Wichita

Wyatt Earp cleans up the title town after it's overrun by rowdy cattlemen. Made nine years after "My Darling Clementine," the definitive film about Earp, this standard oater focuses on the legendary gunman's early career. McCrea would have been well suited to the role except that he was 50 when this film was made and was much too old to be playing Earp as a young man starting his career as a frontier lawman. It also looks a bit creepy when he is romancing the lovely Miles, who was young enough to have played his daughter. Earp is assisted here by Bat Masterson, a role McCrea himself played a few years later in "The Gunfight at Dodge City."

This movie's a little stiff and simplistic, but entertaining. Here's what I liked: Joel McCrea is a good leading man, fits this role nicely, although he's probably too old to be playing Wyatt Earp here. Good basic "taming of the Wild West story", done much better by John Ford a few years later in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence". Both movies have a drunken intellectual newspaper editor and Vera Miles is the love interest in both movies. -Usual stock group of great Western character actors from the '50's, including Edgar Buchanan, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Robert Wilke and Jack Elam. Buchanan at his best playing a man of poor character and low repute. No plot holes and it maintains good interest throughout. Here's what wasn't so great: I'm rarely excited by "town" Westerns. They are usually shot mostly back lot, so there's little scenery. They also have little opportunity to weave in Indian, Civil War or Mexican themes. This whole thing's a little cookie cutter, simplistic and stiff. I know this was very typical in many '50's movies, but I will continue to keep pointing out that the age difference between Joel McCrea and Vera Miles is too wide. Including Stewart and Wayne in "Valence", Miles was fawned over by three leading men who were cumulatively almost 100 years older than her! At least Ethan kept his hands off of her in "The Searchers". Also, her part is gratuitous. No comic relief

WICHITA 1955 This Allied Artists film is a Cinemascope production shot in vibrant Technicolor. This western stars Joel McCrea, Vera Miles, Lloyd Bridges, Edgar Buchanan, Carl Benton Reid, Mae Clarke, Robert Wilkie, Jack Elam, Wallace Ford, Peter Graves and Walter Sande. Joel McCrea plays Wyatt Earp here. McCrea is travelling to Wichita Kansas to look into setting up a business. He has a small fortune saved up from his buffalo hunting days. He meets up with a group of cattlemen running a herd of beef to the rail-head at Wichita. The boss, Walter Sande, offers Earp some grub and a place to bed down that night. Two of the cowhands, Lloyd Bridges and Rayford Barnes lift McCrea's cash during the night. This shall we say causes more than a little ill will. McCrea takes his cash back and thumps Bridges for his troubles. This of course sets up for some violence later on. McCrea hits town and soon makes friends with local newsman, Wallace Ford, and his reporter, Bat Masterson, played by Keith Larson. McCrea impresses the local town big shots when he foils a robbery at the town bank. They offer him the job as Town Marshal. McCrea turns the offer down. McCrea however takes up the badge after a small boy is shot by a bunch of drunken cowboys. He collars the cowpokes and fires the whole mess of them into jail. There is now a series of events that has McCrea at odds with the cowboys, some of the town elders and one of the saloon owners, Edgar Buchanan. The biggest bone of contention is the new law of McCrea's of no guns to be carried in town. McCrea also finds time during all this to step out with pretty Vera Miles. Miles is the daughter of one of the town's leading citizens, Walter Coy. Coy is not happy about this and tries to stop Miles from seeing McCrea. Saloon owner Buchanan hires a couple of out of town guns to eliminate McCrea. Too bad for Buchanan, that the two, Peter Graves and John Smith, are actually two more of the Earp brothers. McCrea gives Buchanan an hour to leave town. Needless to say Buchanan does not take the ejection well. He returns that night with Jack Elam and Rayford Barnes. The attempted killing misses McCrea and gets Miss Miles mother, Mae Clarke, instead. McCrea and his brothers are soon in hot pursuit. Elam and Barnes are quickly ran to ground and dispatched. Buchanan however escapes. He meets up with the cow-poke pals of Elam and Barnes. He soon has the group whipped up for a spot of revenge on McCrea and company. We all know how this is going to end. This is a much better than expected western with fine work from the entire cast and crew. The film was helmed by Jacques Tourneur. Tourneur is most well known as the director of the noir classic, OUT OF THE PAST. The man worked in several genres and put out more than a few excellent films. These include, CAT PEOPLE, THE LEOPARD MAN, BERLIN EXPRESS, CANYON PASSAGE, STARS IN MY CROWN, NIGHT OF THE DEMON and NIGHTFALL. The look of the film is top flight with Harold Lipstein handling the cinematography duties. His work include the westerns, WALK THE PROUD LAND, CHIEF CRAZY HORSE, DRUMS ACROSS THE RIVER, NO NAME ON THE BULLET, AMBUSH , HELL IS FOR HEROES and NO QUESTIONS ASKED. Look close and you will see former early western star, Franklyn Farnum as well as McCrea's son, Jody, in small bits.

