Country&Western performers Carl Smith and Marty Robbins are featured in this fine no frills western from Allied Artists. The Badge Of Marshal Brennan really could have used a nice A budget from a big studio and some name stars. As it is Jim Davis, Arleen Whelan, and Lee Van Cleef do just fine in their parts. I could have James Stewart in the lead had this been an A film.Outlaw on the run Davis leaves a pursuing posse behind as he goes into the desert where they don't want to chase him. He meets a dying marshal played by Douglas Fowley and assumes his identity which stands him in good stead when he gets across the desert and into a town where the local Ponderosa is run by Louis Jean Heydt and his homicidal son Lee Van Cleef.They've got a real problem, black spot fever, second cousin to typhus as Dr. Harry Lauter puts it. The cattle ought to be destroyed, but Heydt and Van Cleef would sooner lynch the marshal and save their diseased cattle and profits.When Davis breaks up said lynching he becomes involved with the town and its problem of standing up to Heydt who is not used to people telling him no. He also becomes Lauter's rival for Arleen Whelan who runs the local café.I think you can see where this is all going. I might have changed the ending, but even with the climax it has The Badge Of Marshal Brennan is a fine feature with a plot that's a cross between Shane and The Left Hand Of God. It really deserved a bigger budget.

Just watched on Netflex streaming another Jim Davis western. In this one, he's Jeff Harlan who's on the run when he encounters Marshal Matt Brennan (Douglas Fowley) dying in the desert. He then takes his identity and ends up helping the nearest town doctor (Harry Lauter) as he tries to stop some infected cattle from leaving the premises as he tries to find the antidote for the people affected. But the Donaphins (Louis Jean Heydt and Lee Van Cleef as father and son, respectively) are intent to push their cattle across the river so of course a fight is inevitable...This was quite a big role for Davis as he's top-billed for the first time here and has the lion's share of scenes. And this was also the first time I've seen him have some romance in his old movies with Arleen Whelan as Murdock providing such an alluring presence. Also interesting seeing country music stars Carl Smith as the sheriff and Marty Robbins as Felipe. The fender guitar music by Ramey Idriss was also a cool accompaniment to the score and I also liked the unique directorial touches of Albert C. Gannaway like Van Cleef throwing that vial of blood on the camera lens or that shadow of Davis when he mentions about not running away from it. So on that note, I highly recommend The Badge of Marshal Brennan.

This is one of the better 'B' Westerns you're likely to come across, featuring Jim Davis in the role of a somewhat ambiguous outlaw who takes up a badge after he comes upon a dying marshal in Apache territory. Their brief conversation provides an ever present backdrop to the story, with constant references to a man's inability to outrun his shadow. The 'new' Marshal Brennan finds himself in the town of Banock, where a doctor (Harry Lauter) suspects that an outbreak of black spot fever might be about to overrun the town. Together with Sheriff Carl Smith (Carl Smith, can you believe that?), the pair manage to hold off the villainous Donaphin forces, whose diseased cattle threaten the entire territory.I liked the pacing and development of the story, with some rather unique elements that I haven't seen in a Western before. The most interesting was the scene where Shad Donaphin (Lee Van Cleef) breaks Doc Hale's vial of blood, and the contents are shown dripping down the face of the camera lens to give added emphasis. There was also that scene when the Donaphin goons were about to hang the Doc just before the marshal makes the save - just how tall a tree was that where they rigged up the noose - and how did they get the rope up there? Holy cow, it looked like the branch was a hundred feet high! One of the bad guy posse even remarked how this tree should hold, which made me wonder why they couldn't find a normal size tree. They're like everywhere aren't they?I have to say, this was definitely the most intelligent role I've ever seen Harry Lauter in. I best remember him as a kid from watching 'Tales of the Texas Rangers', and have usually seen him in either dubious good guy roles or as an inept villain in classic TV episodes of Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and a host of others. He actually did a commendable job here as a wise and brave country doctor who wasn't afraid to mix it up with the baddies when necessary. It was also gratifying to see that the local sheriff wasn't in the pocket of town boss Colonel Donaphin (Louis Jean Heydt), although you couldn't really tell during his first screen conversation with Brennan. It looked like a classic set up for the figurehead lawman to try and thwart the good guy from getting the upper hand, as all the while, it was repeatedly teased that the marshal would just ride off into the sunset instead of getting mixed up with the locals. One thing I'm always on the lookout for in older films is the sense of life in simpler times, as in the price of goods at Murdock's Café. How about ham and eggs for a quarter, red beans for a dime, and cup of coffee for a nickel! Arleen Whelan did a fine job as Miss Murdock, although I still find it a little difficult to think that Brennan would allow himself to be roped into a romance by the show's finale. For an almost prophetic insight into the spaghetti Western genre of the Seventies, keep your hearing tuned to the musical score throughout the film. The frequent strumming of an electric guitar was a constant thread, and the reverberating drumbeat during the massing of Donaphin's men on the cliff just before the cattle drive were great accompaniments to the action. There was even that lively theme song to bookend the story about a man on the run, very ambitious for a 'B' flick.The one thing that had me scratching my head though occurred right at the very end of the picture. As the good guys make there way back in to town following the clash with the Donaphin's, they're shown heading to Murdock's café, standing alone almost at the edge of the river. Correct me if I'm wrong, but all throughout the picture, Murdock's was right in the middle of town!

For a low-budget film, this one really captures the imagination. Jim Davis gives one of the most enigmatic performances of his career in a very off-beat Western that draws its main plot elements from a combination of Eastern mysticism and tried-and-true Western cliches. A truly eccentric and haunting score adds to the ethereal nature of the proceeding. On one level almost laughable, but on another, deeply profound.