Sorry, this movie sucks

Redundant and unnecessary.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

This low budget color western stars Joel McCrea as John Cord, recently released from 5 years in prison, and being dragged behind a horse down the main street. He's badly skinned up when the Hamiltons arrive from their ranch, and cart him off to recuperate. Ralph Hamilton, a cattle baron, is friendly toward Cord, even though he is blamed for being responsible for Hamilton being blind, when Cord's wranglers tore up the town after a cattle drive. Hamilton knows Cord is the best trail boss around and wants him to lead a drive to market at an Army post. He wants it done soon, in the dry season, and to get there ahead of a rival herd, owned by Garth. After hesitation, Cord takes the job, hiring some of the very men who dragged him behind a horse. There are several key relationships I don't understand or find fault with. The most important is the relationship between Cord and Garth. I don't understand why Cord signed on as Garth's trail boss, then went over and signed up as Hamilton's trail boss, during approximately the same time and route? He never seems to function as Garth's trail boss, but sneaks over to his camp on several nights to do some jawing. Garth's herd is several days ahead of Hamilton's. Cord suggests that Garth go via Horse thief Creek, rather than Dismal River, because the latter is more likely to be dry. Garth agrees in Cord's presence, but after he leaves, says Cord probably told them things backwards, so his herd goes via the much shorter Dismal River. Unfortunately, it lives up to its name, and is bone dry. In consequence, all Garth's cattle die of dehydration. In contrast, Cord takes Hamilton's herd via Horse thief Creek, which is well watered. Several of Cord's men previously had quit, not believing the herd would make it. One meets Garth at the destination, and he says he will hire gunslingers to steal Hamilton's herd.(Never mind that they are presumably branded with Hamilton's brand, and his own cattle probably would have gotten there first if he had taken the route recommended by Cord). This man reports back to Cord about Garth's intention. Cord takes some of the men and rides to hopefully meet Garth's bunch. They set up an ambush, which is successful(The riders fall off their horses in a convenient but amateurish way, and their horses are never hit.) Garth runs over to some rocks and Cord follows. Guess what happens.Cord's relationships with the 2 young ladies: Sandy and Janice, are awkward. Janice and Cord clearly were very close prior to Cord's imprisonment. Soon thereafter, she married Ralph Hamilton, even though he was blind. Perhaps she took pity on him, or perhaps she hoped to live comfortably with his ranch set up and his brother's help. Now that Cord is free and working for Hamilton, their old flame burns brightly at times. My expectation was that Ralph would die somehow, opening up the possibility of a Cord-Janice marriage. I think the fact that Ralph was still alive when the drive was over was the main reason why Cord turned down an offer of partnership, and decided to ride into the sunset. He didn't want Janise's continued presence to act as temptation.As for Cord's relationship with Sandy, she seems to be characterized as a late teen, in contrast to the older Janice. Through most of the film, she refers to Cord as "Uncle John". I don't know if he was her real uncle, or merely functioned as such at one time. In any case, Cord clearly was at least 2X her age, which is not unheard of. But, Cord used this as an excuse to brush off her romantic overtures. He claims she has a lot to learn before he might accept her as his wife. He also claims he will probably be back some day to claim her. Don't count on it, Sandy.This screenplay is unusual in that usually the cattle baron is one of the bad guys, lording it over the small ranchers. Available at You Tube at present.

Cattle Empire opens with Joel McCrea being dragged through the streets of a small western town. He's a former trail boss who went to prison because he was held legally responsible for his crew shooting up a town and a lot of people getting permanently injured. That's a first in all the westerns I've ever watched and there've been a lot. But now the big cattle baron in the area, Don Haggerty who incidentally married McCrea's girl Phyllis Coates has need of his services. Haggerty has to get his herd to market and beat another baron's herd there or they win an army beef contract and Haggerty goes broke. Haggerty was also blinded in the fracas that put McCrea in prison.So much nobility in one western I could hardly believe it. McCrea always on film epitomized the strong silent western hero maybe more than any other player. But it was just too much for me to swallow.Steve Raines, Rocky Shahan, and Paul Brinegar wound up on the Rawhide series the following and all three have parts in Cattle Empire. Possibly they were cast after being seen here. In fact Eric Fleming was very much in the Joel McCrea mold as Gil Favor the trail boss, but he was not a candidate for sainthood as McCrea is here.

Few guys can be considered as bad as McCrea at the beginning of this film. He blinded one man, made another lose his arm and was a disgrace to the town. Will he turn out to be good at the end? Talented writers like Daniel B. Ullman and Endre Bohem and a great actor like Joel McCrea., can makes us believe in whatever choice they make. McCrea was quite unsympathetic in Fort Massacre (1958), a western made in the same year. This film could go the same way, and part of the fun of seeing it is wandering how it will come out. In the fifties westerns were trying desperately to bring different stories due to the competition from TV. And when you saw a standard good guy like McCrea being so bad in the trailer, you would go running to the movie theater! Cattle Empire is directed by Charles Marquis Warren who has to his credit "Hellgate", "Seven Angry Men", "Tension at Table Rock", "Arrowhead" and "Little Big Horn", all remarkable westerns.

I'm not usually too keen on cattle-drive Westerns ("Red River" excepted), but this one isn't bad at all. It's not too formulaic, and the love interest is muted - all too often it gets in the way of a good plot, which in this case rolls along nicely. McCrea comes over as a real anti-hero for the first part of the film, and there's an ironic twist to the plot towards the end. McCrea is fine in a role that Randolph Scott would also have done well in.My only quibble is the usual one I have when the hero gets dragged behind a horse - his clothes never come off too badly, though McCrea's shirt-sleeve does get ripped.