Simply Perfect

It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The Combination of an Early Audie Murphy Vehicle and Director Budd Boetticher's First Western make this a Must See for Genre Fans. Budd and Murphy do not disappoint.Mounted in Technicolor, a Good Supporting Cast, and a Rousing Score, this is a Solid Bit of Entertainment Complete with the Director's Crisp Action and Unconventional Inclusions.Admire the Decision to have an African American Portrayed as an Admired Family Man (Frank Silvera) with not a Hint of Exploitation or Stereotype. Check Out that Railroad Turnstile Scene (has there ever been another) Shot with an Attention to Detail. Also Notice the Strong Female Mexican Character (Yvette Duguay), as Important and Cunning as any of the Gang, and Absolutely Beautiful.These Slightly Off-Track Ingredients, and His Mastery Showcase of the Camera, Lighting, and Action Scenes, show why the Director would soon become Legendary Teaming Up with Randolph Scott to make a Series of Westerns that are Considered some of the Best of the Decade.There are Scenes with Actors in the Foreground in Nothing but Shadow, Faceless and Baroque. Take a Look at the Gun Battles and the way Botteicher makes them a Rapid Fire Standout, Realistic, although Heightened, with Visual Flare.Murph also Shows just how Photogenic He could be, Displaying Baby-Faced Features that Hide His Strong and Steely Interior. He Captures the Frame even when Surrounded by a Gaggle of Gang Members.Overall, this is as Attractive and Action Packed as any Western of the Period and can Hold its Own with the Best of the Early Fifties. Note...Look for an almost unrecognizable, bearded, red-haired Hugh O'Brian as a nasty villain, appropriately named Red Buck.

The Cimarron Kid is a tightly-made, action-packed, very entertaining Western of the Oklahoma outlaws sub-genre. It is well directed by Bud Boetticher, generally well acted, pleasingly scored, and beautifully filmed in three-strip Technicolor. Costumes, gun leather, railroad equipment and sets are quite authentic looking for the late 19th century era. The the outdoor locations, though actually California, were well chosen to look suitably like Okieland. As an added bonus, there are lots of period railroad equipment, with a shootout in a rural roundhouse one of the rousing action scenes.There is not really much to find wrong is this little oat burner, except for Audie Murphy's awful acting. Let's face, a wooden cigar store Indian with a microphone implant could do little worse. But even that serious handicap is overcome by Boetticher's skillful direction and a creative script that concentrates on the interesting supporting cast of characters, especially Noah Berry, Jr.'s Bob Dalton, and the love relationship between Bitter Creek Dalton (James Best) and Cimarron Rose (Yvette Duguay). This device happily keeps the camera away from Murphy's frozen features for most of the screen time. Yvette Duguay, though only fourth-billed, actually steals the show as the outlaw gang's resourceful gun moll. Pretty, exotic, lively, and sexy, she is more interesting and appealing in every way than Audie's ho-hum love interest, second-billed Beverly Tyler. Good support is also contributed by veteran character actors Roy Roberts and Leif Erickson. Altogether a very satisfying little Western. Better than some of the bigger productions from the same early 1950's era and certainly superior to any of the pretentious plates of tripe passed off as Westerns today.

When I received a DVD from Netflix with this film and "The Man From the Alamo" on it, I wondered why I'd placed this disk on my queue. After all, I am not a huge fan of westerns and the films appeared pretty unremarkable. However, when I noticed both films were directed by Budd Boetticher, I remembered that THIS was why I'd put these films on my list many months earlier. Boetticher was a wonderful director who managed to make his westerns better than the norm--with stories that lack many of the usual clichés. Unfortunately, this film is not typical of Boetticher's better films, as there are a lot of clichés spread throughout the movie.This is an odd film, since it is a remake of another movie ("The Doolins of Oklahoma") that was released just three years earlier! While remakes were very common, remaking a film so quickly wasn't. In the case of "The Cimarron Kid", Audie Murphy takes on the role previously played by Randolph Scott--and, frankly, no one can play a western role better than Scott, so Murphy is at a big disadvantage.The film begins with Murphy being pardoned and released from prison. It seems that he'd been convicted of robbery based solely on his friendships and the law finally realized her was innocent. However, when the train he's on is robbed by his old friends, people naturally assume he's one of them--and he's a wanted man all over again! So, in an odd twist, he DOES join the gang. But because he's basically a swell guy, he leads the gang in becoming more thoughtful and less prone to just blasting people--sort of a kinder, gentler form of banditry. I really expected this all to pay off better than it did. But the film is morally ambiguous and seems to say that Murphy is a good bad-guy! And, until it concludes, there are lots of clichés--such as the quick-tempered guy (Hugh O'Brian) who you just know will have a showdown with Murphy sooner or later, the lady who thinks Murphy is not beyond redemption and several others. Despite the clichés and the strange leading character, the film was well made and is interesting--even with the dumb ending that made little sense.I should also add that while I love Boetticher films, I also hate westerns that portray and glamorize minor western villains like the Daltons, Jesse James or Billy the Kid. 99% of the exploits they do on film are untrue and the men were mostly a lot of cheap crooks--yet Hollywood raised them almost to hero status and fictionalized their lives. So, when Murphy infiltrates this famous gang, I felt a bit annoyed...the sort of annoyed that history teachers like myself are good at becoming!By the way, during the roundhouse scene, why was it important for Rose to activate the turntable?! Really. The gang was NOT using a train!!

THE CIMARRON KID (1951) was one of about two dozen westerns Audie Murphy starred in at Universal Pictures in the period from 1950-1966. In brief, it tells the story of outlaw Bill Doolin who rode with the infamous Dalton gang in the disastrous raid on Coffeyville, Kansas, and went on to lead the gang's survivors in a subsequent robbery spree. A WWII hero-turned-movie star, Murphy plays Doolin as a misunderstood youth who gets forced into a life of crime through guilt by association and persecution by an overzealous railroad detective. Further complications ensue when Doolin falls in love with a rancher's daughter who wants him to go straight. The film was directed by western specialist Budd Boetticher who provides quite a number of interesting touches. One of the gang members, played by James Best, has a Mexican girlfriend, known as Cimarron Rose (Yvette Dugay), who is an equal participant in the action and is used to acquire information about payroll shipments and assorted robbery targets. The other major woman character, rancher's daughter Carrie Roberts (Beverly Tyler), is pretty strong and forthright on her own and makes no attempt to play coy in her meetings with Doolin. She even comes up with a plan to help him leave the outlaw life, but one which he rejects.Also, there is a significant black character, a man named Stacy (Frank Silvera) who provides support services for the gang, and who, while not actually a participant in their crimes, is dealt an equal share of the proceeds. There is a scene of him at home with his family--a wife and three children--that indicates his choice of a domestic life over an outlaw one, yet he is always treated with respect by the other men. The rest of the cast consists of a mixed bag of character actors like Noah Beery Jr., Leif Erickson, Roy Roberts, John Hubbard, and Rand Brooks, and up-and-coming Universal contract players: James Best, Hugh O'Brian, John Bromfield, John Hudson, William Reynolds, Palmer Lee (Greg Palmer). At times they threaten to crowd the soft-spoken, unassuming Murphy off the screen, but Audie ultimately manages to hold his own. Boetticher and Murphy would work together one more time on Murphy's last film, A TIME FOR DYING (1971), in which the actor has a cameo as Jesse James.