Post by mikef6 on Aug 21, 2017 1:45:45 GMT
Immediately after finishing shooting on High Noon, Gary Cooper had an operation for an ulcer, a quick recovery, then went straight into production of Springfield Rifle. SR was released three months after its much more well-known companion piece. Although not anywhere near the masterpiece of High Noon, this Civil War spy plot shot in color is an interesting variation on both the western and the espionage thriller. A Union Army fort in Colorado has the mission of buying horses for use in the war in the east. However, every time they try to drive a herd over the mountains, they are intercepted by Confederate raiders who steal the horses and kill troops. Back in Washington, Col. Sharpe (Wilton Graff) tries to convince the Army brass to let him put a man undercover. They turn him down figuring that all that spy stuff is unsporting like. Sharpe decides to take action on his own. Meanwhile, in Colorado, the recently arrived Maj. Lex Kearney (Gary Cooper) is given orders to drive horses over a secret pass. When he sees that the raiders are waiting for them, he orders retreat and the horses left behind. He is disgraced and drummed out of the military. (In a kinda funny scene, they literally paint a yellow stripe down the back of his shirt.) Anybody got any ideas about what is going on here? Well, you’re right. Kearney gets himself recruited by the raiders. Also in the capable cast is Philip Carey as Kearney’s nemesis in the Army, Lon Chaney, Jr. as the main Confederate henchman, Paul Kelly as Kearney’s sympathetic commanding officer who is forced to pass judgment at the court martial, and Phyliss Thaxter as Kearney’s distraught wife. The climax is a race against time and an extended shoot-out involving the titular firearm. Enjoyable.
