The Sundowners (DVD)

Tom Cloud and his kid brother Jeff inherit a fifteen-mile stretch of land in cattle country. They attract the ire of their neighbors, who employ brute force and intimidation to try to get them to leave. Their cattle are slaughtered and Tom is forced to retaliate. He takes on a wanted killer as his partner - Kid Wichita. The gunman has no compunction about mowing down rival cattlemen with his six guns. The Cloud ranch is soon thriving, but Tom worries that Wichita's thirst for blood is rubbing off on young Jeff. He threatens to bring in the law if Wichita refuses to leave. Unwilling to give up a good gig, Wichita challenges Tom to a duel at sundown. Only the winner will walk away with the rights to the Cloud ranch...and his life.

The Sundowners is scripted by Alan Le May, who also wrote John Ford's Western classic The Searchers (1956). It offers a rare 'bad guy' role for Robert Preston, famous for playing The Music Man on Broadway and in the 1962 film adaptation. Robert Sterling is best known for co-starring in the classic TV comedy Topper (1953-1955) with his wife, Anne Jeffreys. Cathy Downs played the title role in John Ford's My Darling Clementine (1946). She also appeared in several 1950s sci-fi features, including The Amazing Colossal Man (1957) and Missile To The Moon (1958). The Sundowners was heavily promoted as the film debut of John Barrymore, Jr. Though his career never really took off, his daughter, Drew Barrymore, became a major star decades later. This was director George Templeton's first feature, though he had previously been nominated for an Academy Award for his short subjects The Little Witch (1945) and College Queen (1946).

• western