Randolph Scott (John Stewart), Jocelyn Brando (Corinne Michaels), Richard Boone (Wick Campbell), Alfonso Bedoya (Hernando), Donna Martell (Maria Segura), Skip Homeier (Howie Stewart), Clem Bevans (Tod Grinnel), Leo Gordon (Frank Scavo), Minor Watson (Jason Carr), Lester Matthews (Adam Stewart), Tom Powers (Green), Dennis Weave (Sheiff Clyde Gibbons), Lee Van Cleef (Al Drucker), Louis Jean Heydt (Tom Baines), Kathleen Croiwley (Marva Gibbons), Boyd "Red" Morgan (Red Dawes), Denver Pyle (Dave Weed), Francis McDonald (Warner), Pat Collins (bartender), Robert Ivers (John Stewart acolyte), Paul Maxey (cattle buyer), and George Boyce, Franklyn Farnum, Terry Frost, Edna Holland, Reed Howes, Jack Perrin, Carlos Vera, Julian Rivero.Director: BRUCE HUMBERSTONE. Screenplay: Kenneth Gamet. Story: Irving Ravetch, Harriet Frank, junior. Photographed in Color by Technicolor by Wilfrid M. Cline. Film editor: Gene Havlick. Art director: Edward Ilou. Set decorator: Frank Tuttle. Music: Paul Sawtell. Technicolor color consultant: Francis Cugat. Special effects supervisor: Barney Wolff. Stunts: Red Morgan, Boyd Stockman. Set continuity: Dolores Rubin. Assistant director: Wilbur McGaugh. Assistant to the producer: David Breen. Sound recording supervisor: John Livadary. Sound recording: Jack Goodrich. Associate producer: Randolph Scott. Producer: Harry Joe Brown. A Scott-Brown Production. A Columbia Picture. Copyright 1955. U.S. release: 1 February 1955. No recorded New York opening. Australian release: 15 July 1955. 7,187 feet. 79 minutes. SYNOPSIS: John Stewart has carved out a cattle empire in Arizona. He is forced to defend himself against killers imported by Wick Campbell. COMMENT: The story may be routine, and it's also true that the plot has some gaping holes, as many previous reviewers have suggested, but nevertheless I quite enjoyed this entry, thanks to the vigorous direction of "Lucky" Humberstone, the pleasing Technicolor hues caught by cinematographer Wilfrid M. Cline, and the efforts of an outstanding support cast led by the lovely and talented Jocelyn Brando (Marlon's sister).

Ten Wanted Men (the title hints at something far more dramatic than is actually in the picture} is a serviceable, but instantly forgettable, Western from the Scott-Brown production company. Directed by jobber H. Bruce Humberstone, with a screenplay by Kenneth Gamet {from a story by Irving Ravetch} and filmed in Technicolor out in Old Tuscon, it feels {and is} lifeless and poor on structure and execution. With some misplaced humour and a cobbled together plot, this ultimately ends up as a time filler for Randy Scott completists only. There's some enjoyment to be had from watching our Randy lob dynamite around, and Leo Gordon steals the movie as menacing villain Frank Scavo. But it never comes together to make a worthy mark. And when a cast list contains Randolph Scott, Richard Boone, Lee Van Cleef, Skip Homeier and Dennis Weaver-that's a crime as much as it is a shame. 4/10

Well I don't know if there were more than three or four of the ten wanted men of the title to challenge Randolph Scott in this mid 1950's Western, which played a lot more like an oater from a decade or two earlier. This was not Scott's finest hour, which probably explains only a single outfit change from a plaid shirt to the standard black with white kerchief to wind up the picture. Probably the best reason to tune in is to catch some of the premier Western henchmen of the day chewing it up at the expense of the Stewart (Scott) clan. I think I prefer Richard Boone as a heavy, even though Paladin was a favorite character of mine. The best villain title of the picture goes to Leo Gordon in what could have easily been the second lead in the story to Randolph Scott himself. Gordon's character even turns on his boss Wick Campbell (Boone), showing that you just can't trust a bad guy when it comes to money. Lee Van Cleef and Denver Pyle hadn't hit their peak yet as character actors, and it's cool to see them as part of Gordon's bad guy posse, even if they didn't last long. Skip Homeier makes quick work of Pyle, and Scott unceremoniously wastes Van Cleef's character in a quick gun battle.As for the main protagonists, I would have to say that the showdown between Randolph Scott and Richard Boone takes the prize as the shortest range shootout ever - about three feet across a wooden table! They were so close they could have actually touched each other. Considering the way the picture started, that probably should have been the finale, but that was left to a Scott vs. Gordon confrontation that ended rather clumsily when the roof fell in. Seriously, Gordon went down under rafters and debris while Scott just stood there watching. I would have re-wound to see what I missed but I caught this on Encore Westerns, so there was no way for a do over.Oh yeah, there were a couple of romantic angles going on (Homeier and Donna Martel, Scott and Jocelyn Brando), but the chemistry didn't seem right in either case. The picture ended with a double ring ceremony, but even that blew by pretty much off screen and you had to fill in the blanks yourself. All in all, a rather clumsy effort and not one of Randolph Scott's finest hours, though it might have been for Leo Gordon.

Looks like it was filmed in the same Arizona cactus town as Scott's later BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE was filmed in, only it's not as good as that film, unfortunately.Randolph Scott plays John Stewart, a powerful rancher who gets caught up in a dispute with Wick Campbell (Richard Boone) over a Mexican girl (Donna Martell) that Stewart's been sheltering. Caught up in all this is Stewart's newly arrived brother Adam (Lester Matthews) and his nephew Howie (Skip Homeier) who falls in love with the Mexican girl.Wick gets all jealous over this and calls in the big guns (played ably enough by Leo Gordon & Lee Van Cleef) to wipe Stewart out. They stampede and rustle his cattle and kill some of his ranch hands, trying to force Stewart to play his hand.During a bar scene, Howie is forced to shoot one of Wick's men and is locked up for it, but later escapes because he doesn't understand why he's being punished for acting in self-defense. Wick's men catch up with Stewart's brother Adam outside of town and shoot him down in his carriage. They think he's the one who's sheltering Howie, so now John Stewart is now out for blood, regardless of the consequences to himself.There's the inevitable standoff in town between Wick & his men vs. Stewart, the Sheriff (Dennis Weaver) and Corinne Michaels (Jocelyn Brando) who's an old friend of Stewart's. Plus with Howie (who snuck in) and a couple of the town's elders trapped in Corinne's house, they are no match for Wick and his men.Still, Stewart, Howie and the Sheriff manage to escape and Stewart kills Wick over at an adobe house outside of town. Wick went there after his own men stole his loot from him so now he's all alone and doesn't feel he has anything to lose by drawing on Stewart.Stewart then has to ride back into town and settle up with Wick's ex-gunmen. He blows some of them up with dynamite (looks clumsy) and then has an unconvincing dusty brawl with heavy Leo Gordon in the dynamite damaged saloon before having to shoot him.It's competent enough, although by no means a classic the way the later Boetticher/Scott westerns were. Still, it's slightly better than many others in it's class.5 out of 10