Directed by Paul Landres
Produced by Jerald Zukor
Written by Allan Kaufman and Max Glandbard
Director Of Photography: Floyd Crosby, ASC
Film Editor: Elmo Williams, ACE
Music Composed and Conducted by Irving Gertz
Cast: Dale Robertson (Sheriff Caleb Wells), Brian Keith (Happy Waters), Rosanna Rory (Maria), Dick Kallman (Smiley Andrews), Don Megowan (Walt), Mike Lane (Nels), Buddy Baer (Stan), Charles Fredericks (Deputy Bear), Alexander Lockwood (Bert, the new sheriff)
__________
Paul Landres was one of those journeyman directors who could take practically nothing — an OK script, less than a week and a paltry budget — and put together a solid little movie. He worked mainly in TV, with a feature from time to time. Inspired by the upcoming DVD and Blu-ray release of The Return Of Dracula (1958) from Olive Films, I’ve been revisiting some of Landres’ features from the late 1950s.
Hell Canyon Outlaws (1957), known in the UK as The Tall Trouble, was an independent picture from Jerold Zukor Productions, filmed at the Corriganville Ranch. Republic released it. I think it’s one of Landres’ best.
Four outlaws head to a small town of Goldridge to raise hell and eventually rob the bank. They take over the saloon and hotel, steal a horse, size up the bank and rough up the guy at the livery stable — just for starters. If all this isn’t bad enough, the town council has just fired the sheriff, Caleb Wells (Dale Robertson), and his deputy, Bear (Charles Fredericks). The new sheriff, well, he’s outta town. Goldridge is in a tight spot.
Dale Robertson is terrific in this. You just know he’s going to be pushed to his breaking point, it’s just a matter of when. That tension, as the town is trashed and Robertson does the slow burn, is what drives Hell Canyon Outlaws. Landres builds the suspense perfectly — with the help of Elmo Williams, who edited High Noon (1952) — to a very satisfying last reel. This and Fred F. Sears’ Fury At Gunsight Pass (1956) would make a great double bill.
Brian Keith is great in one of those somewhat-likable dirtbag roles he excelled at (remember Fort Dobbs?). Keith would’ve made an ideal foil to Randolph Scott in one of the Boetticher pictures.
Rossana Rory doesn’t have much to do but look pretty as Robertson’s girlfriend, but she’s fine. The rest of the cast — especially the rest of Keith’s gang: Don Megowan, Mike Lane and Buddy Baer — are effective. Dick Kallman is suitably obnoxious as the punk kid with a gun (I really wanted to see him gunned down).
The great Floyd Crosby, another High Noon veteran, gives the picture the feel of something a lot bigger than it is — a trick he’d perform often for Roger Corman in the early 60s.
Hell Canyon Outlaws isn’t available on DVD or Blu-ray anywhere. Given the top-notch cast and crew working at the top of their game, this would be a great one to see in a nice anamorphic transfer (it was shot for 1.85). It’s currently available from Sinister Cinema, but I haven’t seen what it looks like. If I had my own video company, this is one I’d try to track down in a hurry.
50 Westerns From The 50s. 
This is a good movie .I have the Sinister copy but it needs an official release and needs a better transfer .
Sounds great. John is always singing the praises of Landres and this seems like a good example of his work, and it’s got Dale Robertson too.
“hell canyon outlaws” can be viewed uncut at rarefilmm.com website. just
click on the western label box. recently viewed “ride the man down” on this
site also .
Always Loved Return of Dracula…..
I’m one of those guys who think Keith was better as a dirtbag/shifty type before he became sanitized by Disney and Family Affair.
Given their commitment to reissuing rare Republic pictures, this would be an obvious choice for Hollywood Scrapheap to restore and release – maybe one day!
This would have been Dale Robertson’s last feature before his extended run (1957-62) on the all-action “TALES OF WELLS FARGO” teleseries. He was just fine in this low budget but effective flick. He usually was though.
I presume Paramount own this.
If only they had an MOD series-films like this would
be ideal.
Some good news for Jerry-Warner Archive have a 9
film Johnny Mack Brown set due next month.
It seems the Monogram series is still active.
While researching a list of “Cool Canadians” for a
list that I submitted over at Kristina’s I inadvertently
came across an in-production film that has got me very
excited..
HOSTILES directed by Scott Cooper who already has
an impressive track record to say the least.
The subject matter,the location and the most impressive
cast raise high hopes for this film.
The Western had already suffered a double whammy
near death blow from the dreadful HATEFUL 8 and the
even more dire BONE TOMAHAWK,.
I know we have said this time and time again and false
hopes have been dashed but Cooper’s film may just be the
one not to revive the Western,perhaps but to prove that
someone today can still make a decent Western.
Just received the Kino-Lorber Blu Ray’s of CANADIAN PACIFIC
and CARIBOO TRAIL..
These are wonderful restorations and better,in fact than some
of the on-line screen captures would have us believe.
A nice touch is that the restorers have tagged on a Twentieth Century
Fox logo to the start of the film to give us as close as possible “cinematic”
experience. These Blu Ray’s compare to what one would have seen in
cinemas circa 1949/50.
Having done this painstaking restoration surely there must now be a
digital CineColor graphic palette which I thought could be used to restore
FIGHTING MAN OF THE PLAINS. The hope of finding a 35mm print
in someone’s garage seem slim I would have thought…but who knows.
