At film's beginning Booth Colman, as editor of the Ohio Gazette, wastes seven minutes narrating the ruthlessness of William Quantrill, infamously known gang leader and Confederate sympathizer who murdered the adult male population of Lawrence Kansas. Since the first few active minutes of the movie do center on the Civil War brigand, one wonders why the narration persists for so long. Anyway, with the War over (1865), the story begins to move along smoothly as the Quantrill band continues to operate.Union Captain Tom Andrews (Buster Crabbe) tracks down and corners Quantrill (Fred Graham) and his gang in an abandoned farmhouse/barn. Although some gang members escape, Quantrill is severely wounded and captured. He will eventually breathe his last in a Union hospital, and he will not be seen in the picture again. (By the way, Quantrill died in June 1865.) Meanwhile two gang members are captured, partially through the machinations of Montana Smith (George Keymas), a shady and disloyal gang member who escapes the Federal grasp. The two arrested ex-Confederate soldiers, Clint Stewart (Audie Murphy) and friend Willie Martin (Ben Cooper), served honorably for the Southern cause. But when they returned home at war's end they found that Carpetbaggers were in control. Since the two ex-troopers could not find work, they joined Quantrill's outfit. Though the sympathy of both Andrews and the presiding judge, the two receive lighter sentences than usual but still get 20 years hard labor in prison. Escaping from the Federal troops, both Montana and Brady (Michael Dante) have reformed the Quantrill gang and are running roughshod in Arizona, where the post-Civil War law is not strong. Enter Andrews again, as he has been hired by the territorial governor to head up the newly formed Arizona Rangers. Andrews' mission is to capture the gang and bring it to justice. As Andrews is impressed with Stewart and Martin's background he makes a risky bargain with them: unconditional pardons and positions as Arizona Rangers if they infiltrate the gang and bring about its destruction. To make the situation legitimate, Andrews arranges for a fake-prison escape. The two ex-Rebels can flee to Mexico, but better judgment prevails and they go to work against Montana and Brady, who by this time have taken control of a Yaqui Indian village.This rousing and colorful western features beautiful Arizona scenery. William Whitney directed a typical cowboy movie with some perky shoot-outs and ornery villains, especially Keymas' sadistic and vile Montana (By contrast, accomplice Brady is almost a church choir member). Fred Graham, who portrays Quantrill, was twice the age of the real outlaw, but his work here is sound. Murphy of course fits in well in a familiar role.There were high quality westerns made in 1965, like "Major Dundee," "The Sons of Katie Elder," and the comedy-western "Cat Ballou." But it was a watershed year for the genre as times were a-changin'. In 1966 Burt Kennedy would direct "Welcome to Hard Times" (released in 1967). Also, westerns from Europe were making their arrivals in the USA. These films would alter the western and blur the distinction between the good guys and the bad ones. They kept the guns of the good guy, but took away most of his moral code. Alas, they created the anti-hero, a major influence of those westerns made in the late 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. (See my review for the watershed western "Welcome to Hard Times" dated 23 Nov 2011.)

It is impossible to imagine a worse beginning to a film. Booth Colman plays a newspaper man who provides a long, meandering, long, convoluted, long, unnecessary, and overly LONG introduction explaining Quantrill's history. He actually breaks the fourth wall and talks directly into the camera as if we're his junior high school class. This goes on for a full SEVEN MINUTES before the movie starts, then they cut to Quantrill himself leading his men to a raid and we are treated to a DIFFERENT actor providing voice-over narration explaining what Quantrill is doing ALL OVER AGAIN. I GIVE!! UNCLE!! MAKE IT STOP!!! Audie Murphy and Ben Cooper are convicted for their part in riding with Quantrill and not until THIRTY-EIGHT MINUTES into the film are they sprung from a chain gang by Buster Crabbe to earn unconditional pardons for themselves by becoming Arizona Raiders, infiltrating the newly-formed gang of old raiders, and bringing them all to justice. Even film fans who have never taken Screenplay 101 know that the entire premise of the film needs to be provided to the audience within the first ten minutes of the film, not thirty-eight! The most excruciating of all endurance tests.Because Audie Murphy is the good guy, we know all the "tension" generated by whether he will or won't keep his promise to the rangers is pointless...of course, he strays from the goal every once in a while and someone close to him always manages to die because of it, so he is kept on the righteous path. Of course, the screenwriter has the most important symbol that Audie should care about die first, then a less important person (who seems to make a bigger difference to Audie), and then a Yaqui Indian woman is the one who drives it all home for him (even though they have no relationship and he has no reason to care at all about her). That's just dumb. On top of all that, the first half of the film sets up George Keymas' character as the arch-nemesis for Audie's character (and the main reason Audie agrees to become a ranger), yet it is all undermined when Audie kills him immediately upon finding the gang's hideout halfway through the film! From than point on, Michael Dante's character becomes the main nemesis, but he and Audie have no history/personal grudge/drama/conflict between each other...Dante's character is not even remotely as interesting, or evil, or sadistic as Keymas' character, so it becomes a "So what?" kind of scenario. Everything that gets built up fizzles into ho-hum and is undermined by the screenwriter, so we're left with a lot of dopiness and zero tension.Okay, now for the good parts...Audie Murphy, Ben Cooper, Ray Stricklyn, and Buster Crabbe are EXCELLENT!! They absolutely lift this poorly written and constructed film up several notches just by their presence and commitment to their characters. Audie Murphy was short, soft-spoken, and baby-faced...on paper, not the ideal characteristics for a Western hero (truly the anti-John Wayne)...yet it speaks volumes about his charisma and talent (especially for a self-professed "non-actor") that he is such a joy to watch.If one can ignore the lousy stunt work, even worse stunt doubling, bad foley work, and unimpressive soundtrack, the directing was not bad at all. The action was handled well, and the Arizona scenery was really a pleasure to see.This is, at BEST, a so-so film...for Audie Murphy fans only. If you can grip the seat cushions and force yourself through the first thirty-eight minutes, the rest of the film has several nice moments that are decent rewards for the initial torture. Don't spend money to rent or buy it, but if it comes on cable, it's worth a look.

This movie is a remake of the 1951 movie "The Texas Rangers", same plot, same storyline, same lines. Only the locale and the actors are different. I take that back, this time it wasn't just a couple of men who were removed from prison, they were moved from state to state.Having said that, I did enjoy the movie. There were enough changes to make it interesting. Audie Murphy did a wonderful job in the lead role. The location was beautiful. The director did a good job in making this movie stand on it's own. If you liked the earlier movie, you will enjoy this remake. Audie Murphy fans should enjoy seeing him in this.

It was really great watching it being filmed. I was lucky enough to meet and get autographs from AUDIE MURPHY, BEN COOPER, GLORIA TALBOTT, GEORGE KEYMAS. Lucky enough to get my picture taken with BEN COOPER. I rate this movie 1000% I also have a bought copy and watch it quite often. Gidget [Lilly