The Plunderers (1960)

★ 6.2 1h 34m IMDb
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Four young toughs have ridden into Trail City and claimed it as easy pickings for their bullying and gunplay. The whole town will be overrun by lawlessness if decent folks like rancher and Civil War veteran Sam Christy don’t take a stand.

The Plunderers

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Cast

Jeff Chandler
Jeff Chandler as Sam Christy Died 1961 · Brooklyn, New York, U.S. ​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jeff Chandler (born Ira Grossel; December 15, 1918 – June 17, 1961) was an American actor, film producer and singer best remembered for playing Cochise in Broke...
John Saxon
John Saxon as Rondo Died 2020 · Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA John Saxon (born Carmine Orrico; August 5, 1935 – July 25, 2020) was an American actor and martial artist who worked on more than 200 projects during a span of 60 years. Saxon is known for his work in...
Dolores Hart
Dolores Hart as Ellie Walters Age 87 · Chicago, Illinois, USA Dolores Hart, O.S.B., is an American Roman Catholic Benedictine nun who was a prominent actress. Following her movie debut with Elvis Presley in Loving You, she made ten films in five years, including...
Marsha Hunt
Marsha Hunt as Kate Miller Died 2022 · Chicago, Illinois, USA Marsha Hunt (born Marcia Virginia Hunt; October 17, 1917 – September 7, 2022) was an American actress, model and activist, with a career spanning nearly 80 years. She was blacklisted by Hollywood film...
Jay C. Flippen
Jay C. Flippen as Sheriff McCauley Died 1971 · Little Rock, Arkansas, USA ​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Jay C. Flippen  (born March 6, 1899, Little Rock, Arkansas – February 3, 1971, Los Angeles, California) is an American character actor who often played police...
Ray Stricklyn
Ray Stricklyn as Jeb Lucas Tyler Died 2002 · Houston, Texas, USA Ray Stricklyn (born Lewis Raymond Stricklyn) (October 8, 1928 – May 14, 2002) was a prolific American film actor, stage actor, television actor, soap opera star and publicist. His 50-year acting caree...

Audience Reviews

John Chard 8/10 Jul 17, 2014
Captain Sam - A Phantom.

The Plunderers is directed by Joseph Pevney and written by Bob Barbash. It stars Jeff Chandler, John Saxon, Dolores Hart, Marsha Hunt and Jay C. Flippen. Music is by Leonard Rosenman and cinematography by Eugene Polito.

Trail City, and 4 delinquent cowboys ride into town with attitude and carefree abandon. The Trail City residents - spineless, all except one man. One man who considers himself only half a man on account of his disability. That man is Civil War veteran Captain Sam...

War didn't just destroy his arm.

The few critical appraisals and reviews that exist for The Plunderers are keen to associate the picture with other notable pictures released previously, which in this instance is something of a curse when they happen to be well revered classics. Yet this is no knock off, it has its own identity. The four young delinquents here are not dashing dandy types, the makers make every effort to put their failings as human beings up at the front of the portrayals. These are young men, out of their depth, even spineless, but of course the town doesn't know this as they are too busy cowering in the shadows.

The messages are obvious in the play, but Pevney doesn't use his sledgehammer to enforce those parts of the narrative. It's perhaps no surprise how things pan out with Chandler's embittered war veteran, as he wrestles with both his conscience and his disability, but Pevney has a good knack for slow burning the atmosphere to bring rewards for film's finale. Chandler, in his last Western, is suitably broody, Hunt and Hart are beauties to behold, while of the bad boys it's Saxon as a diabolical Mexican - with scary eyebrows - and the only one who is old enough to shave, who strikes the highest villain chords.

Elsewhere there's a great musical score provided by double Academy Award Winner Rosenman, very much akin to something that the moody Twilight Zone episodes would use. It also at times has the feel of the score Alan Silvestri would rustle up for Predator some 27 years later. Polito's photography is crisp, where in conjunction with Pevney's camera angles and lighting techniques keeps the claustrophobia factor high in this one location setting.

Crackerjack! A dandy of a black and white Oater waiting to be discovered by more Western fans. It's a keeper for sure. 8/10

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