BTW I like the idea of Toby running his own DVD/Blu Ray imprint
something for us to hope for in the future maybe?
I’ve given some thought to putting out a DVD or two, and I know I could pull it off, but there are some real problems with it.
It would push this blog toward retail in a way I’m not comfortable with. Encouraging you to buy the latest thing from, say, Warner Archive or VCI is one thing. Being part of a project like Criterion’s One-Eyed jacks is another. But hawking my own products on here would be just too weird, and the companies we’re all hoping will provide us with the movies we want so badly would see me as a competitor, not someone who wants to help them connect with collectors and customers.
Interesting issues to consider Toby. Can see the quandaries. That said, if you ever decided to go forward you know you’ll have lots of support from all of us here. 🙂
Best wishes,
Laura
Here’s another possibility. If you could find out how to post a movie, much in the same way “cave of forgotten films” rarefilmm.com does you could post some movies that you talk about right here on this website. Just a possibility if selling movies poses too many problems posting them here for all to see like cave of forgotten films does might be a great solution.
Having read Toby’s post it made me curious to see this movie. Watched Heck Canyon Outlaws tonight. 2 of my favorites Dale Robertson & Brian Keith both involved, though I like Brian better as a good guy, he did make a good even match though against Dale. Buddy Baer was one BIG guy, I think he was a wrestler and I do remember seeing him in a ’50’s Superman episode where he played (appropriately enough) Atlas the strongman. I would have liked to have seen a more well known actress like Peggy Castle play the role of Dale’s girlfriend, seemingly the only good lookin’ gal in town. I was only surprised that the bad guys didn’t go after the girl at all. Not even a whistle or a rude comment.
I do have to give the 4 bullys who ride into town credit for having a good sense of humor though. A line I couldn’t help but laugh at was when they said “maybe we oughta have Dale (whatever his character’s name was) show us around town.” As they walked down the street looking for stores to wreck and people to push around. The kid who couldn’t wait to shoot “introducing Dick Kallman” whatever happened to him anyway, was pretty annoying and you just knew he was going to get it. It seems though whenever I watch a western from the ’50’s in b/w it does seem like a TV episode. This could have been a Wells Fargo episode with Dale visiting a town. Brian and Dale were perfect in this movie and it was one fast moving hour and a 1/4 and quite engaging. Good Republic shortie well worth a ’50’s western classic title.
I haven’t seen THE TALL TROUBLE for over 58 years, since I went to see it as the support to HAPPY IS THE BRIDE at my local ABC in April, 1958. As it was a Republic picture, it was distributed by British Lion in the UK. I remember the advertising for it in the local paper, billing the star as Dale (“Wells Fargo”) Robertson. Just one of many films I went to see in my childhood that were seen once and never seen again.
How about a release on TENSION AT TABLE ROCK? I’ve never seen this but heard its pretty good.
I have TENSION AT TABLE ROCK on a Spanish DVD and can recommend it.
Do you mean you recommend the film or the Spanish DVD of it? Or both?
Colin ,I would recommend both ,but a local release would be better.
Thanks, it’s sometimes hard to get feedback on such releases. And I agree that. let’s say, a wider release would be welcome.
I nearly bought the Spanish DVD a couple of years ago, but after reading poor reviews about mediocre picture and colour, I decided against it.
Until a good official DVD comes along, you are probably better off with a TV copy. The version on Encore Westerns, although open matte, is good.
I never did see the Spanish DVD, so maybe “gcwe1” can correct me and the reviews I read.
These Spanish DVD’s are a bit of a sore point-
I tend to avoid them unless I hear a really good comment from someone.
Eventually TENSION AT TABLE ROCK will be released by Warner
Archive.
They have several other RKO Westerns as “works in progress”
but when they will hit the streets is anyone’s guess.
Warners are also working on DEVIL’S CANYON,GREAT DAY IN THE
MORNING and TREASURE OF PANCHO VILLA.
While on the RKO theme The Archive have several Val Lewton
double bills in the works-I would have thought they would have gone
down the Blu Ray route for these classics.
There is also a very attractive six film (I believe) set of classic,mainly
thirties Horror films-again a DVD set. I’ve no doubt an announcement will
appear on The Hannibal 8 sometime soon. 🙂
I’ve just replayed a DVD-R of Republic’s DUEL AT APACHE WELLS (1956), starring Ben Cooper and Jim Davis. It’s a heavily panned and scanned transfer of only reasonable picture quality that I bought off an eBay seller about ten years ago and which was obviously recorded off the Western Channel. This is a pretty good, fast paced and action-packed Western running 70 minutes in Naturama (Republic’s CinemaScope process) and black and white and, like a lot of old Republic Westerns, it badly needs a restored version releasing on DVD in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
David, I’m always glad to see your name pop up! Thanks for weighing in on this.
Duel At Apache Wells is a good one, but it’s painful to watch in that pan-and-scanned version. That’s one I’d really love to see turn up the right way!
Yes, Toby, there’s a scene where Jim Davis and Harry Shannon shoot it out in a cantina, but you can’t see Jim Davis draw because he’s on the left of the image, the half of the picture that’s cropped off. It looks dreadful.
Fully with you there, David!! That rather good film is just one of quite a number of Republic and Regal films we all wish could be had fully restored in their correct ratio. Will it ever happen? We read of a possible deal between Kino Lorber and Paramount……so the tiniest pinprick of light at the end of the tunnel -maybe.