Robbers' Roost

Jim "Tex" Wall (George Montgomery) is a man with a hidden agenda, he is after the men who raped his wife and stole his horses and nothing will stop him. When he arrives in a small town he joins up with a group of cattle rustlers lead by Hank Hays (Richard Boone) who are in constant battle with rival rustlers lead by Heesman (Peter Graves). But these two gangs find themselves in the unusual position of having been hired by recently crippled rancher "Bull" Herrick (Bruce Bennett) who figures they will be too busy making sure the others don't get a jump on them that they won't be interested in stealing his cattle. But it brings Tex in to contact with Herrick's younger sister Helen (Sylvia Findley) who whilst opposed to her brother's plans falls for Tex until she discovers a wanted poster with his face on it. George Montgomery, an underrated western star, is really good in the role as the stranger with a vendetta and Richard Boone fit the Bill as the slimy and lusty villain. It's a well-made western with grand scenery and a rousing finale that is unleashed after the narrative is unravelled, maybe a bit too laboriously at times, and it ends satisfactory. A solid old-fashioned entertainment.

Moviecut—Robbers' Roost

source: Robbers' Roost

Robbers' Roost

Where do I start? The time period is about 1860 but the costumes are 1950. Men wearing hat styles that didn't exit, "jean" jackets that hadn't been produced. The ranch own's sister just happens to be the hottest chick in the west and the clothes she wears is ridiculous. (Wondering around the ranch is a white ball gown fit to wear to an opera.) And I don't think she ever wore the same thing twice. Nobody's clothes ever get dirty and guys wear silly little frilly pointless scarves. It's just dumb! And of course the shooting. George Montgomery actually shoots a gun out of a bad guy's hand. That was certainly realistic. As was a whopping $5000 reward offered. The cattle were all polled Herfords, a breed that hadn't been developed. I just don't understand why more effort wasn't made to make these 50's westerns a little more realistic..

Dick Boone is the only reason to watch this fairly typical shoot em up, He's a hulking, laughing, skirt chasing liar and that's just for starters. My favorite is when washing up in the lake he makes sure to walk by the tent of Miss Findley waving his arms in circles, bare chested and grinning like crazy... Don't miss Boone in Hombre and The Tall T, where I think he wears the same baby blue scarf! Robbers Roost also has Leo Gordon, another great baddy but he's wasted by having hardly any screen time. George Montgomery was a great guy, used to hang out at Ben Franks coffee shop on Sunset Blvd. For years... and when I was a telephone installer, worked at his house in the Hollywood Hills, he was an artist and had carved wooden or maybe stone western pieces of cowboys ropin' and ridin'... They were beautiful! I think he did most of his furniture too!

This movie wasted a good cast and film stock. George Montgomery and Richard Boone should have switched roles. Boone would have brought out the subleties of a good man masquerading as a bad guy. Montgomery's career might have profited by playing a slick bad guy. Who the heck was Sylvia Findley? why was she given the female lead? You've got Montgomery, Boone, William Hopper and Peter Graves all lusting after her. I don't see what the big deal was. It also makes little use of Leo Gordon. When you have a big, intimidating guy like that, use him! He made a bigger impression opposite John Wayne in "Hondo" or as a convict in "Riot In Cell Block 11". They should have given the guy with the guitar some better songs to sing. At least the colors were good.

That line, declared by at the end by a lawman, sums up the entire film, which belies its lively title. Despite taking an original novel by Zane Grey (already filmed once before in 1933), a good cast and a stash of Eastmancolor stock all the way to Monterey for the use of veteran local cameraman Jack Draper, the result is tinny, talky and dull, the colour muddy and dull. The final shoot-out against a majestic backdrop of rocks takes an awfully long time a-coming and when it finally does is needlessly drawn out (even having a character run out of bullets at a critical moment to prolong it still further). In a better film Richard Boone's grinning villain could have been really memorable; but this isn't that film.

George Montgomery has as his source for this western no less a western writer than Zane Grey in Robber's Roost. Two outlaw gangs, one headed by Richard Boone the other by Peter Graves are employed at the ranch owned by brother and sister Bruce Bennett and Sylvia Findlay. Bennett who is now a paraplegic for reasons not really explained in the story has hired two outlaw gangs as ranch hands, the theory being that one will watch the other especially since Boone and Graves hate each other's guts. It actually works for a while. Into the mix comes Montgomery who joins up with Boone's gang. He's got his own agenda for mixing in all of this business. And he too is a wanted man. The Zane Grey story translates well to the big screen. This is definitely one of George Montgomery's better B westerns.