"Abilene Town" director Edwin L. Marin teamed up with Randolph Scott in the fourth of their seven westerns for the 80-minute, Technicolor, town-taming tale "Fort Worth," with David Brian as Scott's chief adversary Blair Lunsford. The bluff Brian cultivated a reputation in the 1950s playing splendidly-apparelled villains, and he goes face-to-face and bullet-to-bullet with our stalwart hero. Ray Teal, who achieved fame as Sheriff Roy Coffee on TV's "Bonanza," makes a memorable impression as unsavory second-string villain Gabe Clevenger. Actually, Clevenger is more interesting than Lunsford because the former proves to be such a scoundrel. "Colorado Territory" scenarist John Twist wrote some incisive and catchy dialogue for this oater; earlier, Twist penned two other Randolph Scott westerns, "Man Behind the Gun" and "Best of the Badmen." Scott's sturdy performance, succulent dialogue, and enough smoking gunplay qualify this as an adequate western that holds its own without breaking new ground. The use of interior sets for exterior sets detracts from its' overall production value.
"Fort Worth" opens with stock footage of a wagon train bound for San Antonio trundling past a scenic lake. Ned Britt (Randolph Scott) and his associates, veteran newspaperman Ben Garvin (Emerson Treacy of "Adam's Rib") and typesetter/reporter Luther Wicks (Dick Jones of "Rocky Mountain") are heading for San Antonio to set up shop. Britt and Garvin own a chain of newspapers in Kansas and have acquired a sterling reputation for themselves, even in the eyes of Clevenger and his hoodlums. Meanwhile, during the trip, Ned has befriended an orphaned urchin, Toby Nickerson (Pat Mitchell of "Northwest Territory"), that he treats as if he were his son. They go for rides on the prairie.
A woman on horseback meets the wagon train in the middle of nowhere and receives permission to join it. Flora Talbot (Phyllis Thaxter of "The Breaking Point") is traveling back to Fort Worth. Once Flora falls in with the wagon train, she strikes up a conversation with another woman who is driving one of the wagons, and they provide important exposition about the larger-than-life heroNed Britt. According to Flora, Britt rode alone into Texas about 20 years ago. She points out that his only friend was his six-gun and it kept him alive and fed. Initially, Flora's description of Britt clashes with what the woman driving the wagon knows about him. She claims that Britt has nothing but contempt for firearms and believes that guns are only for heathens that cannot read. On the other hand, Flora remembers Britt as "a one-man arsenal" who rode off to join the Southern cavalry.
Meanwhile, Ned and Toby ride double beyond the wagon train and spot a cattle herd bound for Dodge City; Gabe Clevenger (nefarious Ray Teal) owns this herd. Clevenger hates Britt, but he respects Britt as a man of integrity and he knows better than to make a martyr out of the newspaperman. Clevenger has no desire to play into Ned's hands by provoking him or any other 'quill pusher.' One of Clevenger's trigger-happy drovers, Happy Jack Harvey (Zon Murray of "The Great Plane Robbery") invades the wagon train and pulls his six-gun on Britt. Our hero warns the drover that a shot will stampede the herd. He fires a shot anyway and the herd overruns the camp and tramples helpless little Tobey. This recalls a similar urchin in the Errol Flynn oater "Dodge City" who had to die before law and order could be established. Toby's death pits Ned squarely against Gabe Clevenger, but it doesn't keep our hero from denouncing violence to settle violence. Says he,". . . the presses are a thousand times more potent than gunpowder." Predictably, Ned will change his mind and resort to the six-gun.
Initially, Britt refuses to settle in Fort Worth, but Lunsford convinces him that the town has a future. Britt and he start out as friends, but their relationship changes as Lunsford reveals his true colors. First, unbeknownst to Britt, Lunsford stole his girlfriend, Amy Brooks (Helena Carter of "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye") away from him during the Civil War when Lunsford took risks selling his beef to the South but turns a profit. Second,he has been secretly obtaining options for real estate from owners who cannot make their payments. Eventually, Britt and he wind up at odds with each other, though occasionally they team up to thwart Clevenger's gang. Inevitably, ranch lady Flora Talbot comes between them, but if you've seen enough of these sagebrushers, you'll know that Scott's Britt need not break a sweat about it. "Fort Worth" concerns Britt's use of a six-shooter to solve his problems. He doesn't like the idea of gunplay, but he resorts to it.
The gunfight at the stockyard when the sheriff, his deputy, and Lunsford try to arrest Clevenger is the best thing about "Fort Worth." Shorty (Bob Steele) gets the drop on everybody with a rifle as Britt approaches the stockyard. Britt believes that the sheriff has Clevenger at gunpoint. Instead, things are the other way around. This is when Lunsford and Britt perform a feat that enables them to disarm themselves on orders from the badmen and sling their pistols to each other and then open fire on the villains. Clevenger and his cohorts scatter.
