Producer: Leonard Goldstein. Copyright 12 June 1952 by Universal Pictures Co., Inc. New York opening at the Palace: 1 August 1952. U.S. release: August 1952. U.K. release on the lower half of a double bill: September 1952. Australian release: 6 February 1953. 77 minutes.SYNOPSIS: The marshal of Silver City (sic) joins up with Luke Crowell, alias the Silver Kid, to apprehend claim jumpers.COMMENT: Curious in that this movie is one of Audie Murphy's best films - even though he isn't the real star! That honor belongs to Stephen McNally as the town marshal, though Murphy is equally ingratiating - perhaps even more so - as his sidekick. In fact this unlikely partners routine gets a very appealing workout here - and like the best of these, it's not without its fair share of humor.Also curious is the fact that Miss Domergue effectively plays a thoroughly evil femme fatale, - one who doesn't have a single redeeming quality! Miss Cabot does okay by the obligatory tomboyish "other gal". Despite his position way down in the cast list, Lee Marvin can be easily spotted. In fact he has a few nice bits as a saloon loafer. We also like the guy who plays the oldtime deputy, Dan Music. Acting honors on the other side of the law belong firmly to Eugene Iglesias who makes his Johnny Sombrero a wonderfully greasy ne'er-do-well. Gerald Mohr is more conventional, though still effective, as a smiling villain. Director Siegel himself can be spotted as one of the bushwackers who waylay Murph. Drayson and Hoffman have concocted an unusually rich script with lots of interlocking incidents and characters. This appealing script has been given an unusually lavish production by producer Goldstein, with lots of extras milling around, excellent locations, and polished technical credits. Director Siegel takes ample advantage of all this budget largesse. The running inserts are marvellously effective in the action scenes.All told, highly engrossing.OTHER VIEWS: Vigorous direction, lusty playing and an unusually interesting scenario make this one of the top westerns of the year. Despite its "B" rating, technical credits and production values are more than creditable enough for an "A".

I'm not really sure what director Don Siegel was going for here, but it looks like he might have been trying to put one over on the movie Western fan. The first tip off is the scene where we're introduced to Marshal Lightning (Stephen McNally) of Silver City and a confrontation he has with Johnny Sombrero (Eugene Iglesias). Johnny Sombrero? This felt like one of those Mel Brooks spoofs to come down the pike a couple of decades later, I'm thinking of "Blazing Saddles". Even the name of bad guy Lacy's business, the Acme Mining Company, brought me back to those Wile E. Coyote cartoons where the hapless varmint just couldn't keep up with the Roadrunner. Are you starting to get the picture? Siegel then peppers the script with characters like the Silver Kid and Dusty; he even gives the outlaw leader's moll two names - Opal Lacy and Brown Eyes. All very camp.But also all very entertaining. The principals take the ball and run with it, and give them credit for for doing it without cracking up. There are so many inconsistencies in the picture that I almost lost count. How about Opal Lacy's (Faith Domergue) first scene when she chokes the claim jumped miner brought into the Army Hospital? With no time to loosen the bandanna, the Cavalry doc simply picks it up to cover the face of the dead miner. No suspicion there, right? And say, didn't the Silver Kid (Audie Murphy) gun down Tinhorn (Lee Marvin) after that card game when the Kid laid down three aces? Tinhorn shows up later none the worse for wear. At least Marvin stayed dead after he got shot by John Wayne in "The Comancheros". But I did get a kick out of The Kid's name for Tinhorn - 'sheep dip'. Audie Murphy may not have had the face of a killer, but he killed me with that line.I'll say this for Murphy though - even though he never quite brought his film persona up to the level of his real life war record, he has about the boldest action move I've ever seen in a Western in this flick. At the final shoot out at the mining camp, Murphy dives through the window and INTO the outlaw cabin! There could have been a whole boat load of bad guys in there and he could have come out like a sponge. But he did it in the name of love, rescuing his gal Dusty (Susan Cabot). I thought it was pretty cool the way Kid compared relationships and life to a hand of poker; with that save he showed all his cards.Of course the good guy team of Marshal Lightning and Silver Kid come out on top in the finale. It blows by pretty quickly, but it's revealed that Rod and Opal Lacy weren't siblings, which didn't make a whole lot of sense given the way the story was going. Lightning uses the old 'throw the rock in the other direction' trick to gun down the bad guy, and the only thing missing was a big old Cadillac to drive the heroes off into the sunset. Mel Brooks would have thought of that.

