A cattle baron has as son Lee Strobie (Robert Walker) and an adopted son Owen Daybright (Burt Lancaster). Lee who is married fathers his mistress's child, and the blame falls on Owen to save grace because Lee is married. Lee and Owen lead a cattle drive when Owen learns that Lee has double-crossed all of his family members. The final showdown is rather uneventful, which is surprising since it stars Burt Lancaster. Lancaster was solid, but not powerful as usual. When you have Burt Lancaster and Robert Walker in it I just expected more. The name Vengeance Valley is rather confusing because there wasn't any revenge, but instead it is about hostile sibling relations that eventually boil over. It is worth a watch but overall disappointing.

"Vengeance Valley" is a great title squandered on a not so great movie (and, oddly, one in which there isn't really much 'vengeance'). Burt Lancaster plays the up-right, honourable foster-son of a crippled cattleman at odds with his brother (and blood-son of the rancher), a conniving ne'er-do-well with a quick gun-hand. Complicating matters, the married brother has fathered a child on a local lass and her two ornery brothers have shown up to hunt down the scoundrel who dishonored their sister. Lots of shots of Lancaster's legendary grin and tousled good-looks, generic cow-poking, and mountain scenery but other than some fisticuffs and the inevitable showdown at the end, there's not a lot of action. Most of the characters are typical Hollywood western-types and the script/acting is on par with a good episode of Bonanza (although the unwed mother story line might be a bit to risqué for the Cartwrights). IMO, Lancaster is one of the all-time great "Hollywood leading-men" but even his undeniable charisma can't raise "Vengeance Valley" above the great raft of mediocre westerns to tumble out of the sagebrush in the '50s.

From the film's title you would think the story in the film has something to do with revenge, yet it's really more to do with opportunism. The idea that the son of a self made wealthy rancher would grow up spoiled has been explored in other westerns, while the adopted son would truly appreciate the values of hard work and sacrifice and thus earn more of the respect of the father than his own true son ever could. This of course drives the true son to want to get rid of the adopted one, even if they grew up the together and the adopted one always tried to cover for the numerous deficiencies of the true son. In this case wayward Sally Forrest has a child which is fathered by true son Robert Walker, while adopted son Burt Lancaster voluntarily takes the so-called blame. Walker is married to attractive Joanne Dru, who seems to instinctively know who the real father is, and after witnessing Walker take a whip to a horse, decides to dump him. Forrest's two brothers (Hugh O'Brien and John Ireland) are mistakenly after Lancaster's character instead of Walker's. Maybe it's their revenge that is at the heart of the film's title, though why they should want to kill the father of their sister's illegitimate child is not clear, other than being a typical Hollywood plot utilized in order to move things along. In any event, Walker does decide to take advantage of the two brothers' misplaced hatred for Lancaster and the plot actually isn't half bad once it gets going, when everyone is out on the range rounding up the cattle. Dru looks especially good, Lancaster is solid in his part, but Walker's character is the most interesting, with whatever vengeance he may feel towards Lancaster well concealed beneath a cool exterior.

Burt Lancaster's first Western is worth watching.Here's what I liked:Burt is at his charming best. Very likable character played with a lot of heart. Maybe the first in a long line of "cattle baron's adopted son foremen". See Arthur Kennedy in "the Man From Laramie" and Charlton Heston in "The Big Country".Robert Walker is excellent as the sniveling bounder.The movie abounds in heavies. John Ireland and Hugh O'Brian do a nice job playing a couple of mean brothers bent on revenge.Very unusual for its time to have an unwed mother at the center of the plot.Nice location shooting in the high Rockies. A lot of effort went into portraying a realistic cattle drive.Here's what wasn't so great:Plot and characterizations are a little too simplistic and melodramatic.Joann Dru took a step back for me in this one. Was it her hairdo? Can I be that superficial?Very little comic reliefA few plot holes, the worst of which is Burt Lancaster outdrawing Robert Walker in the end when is has been conclusively demonstrated previously that Walker is a faster draw. Also, the unwed mother was at the center of the plot, then disappears."Cattle baron" Westerns leave little room for Indian, Civil War and Mexican themes.