writers_reign Okay, we know there are only seven basic plots but lots of times an imaginative writer and/or director can disguise just which one they are offering to us; at other times, like here, they can't be bothered, so we have two brothers, Robert Ryan and Rock Hudson, returning home to Austin after four years on the losing side in the War Between The States. For Hudson it's like he's never been away and he's more than happy to resume life in the ranch for father John McIntyre. Ryan is a horse of a different colour. Though he hasn't got change of a match he has ambition and next thing you know he's organised a gang of deserters and dead-beats into castle rustlers and inside two more reels he owns half the state. Naturally this being 1952 and all the message loud and clear is Crime Does Not Pay so he gets it where the chicken got the axe. Hands up if you spotted anything new here. I thought not. It's watchable at least with other familiar faces like soon-to-be double act on Gunsmoke James Arness and Dennis Weaver albeit on opposite sides plus Universal contractee Julia Adams.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) When color was not taken for granted, Universal would come out in the fifties with those brightly, intensely colored westerns which were a pleasure to see, even if they would not be so good. But Horizons West is a very good film, where the always excellent Robert Ryan is Dan Hammond, a frustrated southern Major who envies those who became rich with the war and will stop at nothing to become rich and powerful. Rock Hudson is the good guy Neil, his adopted brother. Julia Adams(Lorna) is the wife of the disgusting Hardin(Raymond Burr) a bad, rich man. Lorna falls madly in love with Dan. Meanwhile the ranchers became increasingly revolted with Dan's tactics to get all the land he can. There is a father-son conflict between Dan and Ira (John McIntire) which brought to mind Winchester 73. Budd Boetticher is known for his Ranown westerns, but his earlier westerns like this one, Seminole, Wings of The Hawk, The Man from the Alamo and The Cimarron Kid are all much above average.

desmac66 the best thing about this western is its title. the next best thing is its glorious technicolor imagery. the 'look' of this film makes it a classic western - fully lit western skies, iconographic star close ups of confederate soldiers and texas belles - richly textured in luscious technicolor. the title - horizons west - and the beauty of the images sum up the idea of manifold destiny and western expansion. curiously the narrative itself contradicts the look as elder brother robert ryan abandons the simple homestead lifestyle for the corruptly sophisticated attractions of town life. as younger brother (rock hudson)is pitted against older brother (ryan), there are suggestions of biblical undertones. hudson, now a deputy marshal, eventually hunts down ryan for murder thereby restoring the idea of honesty and integrity as part of western expansion.

Single-Black-Male Having acted alongside James Stewart in 'Bend of the River' and appeared in two films with Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson was certainly on his way up the ladder in his late 20's. He's a bit like Charlton Heston in the sense that he has the maturity of someone almost twice his age whilst still in his 20's.