Wonderful character development!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Carson City is a western that has an easy, but enjoyable story-line to follow. Randolph Scott pleases in his role as a engineer, taking on the assignment of constructing the railroad between Carson City and Viriginia City. However, he encounters plenty of objection and division from the residents of Carson City. Now add in the bad guys, a group of outlaws, dubbed the Champagne Bandits for their serving the bubbly drink to those they rob. Raymond Massey makes the most of his role as the gangs suave leader. Pretty actress Lucille Norman plays the girl with romantic feelings towards Scott. The film ends with a showdown between Scott and Massey. Carson City moves at a satisfying pace, with your typical saloon brawls and other action packed western activities. The color is not vivid as technicolor and the cinematography is average, but it does not distract from the performance of the actors. The combination of Scott and Massey in this film is superb, and Lucille Norman lights up the screen with her pretty blonde tresses. If you are a fan of Westerns from the early 1950s and Randolph Scott, I suggest Carson City is well worth watching.

"Carson City" is a fairly sophisticated B-movie western, starring Randolph Scott and directed with some style by Andre De Toth. The plot concerns the usual business about building railroads and warding off bandits, but the dialogue here is sharp, witty and Toth maintains a rapid-fire pace.Unlike most of these B-movie westerns, "Carson City" eschews the usual western archetypes in favour for some fairly interesting characters. Randolph Scott, for example, plays not another gunslinger (people forget that Scott once was, more so than John Wayne, one of the actors most associated with tall, rugged Western heroes) but a talented engineer and miner more in the vein of Daniel Plainview ("There Will Be Blood"). The rest of Toth's characters are a fairly interesting network of capitalists, builders, engineers, bankers, railwaymen, stagecoach managers, newspapermen, low-income lapdogs, workers, bandits and high-ranking members of various mining cartels. Few of these B movie westerns, or even more prestigious fare of the era, tried to capture such a crisscross of interconnecting relationships.Ending with a train heist and an obligatory happy ending, the film does eventually succumb to its B-movie, crowd-pleasing roots. Indeed, toward the end of the film, Randolph Scott even dumps his engineer's apparel for the black hat, shirt and gun belt that made him such an iconic figure (eg "The Bounty Hunter") during the 60 or so westerns he starred in across his career. At its best, though, the film hints at an intelligence and scope that most of these B-movie Westerns lacked.But what's interesting for me is the presence of a short "Carson City" segment in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining". Though the segment's audio can't be heard, the snippet in question involves talk and allusions to "punch ups", "bar room brawls", "alcoholism", "jail", "new job interviews" and "newspapers", all of which resonate with moments in "The Shining". Indeed, the characters even mention another called A. Jack Davis, which recalls "The Shining's" Jack Torrance.Filled with intricate rhymes, mirroring patterns and breadcrumbs, "The Shining's" links with "Carson City" don't stop there. Sync "Carson City's" audio with the segment of Toff's film shown in Kubrick's, and weird synchronicities turn up, like characters on the audio answering telephones in Kubrick's film, or the mentioning of A. Jack Davis coinciding with a stack of magazines titled Avis. Visual symmetries abound too, like "Carson City's" on-screen cowboys mirroring a pair of middle management types in Kubrick's film. Then there's the fact that "Carson City" and "The Shining" take place in neighbouring states, and that Jack Torrance spouts Johnny Carson's catchphrase toward the end of the film. Mostly, though, Kubrick's interest in "Carson City" seems to stem from its cocktail of business cartels, social contracts and servant lapdogs ("Carson City" even has a bald, Kubrickean butler of sorts). It's no surprise that "Carson City's" criminals are a classy lot called the "Champagne Bandits". In "The Shining", like the real world, no one sees blood being spilt, and you're far more likely to be robbed – with civility of course - by invisible men and fountain pens.7.5/10 – "Carson City" is a very brisk, witty and at times ambitious western. It was also the first Western released by Warner Brothers in WarnerColor.

"Carson City" is not your standard Western fare. Randolph Scott portrays engineer Jeff Kincaid, back in Nevada from a job in Panama and looking more or less for some action. When he learns of a businessman's plans to build a railroad leg through mountainous territory between Virginia City and Carson City, he fairly jumps at the opportunity to ramrod the project.There are opposing forces to the railroad in town, not the least of which is Carson City Clarion owner and publisher Zeke Mitchell (Don Beddoe). When Mitchell winds up murdered, the suspicion falls on Kincaid and his crew. Adding to the dramatic tension is Kincaid's relationship with his half brother Alan (Richard Webb), whose fiancé Susan (Lucille Norman) is Mitchell's daughter. She was only sixteen years old when she last saw Jeff Kincaid, and now that he's back in town, an early crush is about to develop into a wedge between the two brothers.The part of the crooked businessman is handled by Raymond Massey as Big Jack Davis, gang leader of the "Champagne Bandits", whose opposition to the railroad lasts long enough to plan a last big score of gold bullion on the train's maiden run between the two Nevada cities. By this time, Kincaid and his men have been rescued from a landslide that trapped them in tunnel one of their railroad project, with Kincaid beginning to uncover Davis' hand in the plot to rob the train. It's all wrapped up pretty neatly by film's end, with Randolph Scott even getting the girl, more of a feel good ending as there was really no romantic relationship to speak of in the film.For trivia buffs, this was the first Warner Brothers film to be produced in the Warner Color format. The rendition was good in the print I viewed, and shows off nicely Randolph Scott's rather frequent change of outfits which is characteristic for his films, highlighted by the signature all black outfit in the middle of the story.

This film is a good Saturday afternoon western. Randolph Scott attempts to build a railroad between Carson City, and Virginia City. He must battle with an assortment of evil men, his own workers, and his step brother. I give this western an 8 out of 10 for its story, and its action.