Just caught a couple Audie Murphy Westerns back to back that were pretty cool, this one and "Posse From Hell", both of which I rank in the upper tier of Murphy's pictures. Backing him up in this film are a couple of TV Western stalwarts, John McIntire from 'Wagon Train' and 'The Tall Man' Barry Sullivan. There's something interesting about TV good guys taking on bad guy roles, and Sullivan's portrayal of Jim Flood in this story is that of an affable outlaw with a unique brand of personal integrity. I thought he did a pretty good job.
It's interesting too that Seven Jones (Murphy) never does find out the details behind the murder of his brother 'Two', all of that becomes known to the viewer but the hero is never let in on the secret. I won't give it away, you'll just have to catch the picture, but it's one of those things that wind up rare in movie Westerns.
As for 'Seven's' name, I wound up thinking about that for a while and came to the conclusion that it was a colorful way of Jones's father to come up with his boys' names. Maybe it was a little lazy, but it certainly was a lot better than boxer George Foreman naming all of his six sons George, distinguished only as Jr., III, IV, V and VI. I don't believe they ever had descriptives attached to their names like 'Two for the Money' or 'Seven Ways From Sundown', so being born into that Jones family must have been pretty unique. Still a little confusing though.
Say, how about that under the table, Han Solo-like shot by Jones against one of the bounty hunters coming after Flood in that saloon scene, almost two full decades before "Star Wars" came around? It looked pretty novel when I first saw the space fantasy, but I've seen the move more than once now in movie Westerns, so I guess you'd have to say George Lucas borrowed the idea when he wrote the scene. I think it comes off more surprising in "Star Wars", in a Western you almost expect it.
Well, it's too bad it had to come to that kind of an ending for Jim Flood. He was actually a pretty decent guy for an outlaw, and we never did come to learn why he was such a bad guy, except for the cryptic reference I made earlier. You come away from the picture believing he let Jones get away with outdrawing him, a fatal career move that one only gets to make once.
It's interesting too that Seven Jones (Murphy) never does find out the details behind the murder of his brother 'Two', all of that becomes known to the viewer but the hero is never let in on the secret. I won't give it away, you'll just have to catch the picture, but it's one of those things that wind up rare in movie Westerns.
As for 'Seven's' name, I wound up thinking about that for a while and came to the conclusion that it was a colorful way of Jones's father to come up with his boys' names. Maybe it was a little lazy, but it certainly was a lot better than boxer George Foreman naming all of his six sons George, distinguished only as Jr., III, IV, V and VI. I don't believe they ever had descriptives attached to their names like 'Two for the Money' or 'Seven Ways From Sundown', so being born into that Jones family must have been pretty unique. Still a little confusing though.
Say, how about that under the table, Han Solo-like shot by Jones against one of the bounty hunters coming after Flood in that saloon scene, almost two full decades before "Star Wars" came around? It looked pretty novel when I first saw the space fantasy, but I've seen the move more than once now in movie Westerns, so I guess you'd have to say George Lucas borrowed the idea when he wrote the scene. I think it comes off more surprising in "Star Wars", in a Western you almost expect it.
Well, it's too bad it had to come to that kind of an ending for Jim Flood. He was actually a pretty decent guy for an outlaw, and we never did come to learn why he was such a bad guy, except for the cryptic reference I made earlier. You come away from the picture believing he let Jones get away with outdrawing him, a fatal career move that one only gets to make once.