Between his short-lived western television series "Cimarron City" (1958-1959) and Maury Dexter's "Outlaw of Red River" (1965) his one and only stint at Spaghetti westerns, George Montgomery made "King of the Wild Stallions" for prolific western director R.G. Springsteen. Basically, this is a tame, standard-issue oater with traditional elements about a female rancher and a lone mustang named 'Lightning.' The mustang leads a bunch of other horses into land owned by two rival ranchers when it cannot find water at its usual stomping grounds. One of the ranchers is the unscrupulous Matt Maguire (Emile Meyer of "Shane") who has deep pockets and wants to buy off his rival rancher. As it turns out, Maguire's rival is a widow woman, Martha Morse (Diane Brewster of "Black Patch"), who is having a tough go of it. She has only two ranch hands, Randy Burke (George Montgomery of "Hostile Guns") and an old-timer Idaho (Edgar Buchanan of "The Comancheros") to work her sprawling spread. Somebody has driven off her cattle and she is about to lose her government grazing rights if she cannot get a $500 loan. Maguire convinces the local real estate agent, A.B. Orcutt (Byron Foulger of "Sullivan's Travels"), not to lend her the loot. Morse's top hand Randy Burke coerces the banker into giving him the money when he enters his office after hours. Orcutt accuses him of strong-arm robbery, but the sheriff doesn't see it that way, especially since Randy gave Orcutt a deed. Unfortunately, the wicked Maguire and his two henchmen, Doc Webber (Denver Pyle of "Bonnie & Clyde") and Woody Baines (Dan Sheridan), steal the money from him. Meantime, the eponymous stallion has been giving everybody fits. Initially, Martha's young son Bucky (Jerry Harlteben of "The Buccaneer") thwarted Woody from shooting the horse. Now, Maguire has offered a $500 bounty on the horse. Everybody tries to capture the horse, but Bucky manages to pull off the impossible. He has captured the unruly black stallion accidentally after it had eluded everybody else. "Shootout at Medicine Bend" lenser Carl Guthrie's widescreen cinematography in Deluxe color is truly a sight to behold. Vasquez Rocks has never looked more picturesque. Springsteen does the best that he can with Ford Beebe's one-dimensional screenplay. It looks like the lady is going to lose everything, but everything turns out alright at fade-out. Montgomery and Meyer tangle in a street brawl at the end. This isn't a shoot'em up dust raiser with a high body count. Indeed, "King of the Wild Stallions" qualifies as a family western.

King of the Wild Stallions is directed by R.G. Springsteen and written by Ford Beebe. It stars George Montgomery, Diane Brewster, Edgar Buchanan, Emile Meyer and Jerry Hartleben. A CinemaScope/DeLuxe Color production, music is by Marlin Skiles and cinematography by Carl Guthrie.A widow and her young son find trouble at their remote ranch, with the land baron vultures circling. But help could come from an unlikely source.It's indicative of many other family friendly Westerns of the 1950s, but as it happens this is no bad thing where King of the Wild Stallions is concerned. It's a charming film full of likable Western movie character actors who are able to keep the safe formula on the good side of good. It all comes down to goodies doing battle with the baddies, with the added bonus of a jet black equine called Lightning who dominates most of the narrative. The backdrop of Vasquez Rocks is beautifully captured by Guthrie's scope photography, while the action is well marshalled by old pro Springsteen, including a horse fight! Time to shout for the goodies here, hooray! 7/10

THE KING OF THE WILD STALLIONS is a well-made Allied Artists western starring George Montgomery, Diane Brewster and a nice cast of superior B western actors, including Byron Foulger and Edgar Buchanan.It also boasts Forde Beebe's last script. Beebe was a long-time B director and writer, whose credits went back to J.P. McGowan's unit in 1915. He never raised his head above the Bs, but knew how to put the elements together. In this one he combines two standards of the genre: the pretty rancher who needs her ranch protected from the dastardly rich man and the taming of a wild stallion.It is well directed by R.G. Springsteen and features the handsome Vasquez Rocks for the outdoors photography, well-shot by Carl Guthrie. There isn't much surprising in this movie; by this point, the dying B western was as rigid a form as Noh drama. Still, everything is put together as well as it can be. Fans of the genre will not be disappointed.

I remember seeing King Of The Wild Stallions years ago on television and then it became unavailable. It's a nice combination of elements of the film Shane and the television series Fury.It sure is the story of a horse and the boy who loves him. Young Jerry Hartlebren after all the grownups fail captures a wild black stallion who is in the title role. But he keeps it a secret until the horse is ready to be broken. A lot of people would like that stallion including the kingpin rancher in the area Emile Meyer.Meyer as we know played another kingpin rancher in Shane, the man who intimidated and bullied all around him. He's no better in this film. He's offered a $500.00 reward for the capture of the black stallion.Which curiously enough is the amount that Hartlebren's mother Diane Brewster needs to keep her place, it's the amount she needs to renew her lease on some government range. Meyer wants that lease and he does just about anything to push Brewster off her place short of hiring a gunfighter as he did in Shane.Good thing Brewster has her two hands George Montgomery and Edgar Buchanan around to protect her. Especially for Montgomery and Brewster.King Of The Wild Stallions is a nice family film which I would recommend highly as family entertainment. It's easy to take with nice people as those who triumph in the end. It holds up well after 55 years.