Spikeopath The Outcast is set in 1880s Colorado about a man who rides into town with a gang of hired gunmen to reclaim his inheritance. But the man opposing him is none other than his uncle, who will not give up the ranch, and all that goes with it, without a fight.A truly pleasant surprise to me this one was. Too many times I care to mention when I have sat down for a B movie Western and cringed at the banality on show. Directed by prolific B helmer William Witney and coming out of the mightily solid Republic Pictures house, The Outcast {AKA The Fortune Hunter} uses a standard story premise and expands it further with a multitude of interesting character arcs. There is so much going on in this part of Colorado, the film never has time to become boring or twee in its execution. Each character serves a purpose, if they have screen time then they are functional to the plot{s} in hand. We have feuding families, hired thugs, a pugilist blacksmith, reams of gun play, fist fights on horseback {fine stunt work here} and pretty gals pulling the male protagonists emotions left and right! All set against a lovely rolling location backdrop {sadly not able to find where at the time of writing} and filmed in the safer cheaper colour aspect of Trucolor, which looks nicer now in this day and age of HD TV.The cast are led by John Derek (All the King's Men) and an assortment of stoic and professional Western players fill out the roll call. It does look to be either largely unseen or consigned wrongly to the B movie bin. But it's certainly a must for the Western genre fan, and definitely a film to prove that Republic Pictures did have good films in their locker. So do check it out if you get the chance 7/10

krdement ...are the strengths of this muddled movie. And the soundtrack is reasonably good, too. The gunfight between the cattle rustlers and Jet and two of the Polson boys provides some dandy footage of cowboys ridin' and shootin' - not to mention the nice stunt work during the horseback tussle between Jet and Dude. Otherwise you should avoid it.The plot is a variation on the old Hatfields and McCoys feud. In this variant, however, one of the families is, itself, also split into two factions, and the pater familias of the other family buggy whips and banishes his daughter. Oddly, the Polsons even call themselves "hill people," reflecting a social milieu and jargon straight out of Appalachia and foreign to the Old West. The dialog is full of other, similar oddities and apparent anachronisms. Most of the characters are not well-defined or well-portrayed. Derek's character is especially unsympathetic, and his acting is pure wooden bravado without any nuance. When he tells Judy that he has just been making a play for Alice in order to embarrass his uncle, it comes as a totally incredible fabrication.As one commentator already noted, the anticipated gunfight between Jet and The Major is at first delayed by some pseudo-romantic exposition and then finished with other anti- climactic interruptions from a hired gun and a raving lawyer.Easily the best scene is apparently unscripted. The sight of Jet wheeling his horse into Dude, whacking him on the head with the horse's mouth is just about the only thing in this movie that seems genuine.

brillpro Tremendously good B western which today would be an A western. Strong acting, tremendous direction and the kind of realism in fights you never see. I think the smack on the head by the horse was intentional and left in as Jet's way of showing Dude who was boss without using his gun. It may have been accidental but if so was left in because it worked.Real scenery and some really cool off the backdrop shots which really worked in color.My only problem? Where in the 1880's West does a guy come up with a name like "Jet?" I thought it was Jeb, or Jed until I saw the credits.Recommend to any western lover and others too. Loved Bob Steele as a bad guy. He never worked for me as a good guy. I think it's certainly one of Derek's best and seeing a Young Slim Pickens on a horse at a gallop. Now that is cool.

bux An early performance by Derek is the main attraction here, in this action packed tale of a young man, returning home to reclaim his ranch from a dastardly cattle baron. A good supporting cast, and a director that doesn't let the romance scenes get in the way, make this good fare.