An Audie Murphy Western from 1959. Murphy is drunk, playing cards in a saloon when a man, played by John Dehner, comes a-calling. It turns out Murphy's father has passed & left his ranch to him but Murphy left home a while ago on the outs w/his father so Dehner proposes to purchase the estate from him (he's cobbled together a collection from all the other ranch hands), all Murphy has to do is come back, sign over the deed & go his merry way but once he's among the people he left behind, specifically the girl, now a young woman, who jilted him at the altar, all his past transgressions melt away emboldening him to propose marriage, which she accepts. The fearlessness continues when he announces he's not going to sell & herd 3000 head of cattle to New Mexico (to pay off the debt his father had saddled the farm with). At first his workers/investors aren't too pleased but his determination to get the job done does impress even though there are those among them who would be willing to bump him off if a stampede could happen at the right time. Offbeat to be sure, Murphy rises to the challenge in a role not unlike John Wayne's in Red River (where a megalomaniac pushes his men to their limits) but Dehner is his equal as an old herder who's too stubborn to admit his past regrets must now swallow his pride for the good of the ranch. Also starring a couple of Dukes of Hazzard vets, Denver Pyle & James Best, as Murphy's reluctant workmen.
Review of Cast a Long Shadow
