solid as a conscious stricken young man but it's Ruth Roman who stands out with a well balanced performance as Nora Payne, weighted down with grief but compassionate enough to remain clear eyed and level headed while all around her are losing theirs.Another asset of the film is the use of natural sounds to underscore scenes adding to their import without a lot of intrusive musical cues.No prize winner but a better than average western.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) This film show us a war that is supposedly over but some non conformed rebels are still using their uniforms and becoming bandits to survive. When a misunderstanding happens and a boy is killed there seems to be no way out for them. The importance of a woman, Nora (Ruth Roman), who even though her son is dead, makes all efforts for a peaceful solution, is the remarkable aspect of this western. What looks like a plain B movie at the beginning gradually becomes more meaningful, directed by Alfred Werker (Three Hours to Kill, The Last Posse). John Payne (Willoughby) and John Carrol Naish (Mason) are the heads of family and Ben Cooper (Gray Mason) is excellent as the son with good feelings. The tragedy of the film is caused by a boy using toy guns. In the fifties toy guns used to be popular, probably even more in the years before. Good thing you do not see them anymore.