Plot-- Mysterious Kid Wichita arrives to help two brothers Tom and Jeff defend their ranch from cattle rustlers. Trouble is the Kid creates more problems than he solves. So why does straight arrow Tom put up with him.Anyone doubting that Texas has a scenic part needs to see this Western. The Palo Dura Canyon in the Texas panhandle looks like a smaller version of the Grand Canyon of Arizona and makes an eye-catching backdrop. In fact, the movie skillfully weaves the action into the red rock slabs, especially the big shoot-out, bull whip and all. There're a lot of cross currents to the plot, making the story sometimes difficult to follow, but the central characters—Preston and Sterling—remain clearly drawn. The script only fills in important information in dribs and drabs, which means we have to keep up with why some people are doing what they do as best we can. Thus some patience is needed, but I think it does pay off.Preston is obviously enjoying his charming bad-guy role, playing it for all it's worth. His Kid Wichita may be one of the biggest, most booming, personalities in Western annals and probably the only singing villain. Wisely, his opposite number, Sterling, underplays his part as Tom, the reluctant good guy. This makes for a good dramatic contrast and helps build tension for the inevitable showdown. Apparently, Jack Elam helped get financing for the film (IMDB) and so got his first acting part. He sounds a little shaky, but then his cuckolded husband, Earl, is supposed to be. And, of course, there's Chill Wills lending his reliable "aw- shucks" brand of character color.Anyway, there's a lot of entertainment in both the scenery and the characters, making this a generally under-rated little Western.

The summary line above, spoken by James Cloud (Robert Preston) to his brother Tom (Robert Sterling) just about says it all. Jim, AKA Kid Wichita, has a way of making things happen, only trouble is, he usually leaves dead bodies where he's been. Not the sort of mentoring Tom envisions for younger brother Jeff, who likes what he sees in Jim, especially when defending their ranch against local Texas cattlemen.The opening credits state 'Introducing John Barrymore Jr. as the Younger Brother', in this his very first screen appearance. That seemed rather odd to me, particularly since he was addressed as Jeff almost immediately into the story. Approximately eighteen at the time of this movie, he bears a passing resemblance to Sean Penn. No stranger to personal and legal problems throughout his career as well as estrangement from his family, I was left wondering if his daughter Drew Barrymore might have ever seen this picture. I'm inclined to think not.On the subject of resemblances, I was also struck by the thought that the young Robert Sterling looked a bit like Roy Rogers early in his career. Knowing Sterling previously only from his role as George Kerby in the early 1950's TV series 'Topper', I thought he looked out of place in a Western, but that might just be me. His character becomes emboldened by his brother's resourcefulness at creating trouble, and provides some of the edginess to this not so typical story. Minor subplots abound, including the relationship rancher John Gall (John Litel) has with his son the Sheriff (who Kid Wichita kills), and the troubled marriage between Kathleen Boyce (Cathy Downs) and her husband Earl (who Kid Wichita kills). Chill Wills rounds out the main cast as one of Tom Cloud's hired hands, and figures in the somewhat predictable finale.What's not quite predictable is how things eventually wind up there, and for that reason, this Western earns points for following a less traveled, hence not quite as formulaic a plot as a lot of good brother/bad brother Westerns do. Combined with the eclectic casting of the principals, it's one I'd recommend, even if you have to endure some of the jump cuts and sloppy editing that I experienced with my copy.

The Cloud brothers Tom and Jeff are in a mini war with some neighbouring ranchers who are stealing their cattle and want that land that they own. In these confrontations one of their ranch guys is found dead. Not too long James Cloud ('Kid Wichita') makes his way into the picture to help his brothers out on this outcome. Kid Wichita goes to any lengths to make sure that those neighbours pay back their interest. This means going out at night and herding their cattle to cover the costs, but there's more going on than that here. This situation gets more complicated when killing becomes apart of it and Tom can see his younger brother Jeff is turning out like Wichita and he doesn't see eye to eye to that. Realising now that he made a mistake by letting Wichita become apart of it, he must turn him into the law, alive or dead. Pretty much a typical Hollywood western that seems to have put a lot effort into the production side of things (especially the Technicolor), but the story and pacing seems to be stuck in first gear throughout most of the picture. It's mostly a melodramatic and slow moving story that is rather chatty but still engaging no matter what. This is because the tough cowboy dialog between them is incredibly taut and that thrives throughout. That kind of makes up for sparse action and tension, but the momentum does picks up in the last 15 minutes with a revelation, which you have already guessed and a climatic showdown in the caverns. This is where the best moments occur. The shootout between the Cloud brothers and some rustlers up in the rocky terrains with its classic cowboy banter is fairly well staged. Like some reviewer has mentioned that really goes to the whip crazy incident. But after all of that you'll be expecting uplifting showdown between the brothers after the biting conflict amongst them earlier on, but sadly it all ends in a small whimper. Being shot location also gives it a bit more credit. The Texas landscape helps for a nice backdrop, which makes for an easier viewing then actually just being made on sets. It one of the draw cards to make sure you keep on watching, that's for sure. Though saying that I was squinting to make out what's happening in those damn impossible moments in the dark. Some sequences felt liked they were chucked in without any thought, but that could be because of the editing. The editing was rather sharp and maybe too sharp, as some things were left open in the story with no much detail about certain scenarios that come to be. While the score was a bit over-bearing at times. But that's no real biggie. The characters in the film are well established and the performances are reasonably sound by the second-rate cast. Robert Preston as 'Kid Wichita' is the one and only enlightened character in the film. He spent most of the time amusing himself by making fun out of people he knew wouldn't fight back, well that changes. Robert Sterling as the flat Tom pales in comparison to the lively Preston and John Drew Barrymore as the younger Jeff wasn't too bad even if his performance was quite raw. Also Cathy Downs, John Litel and Jack Elam are decent in their roles.A western that provides the usual set-up and clichés, but still mildly amusing and has a bit of style to burn.

This was an exceptional western in it's day. Filmed on location, in Technicolor no less, with top B-list stars Robert Sterling, the bland good-guy type and Robert Preston, the evil bad-man brother with good support by Cathy Downs, John Barrymore Jr., Chill Wills, John Litel among others including Jack Elam. After viewing this again after a long while, it's obvious that the more "adult" aspects of the story were eliminated or toned down so drastically that the drama was just too tame by todays' standards, but they had the "Code" in those days. It also appears as if the studio (Eagle-Lion)may have also edited some scenes down to fit a particular running time (approx. 83 minutes). It makes no sense to spend the money they did on this film and then cut it to it's running time. If this film had a couple of the Alan Bates, Susannha York, John Hurt scenes from "The Shout" written into this "re-make" it would be more explosive and make more sense. I would also explore and expand the strong-willed father, weak son sheriff sub-plot a little more. Yes it's watchable still as is, but when we bring back the Western some day, let's re-make this one early on.