How 'The Buccaneers' Crafted Josie Totah and Mia Threapleton’s "Joyful" Queer Romance: "Never Even a Discussion" It's a roll call of fine Western character actors, with the square jawed Fuller leading off on alpha male duties, behind him Akins (Comanche Station), Duryea (Winchester '73) and Noah Beery Jr (Decision At Sundown) lift the standard plot formula to better heights; further enhanced by the appearance of Denver Pyle (Fort Massacre) in a deliciously vile secondary villain role. It's the closing days of the Civil War, and the army is mopping up the situation out west.. Among the matters to be cleared up is a million dollars in missing gold. They have cut a deal with one of the robbers: freedom in return for helping to return it. Robert Fuller gets the assignment of leading the troops out to dig it up. There are just two problems: the first is that it's buried on Indian territory, from which the army is barred. The other is the guy leading them there is Dan Duryea at his smarmiest. Disgraced 'Southern Charm' Alum Thomas Ravenel Fuming Over Craig Conover And Shep Rose's Kathryn Dennis Compliments at BravoCon 2023: "Total Losers" Although Nugent did not write Stagecoach (1939), Incident at Phantom Hill lifts several plot motifs from the earlier Ford western. As in Stagecoach the characters are western archetypes - including a prostitute with a heart of gold run out of town – placed on a journey through rough terrain that both tests their moral fortitude and exposes their true selves, for better and worse. Indeed a case can be made that Jocelyn Lane's sultry saloon gal Memphis (a cut-and-paste for Claire Trevor's Dallas) is the key character given the finale hinges on her making the right choice. Lane, a sensual presence, smoulders quite magnificently in clingy dresses barely period appropriate but also exudes palpable strength as a woman used to enduring injustice. Elsewhere Robert Fuller essays a blandly conventional square-jawed hero. When he isn't grimacing he’s growling at Lane despite an obvious attraction. On the plus side the filmmakers had the good sense to surround Fuller with a rich panoply of talented cowboy character actors including slippery Dan Duryea (good as always despite inhabiting the same oily goon he’s played a dozen times before), injun-hating Claude Akins and ‘oirish’ Noah Beery Jr. While the film struggles to involve the viewer in a subplot concerning Martin’s burning need to solve the mystery of his fallen brother the other story strands show promise yet are frustratingly undeveloped. Unlike Ford, Budd Boetticher, Anthony Mann or Howard Hawks, Earl Bellamy simply serves up action like a capable ringmaster and otherwise squanders the story's dramatic potential. Having said that there are worse things to be than simply entertaining and Jocelyn Lane is always worth watching.

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Former Reb Joe Barlow (Dan Duryea) is supposed to lead him to the missing loot. After all, he’s hoping the North will honor the pardon on a murder charge he received in return for joining the Confederate army. The Gilded Age': No One is More Disappointed About Susan Blane's and Larry Russell’s Break Up Than Production Designer Bob Shaw Taika Waititi Says Donald Trump Submitted A "List Of Demands" While Filming A 2012 Super Bowl Commercial, Including A Particular Camera Angle To “Make Him Look A Little Thinner”Fuller mistrusts Barlow from the start. He has another reason for that mistrust once the small group is saddled with a pretty saloon girl named Memphis (Jocelyn Lane). Claude Akins has a rather bizarre role as an Indian hating brute who has sworn to kill 10 apiece for his slain wife and his child and is rapidly closing in on his goal. He carries around a small music box that reminds him of his lost loved ones. Of course, everyone on this trip seems damaged in some way.