Spondonman There's just too many baddies in this film for me to consider this as anything other than an average Randolph Scott Western. Even the nearly-good people have perverse traits – who the Hell are we supposed to care about!Tale set in post Civil War Texas where carpetbaggers ruled almost supreme, and the occupying Federal troops seemed to let them. There's a gang of patriotic outlaws led by a Robin Hood character trying to redress the balance and a complicated set of sympathies and antagonisms with which to contend. And Lex Barker was playing a nutter. But if I correctly remember my extensive Frank Yerby reading when I was a kid surely in reality the Ku Klux Klan couldn't have been far away in matters of this kind in their role of Southern saviours? There's time in this shortish formula fiction film for lots of plot twists, cold business, love, jealousy, rage, backstabbings, murders galore, some honour and integrity, all of it delivered with plenty of panache, a nice colour and sporadically excellent camera-work.It's enjoyable hokum up to a point but ultimately loses its way because there's no one you can really root for but many you can root against. Naturally, Scott is as dependable as usual.

Robert J. Maxwell Randolph Scott plays it perfectly straight as a post-war captain in the Union Army, stationed in Texas and a Southerner himself. He and his wife, Phyllis Kirk, are uncomfortable with their duties. Scott is supposed to protect the civilian authorities from the depredations of a gang led by Charles McGraw. But the civilians -- the wide-eyed and trembling Elisha Cook, Jr., and his dominant partner, the sneering and treacherous Hugh Sanders -- are worse than the gang. They overtax the locals, buy cotton for one tenth what they sell it for after they ship it to New York. For Scott, this is known as "role conflict," when a person is caught between two non-concordant roles -- loyal Texan and loyal Army officer. For the South, this is known as "reconstruction."Nobody knows how Lincoln might have handled reconstruction since he was assassinated at the end of the war. (He'd said the Southern states would be welcomed back into the union "as if they'd never left.") His successor, Andrew Johnson, was an unregenerate racist and a barely literate ex tailor who mismanaged the deal as best he could. His earnest hope was that the white aristocrats of the South, being gentlemen, would reestablish order and the slaves, now free, would assume their accustomed place as subordinates and servants. It didn't work out. Reconstruction was a disaster and order was maintained by the presence of Army troops for years. Seven years after the year of this movie, 1869, Rutherford B. Hayes found himself in a controversy concerning the electoral college and the popular vote, and apparently made a deal to withdraw the Army from the Southern states in return for the presidency. For the next ninety years the South would remain solidly Democratic and segregated.It's in this historical context that the movie's particular interest lies. It's not just another Western with a good sheriff against a band of evil outlaws and cattle rustlers. The role conflict that Randolph Scott was in was very real and generated by political circumstances. No nonsense about who's the fastest draw around here.It's one of Scott's best performances, full of complexity. The villains are clearly identified -- Cook and Brand, that scurrilous duo of miscreants. The movie's sympathy is obviously with the native Texans, most of whom are men of principle, including the gang leader, McGraw. He holds up the shipment of that tainted cotton all right, but he doesn't keep it for himself. He evidently returns it to those who rightly own it or he burns it.Scott is joined by an arrogant officer, Lex Barker, who does everything wrong and who puts moves on Scott's wife. He's another unlikable villain. (You can always tell the villains because they have no sense of humor.) Lex Barker does not perform celluloid magic but he's stolid in the part. As Scott's wife, Phyllis Kirk must have been genuinely uncomfortable. Stuck out there on the Texas plains, with her elegant accent and aristocratic features. She must have wondered what life was all about, how to cope with it all, how to live in the unfolding moment. (Her birth name was not Kirk but Kierkegaard.) It has its Western conventions but it's an attempt at a serious movie about a serious subject and Scott handles it well.

Michael O'Keefe The Civil War has ended and 1869 Texas is not unlike a powder keg with a short fuse. Those that can farm or grow cotton are forced out of their homes and off of their ranches by greedy carpetbaggers from the north. Captain David Porter(Randolph Scott)has a hard time with his loyalties being forced to witness carpetbaggers hiding under the legal protection of the Union Army of Occupation. A Texas patriot Ben Westman(Charles McGraw)is framed on a murder charge and Porter is under fire for letting his real allegiance be known. Westman's followers do their best to steal back what the carpetbaggers have taken by corrupt law of the land. Meanwhile a younger Captain Hodges(Lex Barker)is trying to put the moves on Porter's wife(Phyllis Kirk), who feels she has suffered loneliness much too long. Scott is at his stoic best, while Elisha Cook Jr. and Hugh Sanders fill the role of villains. Also in the cast: Lane Chandler, Fess Parker and Henry Hull.

bsmith5552 "Thunder Over the Plains" is another of those enjoyable little 80 minute color westerns turned out by Randolph Scott in the 1950s. Competently directed by Andre deToth, the film keeps moving along and doesn't get too bogged down with the domestic issues. And there's another of those great supporting casts of recognizable faces.This one takes place in Texas following the U.S. Civil War before the state re-entered the Union and was governed by the occupying Union Army. Capt. David Porter (Scott) is charged with the protection of government officials in their dealings with local land owners. The only trouble is these officials are nothing but carpetbaggers who over tax and cheat the farmers out of their property.Chief among the carpetbaggers are Tax Commissioner Joseph Standish (Elisha Cook Jr.) and cotton broker H.L. Balfour (Hugh Sanders). Porter, a native Texan, is accused of bias towards the settlers by his commanding officer, Lt. Col. Chandler (Henry Hull) who doesn't want to upset his superiors as he is within two years of retirement.Aiding the settlers is Ben Westman (Charles McGraw) a sort of "Robin Hood" who with his gang that includes Faraday (Lane Chandler), Kirby (Fess Parker) and henchman John Cason foil Balfour at every turn. Col. Chandler orders Porter to bring Westman in.Trigger happy Captain Bill Hodges (Lex Barker) arrives and is placed under Porter's command. He also has designs on Porter's attractive wife Norah (Phyllis Kirk). Hodges moves on Westman's hideout against Porter's orders and allows the bandit to escape. Hodges however, shoots Kirby in the back without provocation.When Standish witnesses Balfour murder a cohort, he becomes nervous and threatens to inform the authorities. Balfour murders Standish and pins the blame on Westman. In order to clear his name Westman allows Porter to take him in on Porter's promise to find the guilty party. Col. Chandler gives Porter only three days before he orders Westman hanged. After Hodges bungles another battle with Westman's gang, Chandler orders that Westman be hung the next morning. Porter goes to Westman's gang for help forcing a final showdown with Balfour and his gunman Conrad (James Brown) where.....................................Scott gives his usual excellent stiff jawed performance. Unusual for him, he remains in uniform for most of the film. Barker had recently finished his "Tarzan" series (1948-52) for RKO in which he replaced Johnny Weissmuller. Henry Hull is probably best remembered for "Werewolf of London" (1935) in which he played the title role.Fess Parker would shortly become Davy Crockett for Disney and later play Daniel Boone on TV. James Brown (not the football player or the Soul Singer) is best remembered for playing Lt. Rip Masters on the long running "Rin Tin Tin" TV series. Elisha Cook appeared in "Shane" the same year as "Torrey" the settler who is gunned down by Jack Palance. Also in the cast are Trevor Bardette as a settler and Earle Hodgins as a fast talking auctioneer.