Customer Reviews

Colorado Territory

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

At last this magnificient film by Raoul Walsh is out on DVD! This is a literate and breathtaking remake of Walsh's High Sierra and is just about as good. McCrea, an actor of tremendous ability, is superb, and this may be Virginia Mayo's finest role.... Henry Hull, that great character actor, also stands out. This is a superior Western and a fine film, highly recommended. Now, let us hope for additional McCrea titles....why not Universal's fine Cattle Drive and Saddle Tramp, both very good oaters, with McCrea a natural? And Wichita needs an American release in NTSC format. And there others....

Warner Bros. Pictures presents "COLORADO TERRITORY" (1949) (94 min/B&W) -- Starring Joel McCrea, Virginia Mayo, Dorothy Malone, Henry Hull, John Archer & Morris Ankrum

Directed by Raoul Walsh

Outlaw Wes McQueen (Joel McCrea) breaks out of jail and meets up with his gang who are planning a train robbery. He finds them holed up in an old dilapidated Mission, arguing and one of them has a woman with him, a former dance hall girl, Colorado Carson (Virginia Mayo). Wes has decided that he wants to go straight. Having met Lulie Ann Winslow (Dorothy Malone) and her father Fred (Henry Hull), his ideal would be to settle down with her and own his own ranch. Out of loyalty to an old-time partner however, he agrees to go ahead with the train robbery and realizes too late that he is not destined to fulfill his dreams. He and Colorado make a final desperate break when the robbery goes bad.

Colorado Territory is acknowledged by many as a westernized remake of the 1941 crime drama High Sierra. Raoul Walsh, director of the earlier film, returns to helm the remake, doing a grand job on both occasions. Joel McCrea stars in the Humphrey Bogart role, playing a veteran outlaw who hopes to pull off one last, spectacular heist. Virginia Mayo portrays the Ida Lupino counterpart, a "bad" dance-hall girl who proves to be the only person who genuinely cares about McCrea's well-being. As in the earlier film, the climax finds McCrea making a futile bid for escape in the mountains, with tragic consequences.

A stupendous western film - McCrea is tailor made for this role - quietly spoken, well mannered bank robber - but trapped by his "fate". Fabulous cinematography (why didn't they film this in color?) and wonderful musical score by David Buttolph.

The teaming of McCrea with Virginia Mayo was to be repeated 8 years later on "The Tall Stranger" (1957)

BIOS:
1. Raoul Walsh [Director]
Date of Birth: 11 March 1887 - New York City, New York
Date of Death: 31 December 1980 - Simi Valley, California

2. Joel McCrea
Date of Birth: 5 November 1905 - South Pasadena, California
Date of Death: 20 October 1990 - Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

3. Virginia Mayo [aka:Virginia Clara Jones]
Date of Birth: 30 November 1920 - St. Louis, Missouri
Date of Death: 17 January 2005 - Thousand Oaks, California

4. Dorothy Malone [aka: Dorothy Eloise Maloney]
Date of Birth: 30 January 1925, Chicago, Illinois
Date of Death: Still Living

5. Henry Hull [aka: Henry Watterson Hull]
Date of Birth: 3 October 1890 - Louisville, Kentucky
Date of Death: 8 March 1977 - Cornwall, England, UK

Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 5 Stars
Performance: 5 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 5 Stars
Overall: 5 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]

Total Time: 94 min on VHS/DVD ~ Warner Bros. Pictures ~ (May 21, 2009)

A western with a daring and advanced viewpoint for its era. The outlaw is a sympathetic guy with good qualities deep inside. The well brought up girl turns out to be roothless, and the bad girl with the dissolute past and the exposed legs turns out to be devoted. The tragical couple seems to defy destiny and allthough it is allready doomed, the happiness in the face of Virginia Mayo after the Marriage endow her with transcendant eternity. The end is equal of the fate of Bonnie and Clyde and true love conquers death.

JOEL McCREA,VIRGINIA MAYO, EXELLENT COMBINATION FOR THIS WESTERN VERSION OF "HIGH SIERRA" FUNNY TO WATCH McCREA AS A "BADDIE" REALLY ENJOYED THIS BLACK AND WHITE MOVIE, CAN RECOMMEND!

Joel McCrea and Virginia Mayo are excellent in this 1949 black and white western film about 1871. The two have bad pasts, McCrae as a bank robber and Mayo as a saloon dancer and friend of crooks. Both want to leave the life of crime. The film has some depth due to people not being who they say they are, not wanting what they say they want, and the constant double crosses.

McCrae is broken out of jail by an old man who wants him to lead a train robbery. He agrees because he is thankful, but insists that this will be his last crime. He meets the daughter of a rancher and decides after a short couple of meetings that he wants to marry her and live on a ranch. But, is the daughter who seems good, really good? And is Mayo who seems bad really bad?

The gang that he joins up with to rob the train fight with each other because of Mayo, who was brought to the group by one of the crooks. Do the robbers want to see McCrae succeed in the robbery? Is the conductor of the train who is seemingly helping them, really doing so? Can McCrae and May begin a new life, or is it too late?