zardoz-13 "Toughest Gun in Tombstone" director Earl Bellamy's "Backtrack" synthesizes episodes from the NBC-TV series "The Virginian" and "Laredo" to forge a feature-length, 95-minute, Technicolor shoot'em up that introduces us to the Trampas character from "The Virginian" as well as the trio of Texas Rangers from "Laredo." In fact, Borden Chase's teleplay for the last episode of season three "We've Lost A Train" (21 April 1965) served as the pilot for "Laredo." Universal Studios later went back in and tweaked the Texas Ranger protagonists, but this cobbled together movie from the television series will give some viewers their first look at Reese Bennett (Neville Brand of "D.O.A."), Chad Cooper (Peter Brown of "The Lawman"), and Joe Riley (William Smith of "Red Dawn") along with their superior, Captain Edward A. Parmalee (Phil Carey). I saw this movie first when it came out in 1969 at the Columbus Air Force Base Theatre in Columbus, Mississippi, but all Universal Studios did was recycle elements of both shows. Indeed, you can tell that everything has been cobbled together because the first time that we meet Reese, Chad, and Joe they round up whiskey peddlers in a scene from the first season "Laredo" episode "Three's Company." The tip-off is that our heroes are dressed as they appeared later in "Laredo," while in "The Virginian" episode they are dressed like generic cowboys with the same hats. Ironically, Universal released "Backtrack" after they had released another compilation "Laredo" movie "Three Guns for Texas" the previous year."Backtrack" affords us our first glimpse of Trampas before he became the beloved cowhand on "The Virginian." Indeed, actor Doug McClure's Trampas is a far cry from the cinematic interpretations of the Owen Wister villain. Trampas has been made over into an amiable but roguish fellow. He spends time inside and outside of jails for his gambling habits and necessity compels him to go to work for Shiloh Ranch. The Virginian (James Drury) hires him and then later gives him an assignment to cross the Rio Grande and pick up a prize bull for Judge Garth (Lee J. Cobb who isn't in the movie) from Don Alvarez (Alberto Morin) in Mexico. Everything goes well enough until Trampas arrives in Laredo where he comes between jealous Reese Bennett and his girlfriend. During a saloon brawl, Trampas gets in Reese's way when Reese's spoken-for girl, dancehall gal Carmelita Flanagan (Rhoda Fleming of "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral") wraps her arms around Trampas and keeps him between Reese and her. Later, she steals Trampas' gun so that green-eyed Reese cannot slap leather with him. Afterward, Trampas runs afoul of Chad who is also one of Reese's rivals for the beautiful red-haired dancer. Finally, he crosses trails with Joe, but Captain Parmalee preempts a showdown. Parmalee dispatches the Rangers pronto find a lost train. Essentially, all Borden Chase has done is recycle Dumas' classic French adventure novel "The Three Musketeers" so that Trampas becomes the D'Artagnan and the King Louis' flamboyant swordsmen become three Texas Rangers.Trampas rides along with Reese, Chad, and Joe. They find the train, with everybody dead on it except for a baby, and a fortune in gold missing. The baby needs food so our heroes cross the border to visit Mama Dolores (Ida Lupino of "High Sierra"), and they run afoul of a corrupt Mexican Rurale, Captain Estrada (hammy Fernando Lamas), who doesn't want them in Texas. Our heroes find the gun runners, spike their repeating rifles, and then the Yaquis capture them. Estrada is only to happy to oblige our heroes when they ask for a military style firing squad, knowing full well that the spiked rifles will wipe out the firing squad. Trampas gets his bull and delivers it safely back to Wyoming.Neither the camaraderie nor the characters of Reese, Chad, and Joe is developed to the extent that both would be later in "Laredo." In fact, Reese is rather pugnacious, and Chad and Joe aren't as congenial. They are dressed in dark clothing like villains. For example, Joe doesn't wear his casual Native American outfit that accentuated his mesomorphic physique. The way that Reese dresses himself in a black vest, dark shirt, and bandana knotted at the throat makes him look more intimidating than friendly. Chad doesn't carry his six-gun backwards with the handle forward on his left hip. Captain Parmalee is still the stern, imposing authority figure who interprets everything that these three Rangers accomplish with considerable skepticism. Nevertheless, "Backtrack" is superficial, lightweight fun.

yortsnave This movie combines the characters from my favorite TV Western series, "Laredo", with the characters from another excellent 1960s TV Western series, "The Virginian". If you are a fan of either, but especially of "Laredo", check this movie out. In my opinion, the best part of the movie is the relationship between the three Texas Rangers, who are fast friends but also give each other a good deal of grief.