Cheyenne (DVD)

Gambler-on-the-run James Wylie (Dennis Morgan) knows a good deal when he sees one. So when he's offered his freedom in exchange for capturing the holdup man known as the Poet, Wylie heads to Cheyenne, where the bandit's said to be forming a gang. Posing as the outlaw, he meets up with the Poet's wife (Jane Wyman), who also claims to want him arrested. But when she warns her husband the law's closing in, the desperado (Bruce Bennett) plans to outwit them both by ditching his bride for a dancehall girl (Janis Paige) and having Wylie lynched in his place. Directed by action ace Raoul Walsh, Cheyenne was co-written by novelist Alan LeMay, author of The Searchers. A superior example of Walsh's two-fisted style, the film is unjustly forgotten today due to its syndication title being changed to The Wyoming Kid, a move made by Warner Bros. to avoid confusion with its unrelated Clint Walker TV Western series that aired from 1955 to 1963.

• classic
• western