The Duel at Silver Creek

source: The Duel at Silver Creek

Stephen McNally is a rugged hero, playing the marshal "Lightning" Tyrone. He goes up against a vicious gang of "claim jumpers" making life miserable for miners. He makes the acquaintance of a youth who's been dubbed "The Silver Kid", played by WWII hero Audie Murphy, and decides that he can put The Kid to use as his deputy. Although pretty average in terms of story, this is still entertaining thanks to the assured direction of Don Siegel, in the years before he'd graduated to the ranks of major A list directors. He knew how to handle action scenes, for one thing, and "The Duel at Silver Creek" is reasonably rousing at times. Overall, the filmmaking is quite capable, with top notch location work and superb creation of the classic Western look (in glorious Technicolor). You will notice that Siegel and the screenwriters don't exactly bother to keep the identities of certain villains a secret. You're also left in little doubt as to how the predictable script will unfold, so the scenario isn't about suspense, despite the fact that good guy Lightning has been badly wounded and can't handle a gun as well as he used to. There are very fine performances by a well chosen cast: McNally, a confident young Murphy, lovely ladies Faith Domergue and Susan Cabot, Gerald Mohr, Eugene Iglesias, James Anderson, Walter Sande, Lee Marvin, George Eldredge, Griff Barnett, Harry Harvey, etc. It's worth noting that the run time is a mere 77 minutes. It's always nice when actors and filmmakers can tell their story in a succinct manner and not drag it out any longer than necessary. Six out of 10.

This is a very short movie but Don Siegel is that kind of director who can make the best of a 75 minutes film :remember what he did in "invasion of the body snatchers" the remakes of which could not match,in spite of a running time twice as long and a comfortable budget . This is a rather violent movie ,but anyway violence was one of Siegel 's trademarks :"the killers" nearly cut Siodmak's original.The movie begins with a series of murders committed by the claim jumpers in cold blood (including one by a woman!)This woman ,played by Faith Domergue is more original than the others :during the whole movie,the hero was had ;love is blind ,they say.Stephen McNally and Audie Murphy are convincing as is Lee Marvin (who would be scarier in "the killers" ) in a supporting part.

How would you like to be the man who had to call the most decorated soldier in the world, Silver Kid for ninety minutes and keep a straight face. Though only five feet eight inches tall, no human being should never call Audie Murphy, " Kid." This movie is a perfect example of why Murphy came across as the nice guy. Regardless of how hard he tried, he always came off as a nice baby faced actor. I thought he was a decent actor who never really got a star role. He will always be my Hero.

You probably shouldn't expect too much from a western when you see that the characters have names like The Silver Kid, Marshall "Lightning" Tyrone, Johnny Sombrero and Opal "Brown Eyes" Lacy. Still, Duel at Silver Creek has one interesting twist. It's the bickering misunderstandings between the two male good-guy leads, The Kid and "Lightening," Audie Murphy plays Luke "The Silver Kid" Cromwell and Stephen McNally is "Lightening" Tyrone. (It's a shame that we don't give our top law enforcers nicknames like this anymore. J. Edgar "Lightening" Hoover carries authority.) There's a lot of lethal claim-jumping going around in the mountains near Silver City. A gang of killers forces the claim holders to sign over their claims, then guns them down so there are no witnesses. Marshal "Lightening" Tyrone, the fastest draw around, plans to hunt them down, bring them to justice or kill them himself. One of the claim holders had a son. He's aiming to do the same. He calls himself The Silver Kid. He's handy with a gun and good at poker. When "Lightening," no dummy who knows he needs more firepower, offers a deputy's badge to The Silver Kid, the Kid accepts. This is going to be a fraught partnership, complicated by a slick mining engineer (Gerald Mohr), a lush, pink-bosomed femme fatale (Faith Domerque) and Dusty (Susan Cabot), the feisty, pants-wearing tomboy we know will smarten up right fine in a dress. We meet the gang leaders early on. There are no surprises as we watch one shoot down miners in cold blood and another strangle to death a wounded miner. I like Audie Murphy. His early movies leave a lot to be desired, but he grew into a decent actor. In real life he was a man to admire. In Hollywood he gave it his best and learned. In The Duel at Silver Creek he's no match for the hack-written dialogue and those nicknames. Try on "Thanks for the warning, Brown Eyes," "We're trapped! Spread out," "That was a smart stunt! I almost plugged you," "Hey, Dusty, Lighting's back!" and "He didn't have the face of a killer, but he had the cold-steel look of one. I noticed his hands were quick and sure." Stephen McNally was a competent actor, but here he's saddled with providing a dull narration to the story. There's not much he can do with what the writers gave him. This was also one of director Don Siegel's earliest movies. The video and audio transfers are nothing out of the ordinary. You might enjoy this movie if you like Audie Murphy, if you enjoy the turgid clichés of hack screen writing and if you have something else to do while you watch. I'm three for three. I'll give it thee stars out of five. You might not. . One last cliché to keep in mind. (And clichés aren't spoilers) Remember that in Hollywood, good-natured old coots are always gunned down.

