Wonderfully offbeat film!

Sick Product of a Sick System

Excellent adaptation.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

"Short Grass" is another "B" plus western from Allied Artists. It is essentially a two-part story.In the opening we meet ambitious cattleman Hal Fenton (Morris Ankrum) and his gang which includes his brother Randy (Riley Hill), Sam Dreen (Harry Woods looking meaner than ever), the brutal Curley (Jeff York), Les McCambridge (Myron Healey) and Jack (Jack Ingram). Fenton has his eye on a piece of short grass grazing land and has his men fan out to inspect the property.McCambridge and Jack plan to rob Charlie Bissel's (Jonathon Hale) General Store in order to get money enough to buy their own ranch. In the store is drifter Steve Llewellyn (Rod Cameron) who's back story is not known. Jack is killed by his partner McCambridge and Steve is unaware that the man has robbed Bissel's safe. Later on the trail McCambridge is killed by Steve although he is wounded in the process. He finds the proceeds of the robbery on the dead man unaware that the money is stolen.Steve is found by the winsome Sharon Lynch (Cathy Downs) who with her father Pete (Stanley Andrews) nurse him back to health. Steve and Sharon become attracted to each other. Steve gives the money he has found to Pete to buy the tract of land that the Fenton gang has their eye on. As a partner in the venture, Steve tries to prevent the Fentons from driving their cattle onto it. In a confrontation with the gang Steve is forced to kill Randy Fenton. He then turns his guns into Bissel for safekeeping and leaves the territory.On to part 2 which is five years later where Steve discovers that Sharon has married a boozy newspaper editor (Tristram Coffin) and Bissel has now become a prosperous saloon owner. It seems that the railroad is coming and Fenton has been buying up land around the proposed route. Sheriff Ord Keown (Johnny Mack Brown) is trying to keep the peace. A local rancher Jim Westfall (Rory Mallinson) is burned out by the Fentons. In a confrontation in the saloon both Westfall and Devons are killed. With the support of Doc McKenna and Bissel, Steve straps on his guns once more and.......................................................The performances are uniformly good. Cameron as the mysterious stranger stands out. Brown is equally good as the Sheriff who helps Cameron clean up the town. Alan Hale Jr. is along as Cameron's neighbor and supporter. The diminutive Downs is forced to look up...way up to Cameron during their love scenes.Budget constraints show up, particularly in the first half where supposedly big cattleman Ankrum is driving a "herd" of about a dozen head to the disputed land. And the Lynch "ranch" is a cheaply constructed "indoor exterior" complete with painted back drop. However all is forgiven when we are treated by Director Lesley Selander to a slam bang climatic shootout.

Rod Cameron is one of those western heroes that improved with time.He was also in comic books, that is how I got to know him in the early fifties. There is a lot of him in the Clint Eastwood-Sergio Leone "man with no name" type, quiet, tough and fast in the draw. "Short Grass"is a western about a range war with the bad guy, the ambitious Ankrum who wants to take over all the land he can grasp. Steve(Cameron) falls in love with with Sharon (Cathy Downs) who treats him when he is wounded. He is in possession of a large sum of money, that came to him from a man he killed in self defense. Accused of murder, he has to run away, but he will come back to straighten things up, this time with the help of Sheriff Keown (Johnny Mack Brown). This is an enjoyable western, my only restriction being the final shootout in the dark which in my opinion, makes it confusing. The pairing of Cameron and Mack Brown is an excellent idea, it is a bonus for the western fans.

This movie is apparently very rare and out of print, as I do not see it available anywhere on the Internet. I was lucky to find it at a flea market in one of those cheaper looking yellow-sleeved Video Images Video Yesteryear VHS boxes. Generally, the movie is a Western about a tough, gun-handy cowboy named Steve Llewellyn (Rod Cameron) who wanders from Santa Fe into a New Mexico valley on the verge of big time cattle herd riches. The largest ranch is run by Hal Fenton (Morris Ankrum) and his hotheaded younger brother Randee. Fenton is determined to be the biggest all the way to the railroad spur and starts taking over smaller ranches by hook or crook. Llewellyn has violence in his past, which I do not believe is ever explained. Trying to mind his own business he ends up obtaining some hot lead from a Fenton ranch hand (Myron Healey). Then is found and nursed by female lead Cathy Downs playing Sharon Lynch living with her small rancher father Pete Lynch (Stanley Andrews). Cameron and Andrews end up going partners to buy the good range covered by SHORT GRASS that is no doubt how the movie obtained its title. To make a long story shorter, the middle of the movie has a good plot with Cameron linking up with some of the town folks led by none other than Johnny Mack Brown as the sheriff against the land grabbing Fenton. Not to give any more away, for fear of becoming a spoiler (although where the movie could be found I do not know), it is a back and forth struggle between (semi) good and evil. The movie was worth watching, still, I would have only rated it a six except for the outstanding shoot-em-up action at the end, which brought it up to at least a seven. OK, that is what the movie is about. I am now going to write a bit about the actors, which I think is important. This is strictly for those with an interest in actor's histories. This movie was made as good as it was by the character actors in it. The movie was loaded with character actors and I will name some further on. Rod Cameron in the lead was OK, but he has done better. Of the two leads, Cathy Downs was the winner hands down. In fact, she was an excellent actress in this and I wonder why she never became a big star. You may remember her as the lead in My Darling Clementine with Henry Fonda. Johnny Mack Brown was older here of course, but still doing a fairly good job. The real stars were the character actors. A good character actor carries many a movie and this one was chock-full of good character actors. Myron Healey had a shorter part but he was great as usual. You may not recognize the name but the face you would know. Morris Ankrum was the main bad guy and he was actually a university professor and lawyer before turning to movies. He often played the scientist in 1950's Sci-Fi's like Invaders From Mars and was the judge on the Perry Mason TV show. Raymond Walburn is another face easily recognized who played the doctor in this movie. Alan Hale, Jr. a character actor here, went on to become the Skipper on Gilligan's Island. Stanley Andrews became the Old Ranger himself on Death Valley Days. Then there was Jonathan Hale, Harry Woods (all time great bad guy), Tristram Coffin, Jeff York (Mike Fink on Disney's Davy Crockett), Lee Tung Foo, George J. Lewis (father of TVs Zorro and the man who led the Lone Ranger and other rangers into the big ambush) and others including a bit part by Kermit Maynard. Therefore, with all the character actors the movie is well worth seeing along with some very nice acting by Cathy Downs.