That was an excellent one.

Lack of good storyline.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

After they dropped old Hopalong, Paramount seems to have given up on B Western series,s although they kept Pop Sherman employed until 1948. However, like the other majors, they dabbled in the occasional A Western, and COPPER CANYON is an inexplicably tired example. Ray Milland is an ex-Confederate officer (like all actors with Mid-Atlantic accents), making his way as a sideshow trick shooter, called upon to safeguard a town trying to get a copper mine up and running profitably. With Hedy Lamarr, MacDonald Carey, Harry Carey Jr. under the direction of John Farrow, there's nothing wrong, but it all seems like a gimmicky version of one of the Boetticher-Scott westerns of the coming decade. I had the feeling that everyone was trying too hard to be nonchalant, and Charles Lang's rather garish Technicolor camerawork -- although that may be a matter of poor choices in printing -- doesn't help.

Plot-- An ex-Confederate officer turned trick-shot artist is enlisted by townsfolk looking to get their copper ore past a crooked sheriff and his men. At the same time, he has to deal with a glamorous saloon girl whose allegiance sort of wobbles.When I think westerns, LaMarr and Milland don't come readily to mind. Here they're just okay, though I'm sure their names looked good on the marquee. Though Milland can project grit, he's too laid-back (unmotivated?) here to anchor an action movie. He's better when he's just a smooth trick-shot artist. Then too, LaMarr projects a lot more beauty than the emotion needed for her tricky role. Her part unfortunately calls for a stronger, more Stanwyck-type personality, as others point out. Nonetheless, the production does have two things going for it. First is the great red rock scenery of Sedona, AZ, familiar from a hundred other big budget oaters, but well- staged and photographed here. Second is Macdonald Carey who delivers much needed spark and energy as the conniving bad guy. Then too, no film that includes exotica like the gnomish Percy Helton (Scamper) or the amazonian Hope Emerson (Ma Tarbet) can afford to be overlooked.Anyway, the movie's a decent time-passer, but lacks the tightness and force needed to really register.

Ray Milland is excellent in this under-estimated western. I would compare Milland to Jimmy Stewart or Gary Cooper. Milland was in Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, and he did A Man Alone (he directed it also). Hedy Lamarr, for her only western is marvelous, beautiful. Also appears Harry Carey Jr. But the movie owes a lot to Milland and Lamarr's performancesMagnificent sets. There is a lot of action, except perhaps in the beginning. Great direction by John Farrow, who was going to direct 3 years later Hondo, with Duke Wayne.This western is a masterpiece, it is perfect. One of the best Paramount western ever made. Unmissable, and unforgettable.

First off, I love Ray Milland. He's so cool and collected. The man can wear golden hoop earrings and fend off Marlene Dietrich without looking the slightest bit unnerved (see "Golden Earrings"). He's calm in this also, and he doesn't even attempt to let you in on the whole "Is he the guy or isn't he?" conflict that runs through this film. (I also enjoy the COMPLETELY different "Is she or isn't she?" of "Johnny Guitar," but that's another story.) I rarely discuss the plot (I'm usually distracted) but Ray Milland is approached to help some former Rebels who are being cheated by former Yankees. Sort of a "You killed my son so I won't buy your product" thing. That gives Ray a chance to deliver a disgustingly sappy speech direct from Abraham Lincoln. Discrimination of any kind is a touchy subject, and it is difficult to get it into a film without offending someone, so A for effort on that point.Hedy "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" Lamarr is the good-bad girl. Or is it the bad-good girl? She's the seemingly bad girl who proves to be good in the end. There we go. She's gorgeous in color, and that's definitely the highlight of her performance. There has never been any reason to have women in westerns--I've always hated that. They just stand around looking delicate and lovely (how they managed to do that in the old West where the ratio of men to women was staggering I'll never know). They're something to fight over, but that's it. Hedy tries to worm her way into the plot, but when the action starts she's out of the running. "Johnny Guitar" isn't like that, but those aren't regular "women" in the usual sense of the word. I for one desperately wanted to see Hedy pick up her shotgun and blow her corrupt not-boyfriend right out of the saddle. But no. She had to stand on the porch and watch the action from afar. She did blow him out of the saddle a few times, but that was different, and of course sex-related. I think I would have appreciated this film more had Ray Milland been a simpering entertainer and Barbara Stanwyck a rough-and-ready female rancher with bone to pick with everyone. Not that Hedy Lamarr's bad, but this isn't her thing. (I also love the obligatory explanation of her accent. In this, she's from New Orleans, where everyone has an accent of some kind. In "Come Live With Me," she's naturally from Austria. They can't just let us wonder why a foreign-accented beauty turns up in Nevada and starts playing poker with the sheriff.)All in all, it's entertaining, but don't roll out the red carpet yet.