This is a convoluted and often frustrating tale of claims jumpers ruthlessly hopping from threat to threat (and killing them anyway) that seems to be too determined to keep a constantly tense pace which ultimately causes its downfall. It has great color photography and a great set-up, but there are far too many characters written with too many clichés, but often takes some fascinating, sinister turns. The real reason to watch this movie is Audie Murphy, photographed with sort of a shining light around him that makes his already shiny black leather jacket seem to shine in the darkness seen constantly around him. Howard Hughes' former protégé, Faith Domergue, plays a well dressed, well spoken young lady who suddenly strangles a wounded man to death, yet remains sugary sweet throughout the film. She's striking in her beautiful period dresses, but its easy to see why she quickly faded away. Susan Cabot scores better as the tough Dusty whom several of the men think of basically another one of the guys, but occasionally see through her tomboy looks as being a true woman. Stephen McNally is more the traditional hero, and even though Murphy gets top billing, the best photography and the girl, McNally's character is really the moral compass of the film. Other than an early film appearance by Lee Marvin, the other supporting characters all seem to jumble together.

Producer: Leonard Goldstein. Copyright 12 June 1952 by Universal Pictures Co., Inc. New York opening at the Palace: 1 August 1952. U.S. release: August 1952. U.K. release on the lower half of a double bill: September 1952. Australian release: 6 February 1953. 77 minutes. SYNOPSIS: The marshal of Silver City (sic) joins up with Luke Crowell, alias the Silver Kid, to apprehend claim jumpers. COMMENT: Curious in that this movie is one of Audie Murphy's best films - even though he isn't the real star! That honor belongs to Stephen McNally as the town marshal, though Murphy is equally ingratiating - perhaps even more so - as his sidekick. In fact this unlikely partners routine gets a very appealing workout here - and like the best of these, it's not without its fair share of humor. Also curious is the fact that Miss Domergue effectively plays a thoroughly evil femme fatale, - one who doesn't have a single redeeming quality! Miss Cabot does okay by the obligatory tomboyish "other gal". Despite his position way down in the cast list, Lee Marvin can be easily spotted. In fact he has a few nice bits as a saloon loafer. We also like the guy who plays the oldtime deputy, Dan Music. Acting honors on the other side of the law belong firmly to Eugene Iglesias who makes his Johnny Sombrero a wonderfully greasy ne'er-do-well. Gerald Mohr is more conventional, though still effective, as a smiling villain. Director Siegel himself can be spotted as one of the bushwackers who waylay Murph. Drayson and Hoffman have concocted an unusually rich script with lots of interlocking incidents and characters. This appealing script has been given an unusually lavish production by producer Goldstein, with lots of extras milling around, excellent locations, and polished technical credits. Director Siegel takes ample advantage of all this budget largesse. The running inserts are marvellously effective in the action scenes. All told, highly engrossing. OTHER VIEWS: Vigorous direction, lusty playing and an unusually interesting scenario make this one of the top westerns of the year. Despite its "B" rating, technical credits and production values are more than creditable enough for an "A".

For a B-Western, this film is very entertaining. I'm surprised that it is rated --as of today-- only 6.1 at IMDb. What more do they want for a B-Western? There are quite a few negatives. Worst of all are the terrible clichéd names given to all the characters: Johnny Sombrero, Rat Face, Silver Kid, Tinhorn, Lightning, etc. Worst of all was "Brown Eyes," the name McNally kept calling Domergue. Every time he called her that, my teeth would grind and my eyes would look up in disgust. ... ... ... As bad as the names are, the characters themselves were mostly one dimensional figures, but I guess you have to expect that in a B-movie. Another problem with the characters is that their relationships developed so quickly -- for example, McNally hooking up so quickly with Domergue, and Murphy so quickly agreeing to become a deputy. Finally, much of the dialog and action seemed clichéd, macho and immature, like the insults given by Marvin and Sombrero, the quickness to form a lynching party, Murphy's poker playing philosophy; almost every line in the movie was trite. And I almost forgot: Johnny Sombrero's outrageous dress, and speech, made his scenes look like a gay comedy. Murphy's black leather outfit was a hoot too. ... ... I was disappointed in some of the unbelievable plot twists, the two that I remember best are: (1) that Domergue (who genuinely loved Mohr) would lead the good guys to Mohr's hideout; she didn't have to do that; very unwise; and (2) that Johnny Sombrero would turn on (give information harmful to) Domergue (whom he loved) in his dying confession (just because she was mistaken about McNally's trigger finger health?). After all of the above, you might wonder why I liked the movie overall. The good points were; the high production values, good direction, swell color cinematography, the good actors, lots of action, and mostly that the story moved along quickly, and was quite interesting plot-wise, especially in the last third. Though some did not, I liked McNally's narration.Both McNally and Domergue impressed me with their acting and presence. Domergue's murder of the wounded outlaw was striking, never saw that before in a Western -- very nourish.

