weezeralfalfa One of the main plot threads that runs through most of this Technicolor 1950 western is the question of whether younger brother Jeff((John Drew Barrymore) is going to continue to emulate brother Tom(Robert Sterling), who runs a legitimate cattle ranch in Texas, or brother James(Robert Preston), commonly referred to as Wichita. who is landless, and seems to roam around doing odd legitimate and illegitimate jobs. In contrast to the serious disposition of Tom, Wichita seems laid back, always chuckling, confident of himself, and of his popularity with women, as demonstrated by his pawing of Mrs. Kathy Boyce in her home, with her husband Earl(Jack Elam) absent......Against his better judgement, Tom finally accepts Wichita as a temporary member of his team, deciding that he needs a forceful leader in his battle with rustlers. But, besides protecting Tom's cattle from being stolen, Wichita and his small gang, including brother Jeff, engage in some rustling of their own. He kills one of the hands of neighbor John Gall, caught rustling with several others. Then, he sneaks into the sheriff's office afterhours and assassinates Sheriff Gall: son of John Gall. Apparently, he had connected the enemy rustlers, who had just exited from the sheriff's office, with Gall, and decided to cut off the head of the dragon. Interestingly, Father Gall decided to appoint himself the new sheriff! Then, he sneaked into the house of Earl and Kathy Boyce, and assassinated Earl, who was sitting at the kitchen table. It was not crystal clear why he did this, as Earl was not connected with the rustling. Probably, he wanted to eliminate Earl as a possible witness to his rumored killing of Tom's previous foreman, in a night raid. Also, possibly he wanted to eliminate him as Kathy's husband.......Then, there is the climactic shootout between Gall's rustlers and Wichita's gang plus Tom and Sam(Chill Wills), who arrived later. Brother Jeff is seriously wounded, and captured. But each of the brothers, including Jeff, kills one of the 3 rustlers. Tom takes Jeff to his cabin for recovery, and vows he will bring Wichita in to the new sheriff(meaning he will kill him), for his presumed(although unproven) guilt in killing the Sheriff and Earl Boyce. A second climax event happens when Wichita shows up at Tom's house, where Tom, Sam, Jeff, and Kathy are waiting. The atmosphere is tense, as the men spread themselves out some meters apart. One gun is pulled from it's holster, quickly followed by several others. Soon, one man is dead.....We wonder the fate of Tom. Is he arrested as an accomplice to Wichita's murders? Does he leave the area, as several have suggested? Does Kathy leave the area, as threatening to do?. Do Tom and Kathy resume their secret romantic dallying, now that she is a widow? Does brother Jeff resume his role as a hand for Tom, now that Wichita is dead? Or does he continue to seek a life like Wichita's....... As frequently cast, Robert Preston's character of Wichita doesn't seem all bad. He did his job of eliminating the rustling, but his methods weren't approved by the legal establishment, nor the town's people. Another classic example of a Preston character who is partly good and partly bad is seen in the Cecil DeMille epic "Union Pacific"......The action was filmed on site at several locations in north Texas, including Palo Dura Canyon, sometimes providing rather spectacular settings for battles or roaming.......See it at YouTube..Don't confuse this film with the 1960 film of the same title, but with quite a different setting and story.

FightingWesterner Peaceful rancher Robert Sterling is on the losing side of a range war with his ruthless neighbors, that is until notorious outlaw Robert Preston shows up out of the blue to level the playing field. Soon he begins to go too far, feeding a growing sense of unease in Sterling, especially when his son begins to idolize the wily criminal.The Sundowners is a tightly-paced, gritty, and surprisingly tough little picture with a great performance by Preston. Here, he comes across as an evil version of Shane, that is until the real nature of the rancher and the outlaw's relationship is revealed. Most movie guides and video boxes spoil the surprise!Rounding out the cast is Chill Wills, Jack Elam, and the debut of John Drew Barrymore, who became more famous for his offspring than his acting.

westerner357 I was kind of surprised that a low budget studio like Eagle-Lion would actually fork out the cost of Technicolor film (expensive) and on-location filming in Texas (also expensive) for what is essentially an A- (minus) western. An A- western being something that had more money spent on it than a B western, but lacks the star power an "A western" would usually carry. It's not bad although the plot seems a little disjointed at times. It could be because of what an earlier reviewer had said about the studio atrociously editing down the running time of the film, even after all the money they seemed to have spent on it.Robert Sterling and his "Younger Brother" (played by the recently departed John Drew Barrymore) are caught between competing ranch interests (led by John Litel) who want to lay claim to his land. The sheriff (Litel's son, played by Don Haggerty) even goes so far as to have one of Sterling's ranch hands killed. In walks Sterling's long lost brother, "Kid Wichita" (Robert Preston) who decides to do a little killing for his brother on his own. Sterling even weirdly agrees to it at first but then sees it getting out of hand and decides he has to kill his brother.There is one memorable scene of Preston being whipped by one of Litel's men as he hides under a rock outcropping, then he grabs the end of the whip and the man tumbles over the ledge to his death, but otherwise this is fairly dreary stuff. Even near the end where Sterling confronts Preston in a draw only to have Sterling's ranch hand Sam Beers (Chill Wills) shoot Preston from the side, seems anti-climatic. It's as if everyone was sleepwalking through their parts, except for Chill Wills and the young Barrymore, who spends most of his time grimacing at the camera, making faces like he's trying to act too hard. But hell, he was only 18 at the time and it was his first film so I guess that's understandable.Also notable for as an early role for Jack Elam as Earl Boyce, a neighboring rancher that Preston guns down in his own house, and Cathy Downs plays Elam's wife who may (or may not) have a thing for Sterling. That love interest looks like one of the things edited out of this film.The Texas scenery is more interesting than the film itself and gives the viewer a break from the usual California locations that we've seen a thousand times before. VCI used a pretty good print for their DVD with minor blemishes and scratches. Considering the film stock's age, it looks in pretty good shape.Worth a look. I'd give it a 5½ out of 10.

bux Sterling and younger brother try to survive on land, being squeezed by big cattlemen. When 'rogue' brother Preston arrives, a moral dilemma ensues. John 'Drew' Barrymore steals the show as the younger, impressionable brother-Barrymore shows signs here that he could have been an acting powerhouse. Moves at a nice pace to an exciting climax.