The Jayhawkers!

Moviecut—The Jayhawkers!

This movie makes the Jayhawkers the bad crowd in Kansas. In reality they were hero's who saved democracy, and saved free people from murder and destruction by border ruffians.

This movie made me sick when I saw it on TV many years ago. Jeff Chandler's character is decent, a guy you don't want to see taken down? He says to Fess Parker's character, regarding the way he treated the man's dead (at his hands) wife, "To me, a good woman is like a good bottle of wine: once you've used it up, you throw the container away." He goes through women like kleenexes and disposes of them with less mercy. He took the man's wife, seduced her, then killed her when he got bored with her. This is decent? Fess Parker's character likes him? There is no reason for Fess Parker not to kill the disgusting creep on sight. But maybe the people who praise this movie also agree with that characterization of women.

Daniel Boone, who has a huge role in The Jayhawkers, never aged a bit from his pioneer days in the Kentucky frontier. Only thing more peculiar is that even though he has a major part, he is not mentioned in the casting list.

I would say that this film is for Melvin Frank what THE TRAP was for his former buddy Norman Panama, both who earlier in their careers made comedies, only comedies, light ones. It could have been far far worse for those directors whose this was their first try in the western, crime, action genre. Of course, this is not John Ford nor Howard Hawks or even Delmer Daves nor hank Hathaway, ut Jeff Chandler is here and helps a lot. Good western.

Jeff Chandler's performance as Luke Darcy is a classic. He's a megalomaniac, but in some ways you're drawn to him. You know he's a bad guy, yet you're struck by his intelligence and charisma. The line "I'm giving you your dream, and don't worry about me, I've got Kansas." is a classic and it tells you he's got to be stopped. I wish this movie was on DVD, along with his other fine films Broken Arrow, and Pillars Of The Sky. As noted, He might've been able to tackle roles as a character actor had it not been for a tragic mistake during back surgery at the young age of 42. I have always been a fan of Jeff Chandler, and wish more of his films were on DVD.

Tightly acted and directed Western with outstanding performances from Jeff Chandler and Fess Parker. The latter is the conscience, and Parker is terrific as the guiding force who proves effective at carrying out a difficult task while maintaining his humanity in a war-scarred environment. He lifts his screen game from the aw-shucks, King of the Wild Frontier character to legit leading man. This is the best I've seen from Chandler, always a capable and gifted performer. Here, he holds firm to the ruthless power-monger of his Darcy character while speaking about, and occasionally showing, his human side. So many Westerns are black versus white, good v. evil. This one gets into the gray areas, actually spends most of its 1:40 run time in the gray. I expected a B-movie, instead saw a solid A effort with a special nod to Melvin Frank, who directed and was part of the writing team. It's a Western that shakes off the dust and sets down the six-guns, if you dig deep and think about it.

It's been a while since I saw this movie, but I remember being impressed with the performances of both Fess Parker and Jeff Chandler. The other person who commented on this movie implied the Chandler character murdered Parker's wife. I don't think that's correct. He just dumped her and she killed herself, or some sort of indirect thing like that. I've since heard part of the movie score on a soundtrack CD showcasing the music of Jerome Moross. Wow! No wonder I liked the movie, the score is really great with a driving main theme. Look for a CD called "The Cardinal - Classic Film Scores of Jerome Moross". There is 16 minutes of music from "The Jayhawkers".

A fun to watch western containing Fess Parker's best performance, the show is stolen by Jeff Chandler's performance as the baddie you hate to see taken down. However, as outstanding as Chandler is, the real star of the film is Jerome Moross' pulse-pounding score, which predates his legendary music for THE BIG COUNTRY. It's every bit as good, if not better. Henry Silva is (of course) scuzzy as a hired gun. Catch it. Any western fan won't regret it.