Wyatt Earp was another example of a fascinating person with a fascinating story, so any film about him is always welcome. It is a shame that Jacques Tourneur is as underrated as he is, as he had great talent as a director. One of the best film noirs ever 'Out of the Past' and the very influential 'Cat People' are proof of that. Joel McCrea, Vera Miles and Lloyd Bridges were always worth seeing, and all three have good performances in other films. Anybody that loves the Western genre, or at least appreciates it, are likely to find a lot to like about 'Wichita'. To me, it is not quite a classic and is a film to be taken on its own and to be dismissed on biographical terms. 'Wichita' still struck me as very good, with a lot of things being excellent. With this film, it is easy to see why those who have heard of Tourneur and like some of his films have found appeal in him and also why the cast are as regarded as they are. Sure 'Wichita' is cliched, with a lot of elements that people who know the genre will recognise from elsewhere. Those that know intimately about Earp and his life will despair at how the film plays fast and loose with the facts, which were even more interesting than what was presented here. Perhaps the pace could have been tighter at times. However, 'Wichita' is very handsomely shot, making the most of the settings that are full of unforgiving grit and atmosphere, and there are no signs of time and budget constraints visually. Tourneur's direction is exemplary, taut, elegant and frames and stages the action with accomplishment and ease. It is a very different kettle of fish to his direction for 'Out of the Past' and 'Cat People', but he didn't seem out of his depth here and it shows that he did have versatility. The music fits very well and the theme song from Tex Ritter is memorable. The script was clearly written with a lot of intelligence and is literate without being too talk heavy. The story also compels on the most part, it excites, it doesn't hold back in the more tense scenes and it's moving in spots. As well as nostalgic. The action is spectacular, thrillingly staged and beautifully filmed. The romantic angle doesn't feel like padding or tacked on, a mistake that quite a number of similar films make. It may not be completely accurate, but it is a very well told and engaging story in its own way. Earp is a character of real authority here while being characterised in a way that makes one find it easy to empathise with his conflicts. McCrea does superbly at showing all those things in his performance too. Miles is luminous and charming and Keith Larson and Edgar Buchanan are effective in their parts. Overall, very good and deserving of more credit. 8/10

First off the head star Joel McCrea does a great job in portraying a man of the west. He is tall, has a good build, great demeanor and comes across mellow until he has to come across another way. This one has it all: Bad and good guys, love interest, lots of horses, cattle, cowboys, shooting, drinking, saloon activities, painted ladies, piano playing with a touch of what it was like back then at the start of the cattle boom along with the railroad teaming up. Good supporting staff plus direction makes it come alive and make sense. We all have heard about the shoot-out at the OK corral in Tombstone but this takes place prior to that in Wichita where he had done some good work. They even mention in this movie that he was known for some other heroic deed prior to that. So we get to be in a part of his history courtesy of this movie. Pay special attention to his sidearm. Its a cannon and supports the premise of one shot one kill and don't make me pull-it which btw Earp utters a couple of times which helps to build tension and suspense. Very easy in this movie to root for the good guys and boo the bad guys. Nice closure at the end and I highly recommend singing along with the end credit song to just end it all on a whooping good note. Those old Western songs do the trick! I ate some home roasted pine nuts and had a tasty drink during this movie plus a meat dish with Quinoa all delicious. Plan your watching now and enjoy. Let's ride all you pards!

I missed the beginning but enjoyed what I saw of this film. McCrae is Wyatt Earp, hired by the city fathers to clean up the wild town of Wichita, Kansas. He begins by prohibiting the wearing of guns in the town limits. It gives the city fathers second thoughts because, after all, a cow poke is not a cow poke without an instrument to kill, and Wichita wants the cow pokes to visit and spend their dollars in the saloon and other facilities. Wyatt is joined by his brothers, Morgan and Virgil, and they arrest the most corrupt of the town fathers who, mistaking their identities, tries to hire them to kill Wyatt. Lloyd Bridges is on hand for a final shoot out. Vera Miles is stunning in the way that only a beauty contest winner from a prairie state can be stunning. What do they feed their young girls in Oklahoma -- peaches, corn, and cream? Miles' father objects to the pairing of McCrae and Vera. "You know why, don't you Wyatt?" "Yes, I do." They're talking about the likelihood of Earp's being shot down on the streets, but Dad might have harboring somewhere in the back of his preconscious the realization that McCrae is about one hundred years Miles' senior. McCrae was aging by this time and following the trajectory of other fading actors by appearing in inexpensive Westerns. Even the urbane Ray Milland could be found in boots. But McCrae seems to have been a genuinely nice guy, so he's acceptable in the role. It was directed efficiently but without poetry by Jacques Tourneur, of all people. The script leaves the some of the heavies just enough humanity to raise this above the usual Manichean Western that divides people into pure good and pure evil. It's ironic that the audience watching this on television will root for, and applaud, Wyatt Earp in his attempt to bring peace to the town by forbidding the wearing of guns -- ironic because the most powerful gun lobby in Washington has just successfully argued that the best way to prevent regular shoot outs like Wichita's is to arm everyone with guns, including school teachers.

