35541m This film is poor even by the standards of an AC Lyles 'old geezer' western. Audiences back when this was released must have realised that it was bottom of the barrel schlock and laughed throughout. Anachronistic songs and music, old rheumatic actors in need of doubles, pathetic choreography; anyone seeing this in 1966 must have felt that they had gone through a timewarp and re-emerged in the 1950s.The highlight has to be the saloon fight between Dana Andrews and Lyle Bettger or, rather, the fight between their stunt doubles since the faces of the stuntmen are visible throughout and Bettger's has a different hair colour. I also laughed out loud when a rubber dummy was catapaulted into the air after an explosion and when a character was all smiles about 10 seconds after being told that her father was dead.RG Springsteen was a hack but had directed a relatively competent film (Bullet for a Badman) only a little while previously so it is not clear why, other than cheap budget and rushed shooting schedule, he is so slapdash here. Note also that Andrews' ride to Jane Russell's house is conveyed by using footage recycled from earlier in the film.

MartinHafer Aside from a sappy intro and closing tune, this is a pretty good western, though the main theme is a bit familiar. After all, there must have been a thousand westerns that had a big, bad boss-man who basically ran a town and got his own way...only to meet up with honest man who could not be intimidated or bought. Fortunately, however, there were enough new elements to the familiar story to make it worth seeing.The film begins with Dana Andrews happening upon a couple men running from the law in a nearby town. They assume Andrews is after them and begin firing. Andrews kills one and captures the other. Oddly, they thought he was after him but he just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time. So, he takes the lone survivor to a nearby town for trial, but it soon becomes apparent that the town has no interest in a trial--they will hang the guy! Well, Andrews isn't about to let that happen and he gets the VERY reluctant Sheriff (Lon Chaney, Jr.) to help. There's way too much unsaid that he needs to investigate, but no one in the town seems to be talking--they all just want a good hanging and it's the local rich boss that seems to be behind everything.Good acting and direction along with a few decent plot twists make this one worth your time. Not a great film but a very good one. And, like a typical A.C. Lyles production of the 1960s, it employs actors whose careers had seen better days--and makes good use of them.

Nazi_Fighter_David Lyle Bettger is one of those stalwarts whose names probably mean nothing to most average filmgoers but who enjoy instant recognition on the screen… Bettger was far better knows as a blond, blue-eyed villain given to exuding pathological hated... His good looks worked for him in every determined effort, even as a menacing villain with a snickering charm...Dana Andrews plays Marshal Johnny Reno, who used to be one of the top gunfighters… He just arrived with a prisoner called Joe Conners (Tom Drake) considered by the citizens of Stone Junction as a little Indian-killer… Of course the Mayor of the town Jess Yates (Buttger) assures the marshal that Conners will be given a fair trial and asked him to get out of the town fast… In spite of hearing that the lynch mob will be out there and one way or another they'll get Conners, the tough marshal tells everybody that his prisoner is in his protective custody and anybody who wants to get to him is going to have to step over his dead body… That day, the way it happened—before the Connors mess—Reno was riding to see somebody he once knew, Nona Williams (Jane Russell). He knew the woman years before when he was the righteous lawman in the town where she lived… He has been wearing a badge ever since… Nona made a mistake and he couldn't forgive her… Lon Chaney Jr shows up as a sheriff who forgets that his job is law and order… Filmed in Technicolor and Panavision, "Johnny Reno" remains a tedious little Western worth a matinée

frankfob Another in producer A.C. Lyles' string of geezer westerns. This time, instead of just producing the picture, Lyles decided to try his hand at writing it. Bad move. The scripts on this series of westerns were never particularly good in the first place, and many of them were written by Steve Fisher, who also wrote this one. His teaming up with Lyles doesn't seem to have improved things any, and actually this particular entry is a bit more rambling and disconnected than the usual Lyles western. Although it's full of old and familiar faces, and worth a look maybe for that value alone, the picture itself isn't very good at all. Slow as molasses, it seems to be afflicted with the same arthritis that many of its principals probably had. Making an action picture with a cast whose youngest member is in his late 50s wasn't a real good idea. This isn't a real good movie. Skip it.