A small western town is surrounded by small mines and areas of land run by their owners. A gang of claim jumpers are forcing the owners to sign their claims over to them but then kill them anyway. When Marshall 'Lightning' Tyrone takes a party after the gang he leaves old timer Dan Music as Deputy of the town. Having failed to find the gang, Lightning returns to find to find that Music has been murdered (shot in the back). Lightning sets out to get to the bottom of the murder and has several suspects already before the deceitful Opal Lacy points him towards Luke Cromwell, known as the Silver Kid. Whenever the Kid proves it could not have been him, Lightning takes him on as a deputy. I came to this film on the basis of it being Don Siegel's first western and the first film he made in colour. The plot is pretty basic and doesn't live up to the suggestions of the opening – instead becoming rather focused on the actions of a few characters. As such, it works on a B movie level and that is pretty much what I expected it to do. This focused plot is improved by a good range of fun characters – with fancy names and exaggerated characters to match: the tough broad, the kid, the tough sheriff, the old coot etc. All the clichés are here but they are delivered with a slight sense of fun that helps it move smoothly. The colour is good and Siegel's direction is solid enough (although he would do much better later). Despite top billing on imdb going to Murphy, the real lead here is McNally and he does it well. His sheriff is tough, friendly and it is him we care about when the final shoot out comes. Murphy is good but his character has less meat on it and he has therefore less to do that really sticks in the mind. Domergue is given a good character and she convinces as a sort of Western femme fatale. Cabot has a much more standard role and is less interesting as a result. Aside from Domergue the 'baddies' are fairly unmemorable; when the film started they were tough and violent but eventually we are presented Mohr's words in place of this and it really isn't enough for a fun B-movie. Despite it's obvious flaws this is a really good fun B-movie western and you'll like it if you view it as such. The plot is basic but enjoyable with plenty of likable characters who are as bright as the Technicolor they are presented in. Siegel's first western is a fun film and should be enjoyed as such – it's far from his best and fans may only come to it because of the significance in his career but it is worth seeing if you're in the mood for this type of film.

The Dual At Silver Creek is a very entertaining western from the early fifties,the main stars are Stephen Mcnally and Audie Murphy. The story is about a Marshal{Mcnally} who is out to stop a murderous gang who have killed one of his friends and are also terrorising and killing local miners.Because the Marshal has lost the use of his trigger finger he hires the help of a sharp shooter named the Silver Kid{Murphy}.Along the way the marshal has fallen for a classy but treacherous new lady in town named Opal who is really working for the bad men,she makes out she loves the marshal,but we all know different and will he see through her in time? For a B movie Dual At Silver Creek is highly entertaining,its one of those films that id seen years ago as a kid but couldn't remember properly,and viewing it today it actually seems better. Some of the scenes are actually seem quite campy now days especially whenever the bad character Johnny Sombrero and chums appear,and then there's Audie Murphy{who does look very attractive}is dressed in black leather,say no more. I've often read reviews on Audie Murphy films and people often describe his acting as stoic,wooden,bland etc which i think is a bit harsh,{okay he wasn't Bogart or Tracy}but i feel he was competent enough for these sort of films and he more than holds his own in this one, viewed today he doesn't seem any worse than a lot of other actors who by todays standards over acted. One of my favourite scenes in the film is between Murphy and Lee Marvin at a poker table, where Marvin makes some rather insulting and bitchy remarks to Murphy and its really quite funny to watch.You don't see much of Marvin but when you do he more than makes you aware that his in this film he did have a strong screen presence and you wonder why he wasn't given bigger parts earlier on in his career.Faith Domergue is also very good as the treacherous and scheming Opal or Brown Eyes as the marshal calls her. Dual At Silver Creek is a good way to waste about 80 minutes its a fun movie.