The now-familiar and evergreen story of Wyatt Earp's maverick attempts (& succeeding) at ridding all guns from the Western frontier town of Wichita, is again shown here, directed with some style by Jacques Tourneur, from 1955. Joel Mc Crea - not quite a superstar of Westerns, is suitably refrained but still somehow imposing as the law enforcement officer Earp. There's good action at the start, as bands of outlaws ride in, guns blazing, fights in Saloon bars and general terrorising of the residents. Mc Crea is good, Vera Miles lovely and a turn from Lloyd Bridges is always welcome. The colour and clarity are also good, though the Technicolor less vibrant and saturated than is often the case, making the film look more natural. Though I'm no expert on the Western, I do enjoy a good one and whilst this was entertaining enough, it didn't strike me as one to particularly remember. It didn't drag, wasn't boring and is probably better than average, but not quite enough for 7/10.

Wyatt Earp (1848 – 1929)is probably the most famous lawmaker from the old west. He appears in this 1955 film. Earp is most famous for the "Gunfight at the OK Corral", made famous in novels and films. Earp was first featured in the 1923 "Wild Bill Hickok" where he was played by Bert Lindley. Earp himself worked behind the scenes with his buddy William Hart (who played Hickok). He appeared again in "Frontier Marshall" (1934) based on the novel of the same name. George O'Brien played Earp. John Ford produced the first notable film about Earp, called "My Darling Clementine" (1946) which many people consider a great film. Henry Fonda played Earp and Victor Mature played a wonderful coughing Doc Holiday. The "Wyatt Earp" TV series (1955 – 61) had Hugh O'Brian as Earp. The series gave birth to the 1957 film "Gunfight at OK Corral" with Burt Lancaster as Earp. John Sturges directed this film and re-visited the era with "Hour of the Gun" (1967) with James Garner (Earp), Jason Robards (Doc) and Robert Ryan (Ike Clanton). In the 1990s, "Tombstone" (1993) and "Wyatt Earp" (1994) gave us more intense portraits. In Tombstone, we have Kurt Russell as Earp and in "Wyatt Earp" Kevin Costner. For my tastes, the best Earp was Hugh O'Brien on the TV series, followed by Kurt Russell ("Tombstone") whom I think was the more realistic Earp. Joel McCrea does a really poor job as Earp. McCrea was a great Western actor and he was terrific in "Ride the High Country". But he adds nothing to the Earp legend in this one.

here we got another pretty old guy playing a middle-aged romeo and the legendary hero. this mediocre western provided tailor made shirts and pants, cool gun belts, crazy low-life mindless childish cowboys. when they reached Wichita, the horses they rode in, lined up along the street in front of the taverns and bars just like what we did today, parking our cars one by one if we were lucky enough to find a space where the meter was running, 4 hoofs replaced by 4 wheels, the only difference is those horses didn't have to pay state and city taxes to get the license plates, pay the annual vehicle registration fee, horses riding over two years didn't need to pay another fee for smog check. guns were like adult toys in moronic childish hands to shoot aimlessly. nowadays, the guns fired from the thugs and gang-bangers to the sky in los Angeles or other big cities, the stray bullets also killed a lot of people. all the western movies always come with loud music to glorified the scenes, when train arrived, the main character rode into town, before and after the duels, or rode into wildness, into the sunset afterward, the sound track would blast loud music to accommodate those scenes, some of the movies even never stopped playing music. this kinda format really annoyed me to the extreme and i have to turn down the volume all the time when i watched these kinda movies and i am tired of it.

Superior McCrea western thanks to an intelligent script that also plays up the actor's penchant for steely resolve. How much law and order is too much. That's the question the town council of Wichita must decide. Too much will drive away the fun-starved cowboys coming to town after a long trail drive. Too little and the town gets shot up. Newly installed Sheriff Earp (McCrea) is on the side of strict law and order, forbidding the cowboys from bringing their guns to town. This upsets powerful businessmen and saloon owners. So Earp must contend not only with rowdy cowboys but with town politics as well. McCrea is perfect for the quietly resolute sheriff. As expected there's no swagger or bravado in his grim determination to keep other townspeople from being accidentally killed by busting-loose cowhands. When he stands alone, you believe it. It's also a well-stocked production from lowly Allied Artists, with enough extras to make the crowded town scenes credible. Of course, there's a romantic angle with a lovely but heavily made-up Vera Miles (soon to come under the wing of Hitchcock in such thrillers as The Wrong Man {1956} and Psycho {1960}). But the romance is pretty well integrated into the plot, without dangling like a distractive add-on. All in all, it's a good western drama woven around the quietly powerful Joel McCrea.