Renegade Girl stars Ann Savage in this Lippert Production about a Belle Starr like outlaw who after some service with Quantrill's Raiders leads an outlaw band. The story is a rehashed version not of the real Belle Starr's story, but of the 20th Century Fox film that starred Gene Tierney and Randolph Scott. Elements of that plot are definitely present.For the tough leader of an outlaw band this woman has a lot of issues. She has a mission that tops all, to get Chief Thundercloud who is another renegade leader who has a grudge against her family the Shelbys. What the grudge is we're not told, but he's wiped out her whole family except for her.Ann's got Union Cavalry captain Alan Curtis and fellow outlaw Russell Wade panting after her, but her mission comes first.Renegade Girl is a poorly plotted and shoddily directed affair. Only the most confirmed B western addicts should be looking at this one.

For a good while into the film, it was a bit difficult to figure out what the main theme of the story would be. There was mention of Quantrill's Raiders, Indian Chief White Cloud who was out for revenge on the Shelby family, and a tease of a romance between Jean Shelby (Ann Savage) and Union Captain Fred Raymond (Alan Curtis). That last one managed to confuse me a bit; when Jean first saw Captain Raymond, it was with some recognition, although with regret he was in a Union uniform. Later on in the story though, she asked him his first name. I had to wonder why that was the case.Fundamentally, it's Miss Shelby's story and her attempt to seek out White Cloud (Chief Thunder Cloud) and avenge the death of her parents at his hands. Quantrill (Ray Corrigan) makes a brief appearance, but is conveniently done away with off screen so the rag-tag remnants of his gang, led by Jerry Long (Russell Wade), can join Shelby in her mission. To get the bunch to go along, Shelby offers to marry the man who has the 'most' to do with finding and capturing White Cloud. Another head scratcher - how was she going to determine that? Of course the writers knew they were never going to take it that far, thereby letting everybody off the hook. At least Bob Crandall (Edward Brophy) had the right perspective on the whole marriage thing. He wouldn't marry Jean even if he won because he thought too much of her. That was the most gallantry the film had to offer.The finale winds up being one of the oddest ones ever. White Cloud had already shot Jean once earlier in the picture, requiring some months for her to mend. In a rare event, the main female character takes a bullet one more time, this time a fatal one. But at least she managed to take down White Cloud as well, in a cross fire exchange that brought the Cherokee Chief to his own untimely end.

"Renegade Girl" was an early effort from the Lippert Company directed by veteran William A. Berke. It contains plenty of action and has many sexual innuendos, risky for the time and for a "B" western.Jean Shelby (Ann Savage) is using her charms to aid the south during the Civil War. The Yankees are seeking her brother Bob (James Martin) who is a Rebel officer. Major Barker (Jack Holt) questions Jean and renegade Chief White Cloud (Chief Thundercloud) and sends out a patrol to find her brother. Jean meets Captain Fred Raymond (Alan Curtis and is attracted to him.Jean manages to get Bob away from the family ranch. On her way to the camp of William Quantrill (Ray Corrigan), Bob becomes weak and Jean is forced to leave him on the roadside while she goes for help. Meanwhile White Cloud murders Bob Shelby. White Cloud and his band then raid the Shelby ranch and murder Jean's parents. She vows revenge. She also manages to save Raymond from Quantrill's gang along the way.Jean is shot by White Cloud and taken to Dr. Manson's (Forrest Taylor) home where she is cared for by his daughter Mary (Claudia Drake). In the meantime Capt. Raymond has been imprisoned by the rebels and jean thinks that he has abandoned her. After she recovers and after the war, she joins up with the remnants of Quantrill's gang and takes on the identity of Marie Carroll and rides with them on various raids. She joins on the condition that the gang make White Cloud their number one priority. she also promises to "marry" the one who leads her to the Indian.Raymond is released from prison and returns to find that Jean has gone. We learn that the most amorous of the outlaws, Jerry Long (Russell Wade) a rebel, had withheld letters from Raymond to Jean for his own gain. Anyway Jean finally tracks down White Cloud and..............This little opus is blessed with a cast of recognizable veteran players. In addition to those already mentioned, Edward Brophy, Dick Curtis, Ernie Adams, and Harry Cording play various raiders and John "Dusty" King, Edmund Cobb and Kermit Maynard appear as Union soldiers.Ann Savage had a brief career in the 40s and fifties as a sort of poverty row femme fatale. "Detour" (1945) immediately comes to mind. She plays a femme fatale in this film as well and although the sexual suggestions are subdued due to censorship, there is little doubt left as to how she gets her way and survives among the gang.Ray "Crash" Corrigan and John "Dusty" King had been two thirds of Monogram's "Range Busters" in the early 40s. For King, this was his final film. Corrogan's career was virtually over at this point too, although he continued to appear in relatively minor roles for the next ten years or so.Ambitious little western film Noire.

A Western with a semi-historical Civil War setting, "Renegade Girl" gets off to a fast start and has a good ending, although in between it slows down quite a bit. It has an interesting story and leading character.Ann Savage stars as Jean Shelby, a Confederate sympathizer in Missouri late in the Civil War. She and her family have been helping provide information to Quantrill's raiders, so the Union Army is trying to find the Shelbys, assisted by an outcast Indian who has his own grudge against the family. Things get complicated when Jean and Union Captain Fred Raymond fall in love with each other, raising difficult questions about their loyalties and futures.The film gets off to a pretty good start, with a lot of action that is mostly plausible, especially given the complex historical situation. It slows down then for quite a while, and starts to drag a bit. But it picks up towards the end, and the final sequence is pretty good, and not predictable. Savage does rather well in the lead, making her character mostly believable. Most of the other characters are routine (especially the Indians, portrayed in a very unfavorable light), aside from Edward Brophy as a gregarious member of Quantrill's gang.There's nothing spectacular here, but it's a decent film and should be worth watching either for fans of old Westerns or for those interested in movies about the Civil War era.