Later, Ben Garvin is found murdered in his newspaper office with a knife stuck in his back. Ned straps on his six-guns, marches down the street and guns down three of Clevenger's henchmen without blinking an eye. Moreover, he violates the western hero's code of waiting until the villains clear leather before he draws on them! "Fort Worth" isn't anything sensational, but it is solidly virile.
"Fort Worth" opens with stock footage of a wagon train bound for San Antonio trundling past a scenic lake. Ned Britt (Randolph Scott) and his associates, veteran newspaperman Ben Garvin (Emerson Treacy of "Adam's Rib") and typesetter/reporter Luther Wicks (Dick Jones of "Rocky Mountain") are heading for San Antonio to set up shop. Britt and Garvin own a chain of newspapers in Kansas and have acquired a sterling reputation for themselves, even in the eyes of Clevenger and his hoodlums. Meanwhile, during the trip, Ned has befriended an orphaned urchin, Toby Nickerson (Pat Mitchell of "Northwest Territory"), that he treats as if he were his son. They go for rides on the prairie.
A woman on horseback meets the wagon train in the middle of nowhere and receives permission to join it. Flora Talbot (Phyllis Thaxter of "The Breaking Point") is traveling back to Fort Worth. Once Flora falls in with the wagon train, she strikes up a conversation with another woman who is driving one of the wagons, and they provide important exposition about the larger-than-life heroNed Britt. According to Flora, Britt rode alone into Texas about 20 years ago. She points out that his only friend was his six-gun and it kept him alive and fed. Initially, Flora's description of Britt clashes with what the woman driving the wagon knows about him. She claims that Britt has nothing but contempt for firearms and believes that guns are only for heathens that cannot read. On the other hand, Flora remembers Britt as "a one-man arsenal" who rode off to join the Southern cavalry.
Meanwhile, Ned and Toby ride double beyond the wagon train and spot a cattle herd bound for Dodge City; Gabe Clevenger (nefarious Ray Teal) owns this herd. Clevenger hates Britt, but he respects Britt as a man of integrity and he knows better than to make a martyr out of the newspaperman. Clevenger has no desire to play into Ned's hands by provoking him or any other 'quill pusher.' One of Clevenger's trigger-happy drovers, Happy Jack Harvey (Zon Murray of "The Great Plane Robbery") invades the wagon train and pulls his six-gun on Britt. Our hero warns the drover that a shot will stampede the herd. He fires a shot anyway and the herd overruns the camp and tramples helpless little Tobey. This recalls a similar urchin in the Errol Flynn oater "Dodge City" who had to die before law and order could be established. Toby's death pits Ned squarely against Gabe Clevenger, but it doesn't keep our hero from denouncing violence to settle violence. Says he,". . . the presses are a thousand times more potent than gunpowder." Predictably, Ned will change his mind and resort to the six-gun.
Initially, Britt refuses to settle in Fort Worth, but Lunsford convinces him that the town has a future. Britt and he start out as friends, but their relationship changes as Lunsford reveals his true colors. First, unbeknownst to Britt, Lunsford stole his girlfriend, Amy Brooks (Helena Carter of "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye") away from him during the Civil War when Lunsford took risks selling his beef to the South but turns a profit. Second,he has been secretly obtaining options for real estate from owners who cannot make their payments. Eventually, Britt and he wind up at odds with each other, though occasionally they team up to thwart Clevenger's gang. Inevitably, ranch lady Flora Talbot comes between them, but if you've seen enough of these sagebrushers, you'll know that Scott's Britt need not break a sweat about it. "Fort Worth" concerns Britt's use of a six-shooter to solve his problems. He doesn't like the idea of gunplay, but he resorts to it.
The gunfight at the stockyard when the sheriff, his deputy, and Lunsford try to arrest Clevenger is the best thing about "Fort Worth." Shorty (Bob Steele) gets the drop on everybody with a rifle as Britt approaches the stockyard. Britt believes that the sheriff has Clevenger at gunpoint. Instead, things are the other way around. This is when Lunsford and Britt perform a feat that enables them to disarm themselves on orders from the badmen and sling their pistols to each other and then open fire on the villains. Clevenger and his cohorts scatter.
Later, Ben Garvin is found murdered in his newspaper office with a knife stuck in his back. Ned straps on his six-guns, marches down the street and guns down three of Clevenger's henchmen without blinking an eye. Moreover, he violates the western hero's code of waiting until the villains clear leather before he draws on them! "Fort Worth" isn't anything sensational, but it is solidly virile.