For a B-Western, this film is very entertaining. I'm surprised that it is rated --as of today-- only 6.1 at IMDb. What more do they want for a B-Western?There are quite a few negatives. Worst of all are the terrible clichéd names given to all the characters: Johnny Sombrero, Rat Face, Silver Kid, Tinhorn, Lightning, etc. Worst of all was "Brown Eyes," the name McNally kept calling Domergue. Every time he called her that, my teeth would grind and my eyes would look up in disgust. ... ... ... As bad as the names are, the characters themselves were mostly one dimensional figures, but I guess you have to expect that in a B-movie. Another problem with the characters is that their relationships developed so quickly -- for example, McNally hooking up so quickly with Domergue, and Murphy so quickly agreeing to become a deputy. Finally, much of the dialog and action seemed clichéd, macho and immature, like the insults given by Marvin and Sombrero, the quickness to form a lynching party, Murphy's poker playing philosophy; almost every line in the movie was trite. And I almost forgot: Johnny Sombrero's outrageous dress, and speech, made his scenes look like a gay comedy. Murphy's black leather outfit was a hoot too. ... ... I was disappointed in some of the unbelievable plot twists, the two that I remember best are: (1) that Domergue (who genuinely loved Mohr) would lead the good guys to Mohr's hideout; she didn't have to do that; very unwise; and (2) that Johnny Sombrero would turn on (give information harmful to) Domergue (whom he loved) in his dying confession (just because she was mistaken about McNally's trigger finger health?).After all of the above, you might wonder why I liked the movie overall. The good points were; the high production values, good direction, swell color cinematography, the good actors, lots of action, and mostly that the story moved along quickly, and was quite interesting plot-wise, especially in the last third. Though some did not, I liked McNally's narration.Both McNally and Domergue impressed me with their acting and presence. Domergue's murder of the wounded outlaw was striking, never saw that before in a Western -- very nourish.

Don Siegel's "Duel at Silver Creek" opens with vicious gang of claim jumpers let by a killer called Rod Lacy (Gerald Mohr) who'd been forcing miners to sign away their claims through fear of torture or death… These claim jumpers were clever enough not to capture some of the bigger mines where there might be enough men working to put up a fight… Usually they picked on the claims being worked by one or two men… And more defenseless the men were, the better they liked it… Their plan was simple and easy because no one knew who they were… Since their victims either disappeared, or were found dead, there wasn't anyone who could put their finger on them… One day, in the Tomahawks, the same gang forced Cromwell's old man to sign over the little claim he had and then they killed him… Luke went after them and managed to get one of them before they shot his horse out from under him… Then a few miles of Silver City, jumpers moved in and killed an old man who struck it rich… As usual they made a clean getaway but this time they left a trail… The Marshal of Silver City decided to get up a posse to track them down but the posse lost them in the chase and he took a bullet through his right shoulder… So he was dropped off at the army hospital in Fort Lowell and they went back to town… There Lightning met Opal Lacey who promised "Brown Eyes" she's going to find him a nuisance when he gets back in one week… Audie Murphy plays Silver Kid/Luke Cromwell… He didn't have the face of a killer but he had the cold steel look of one… His hands are quick and sure…All he knows is how to handle a six-gun and poker…Faith Domergue plays Opal Lacy, the elegant woman with a secret agenda and a brother who's a mining engineer… Stephen McNally plays the famous Marshal who wasn't interested in the Kid's poker, but he was interested in the way he handled a six-gun… He needed a right hand and he had the fastest one he ever saw… He didn't see it dangerous to make him his deputy… Susan Cabot plays Dusty Fargo, the innocent girl who takes care of the Marshal better than many a wife he knows… Eugene Iglesias plays Johnny Sombrero, the hypocrite man who looks mighty happy about something… maybe for the 'gift' of love he just made that night to prove he'd accomplished it to the girl he wants