Colorado Territory (1949) - full review!
Directed by Raoul Walsh, based on the W.R. Burnett (Wake Island (1942)) novel High Sierra, this remake of the 1941 film, with a screenplay co-written by Edmund H. North (Patton (1970)), was made into a slightly above average Western starring Joel McCrea. The cast also includes Virginia Mayo, Dorothy Malone, Henry Hull, James Mitchell, Morris Ankrum, and Ian Wolfe, among others.
McCrea plays the outlaw with a price on his head that escapes from prison and vows to go straight. Unfortunately, his path leads him to his old partner (Basil Ruysdael), and his new gang (John Archer, Mitchell, and Harry Woods), who convinces him to try one last railroad heist to set him up for life. Shortly after his escape, McCrea’s character had met another man (Hull) and his attractive daughter (a brunette Malone) who were heading west also, when he saves them from a stagecoach robbery. Hull's character was trying to get his daughter away from an impossible relationship while hoping to find success farming the barren landscape. McCrea’s character is attracted to her, and hopes to return to his farming roots (and her) after his last score.
Mayo plays (the title character?) Colorado Carson, a tough, attractive young woman from a harsh upbringing that finds herself among the gang. McCrea’s character initially insists that Colorado will lead to nothing but trouble before he decides to protect her from the others. Wolfe plays the railroad employee who's the gang's inside track to the heist; he double crosses them by telling the Marshal (Ankrum; Monte Blue appears uncredited as another) of their plans, for the reward money on McCrea. Frank Puglia plays Brother Tomas, a monk (?) who happens to be in the deserted town that the gang calls their hideout.
*** SPOILERS ***
McCrea and Mayo outsmart the others during the heist, escaping with the loot while leaving them to be captured. They return to Ruysdael’s to find he's been killed by Woods, who wounds McCrea before McCrea kills him. They then use Hull's place to hideout, temporarily, while Mayo removes the bullet from McCrea’s shoulder. Malone almost gives them away when the Marshal et al arrive, but they're able to escape, again temporarily, before the Marshal corners McCrea, who'd left Mayo behind, at some cliff-side ruins. She arrives to inadvertently lure him to his death, having been tricked into it by the Marshal. She is shot dead as well and the two die holding hands.
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