Young Guns of Texas (1962)

OK, so this isn’t a very good film and there do appear to be a few scenes from others really obviously intercut into it, but I thought James Mitchum, Alana Ladd and Jody McCrae did fine in this entirely derivative adventure western. A payroll has been pinched, a loved-up couple have eloped, a posse has been formed to track them down and there are some marauding Apache. What’s not to like? It was “Duane” (Gary Conway) who led the raid on the loot. It’s “Coe” (Mitchum) and “Lily” (Ladd) who have done the absconding and it’s her father “Jesse” (Robert Lowery) who assumes she has been kidnapped and who is leading the pursuers. Any acting plaudits can really only be awarded to Chill Wills for his preacher “Shelby” and perhaps to the enthusiastic young McCrae, but sadly Mitchum isn’t even a patch on his brother Christopher let alone his dad and Alana, is no “Shane”. Still, we have the ingredients for a perfectly watchable Saturday afternoon drive-in feature with something for everyone’s as it’s, admittedly quite convoluted, threads knit neatly together for a conclusion that wasn’t quite what I was expecting. Not great, but not awful either.