the leading man is my tpye

Wonderful character development!

Dreadfully Boring

Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

The Cimarron Kid is a tightly-made, action-packed, very entertaining Western of the Oklahoma outlaws sub-genre. It is well directed by Bud Boetticher, generally well acted, pleasingly scored, and beautifully filmed in three-strip Technicolor. Costumes, gun leather, railroad equipment and sets are quite authentic looking for the late 19th century era. The the outdoor locations, though actually California, were well chosen to look suitably like Okieland. As an added bonus, there are lots of period railroad equipment, with a shootout in a rural roundhouse one of the rousing action scenes.There is not really much to find wrong is this little oat burner, except for Audie Murphy's awful acting. Let's face, a wooden cigar store Indian with a microphone implant could do little worse. But even that serious handicap is overcome by Boetticher's skillful direction and a creative script that concentrates on the interesting supporting cast of characters, especially Noah Berry, Jr.'s Bob Dalton, and the love relationship between Bitter Creek Dalton (James Best) and Cimarron Rose (Yvette Duguay). This device happily keeps the camera away from Murphy's frozen features for most of the screen time. Yvette Duguay, though only fourth-billed, actually steals the show as the outlaw gang's resourceful gun moll. Pretty, exotic, lively, and sexy, she is more interesting and appealing in every way than Audie's ho-hum love interest, second-billed Beverly Tyler. Good support is also contributed by veteran character actors Roy Roberts and Leif Erickson. Altogether a very satisfying little Western. Better than some of the bigger productions from the same early 1950's era and certainly superior to any of the pretentious plates of tripe passed off as Westerns today.

Parolee Audie Murphy violently resists a crooked district attorney's latest attempt to railroad him, based on his friendship to members of the notorious Dalton gang. Breaking parole, he ends up having to join the gang for real and becoming the new leader.Though not quite as good or well-written as director Budd Boetticher's later series of Randolph Scott pictures, The Cimarron Kid is still a fairly entertaining, muscular pulp-western, with Boetticher's usual flair for excellent photography.With his good looks, youthful appearance, and short stature (not to mention his hero status), I'm a little surprised at how many times Audie Murphy was given a chance to play an anti-hero (Night Passage, The Texican) or even a nasty villain (No Name On The Bullet). He's charming enough though, that the audience forgives the Cimarron Kid long before the law ever does.Noah Beery Jr. gives an amiable, though far-too-short performance as the fun-loving Bob Dalton, while a young James Best and Yvette Dugay are pretty good too as a fellow member of the gang and his beautiful, though savvy love interest.

This emerges as a pretty good example of the typical Audie Murphy Western vehicle – though of lesser quality to the only one I had previously watched, NO NAME ON THE BULLET (1959) and, being Budd Boetticher's first Western, clearly a minor effort in his canon. Many films of this era treated (in a heavily romanticized manner) the exploits of famous outlaws of the Old West: Murphy appears as Bill Doolin and, at one point, he is told by the leader of The Dalton Gang that "They'll be writing ballads about us" and, sure enough, their exploits were later immortalized in music by the Country Rock band Eagles in "Doolin-Dalton", a song off of their second album "Desperado" (1973). Typically, Murphy is seen forced into a life of crime by circumstances or, more precisely, the persecution of a law-enforcement officer (while another, played by Leif Erickson, is more sympathetic to his plight). As ever, the gang is an eclectic assortment of characters: affable Noah Beery Jr. is their leader, Hugh O'Brian the red-headed hot-tempered challenger, James Best the ladies' man, Frank Silvera the half-breed, etc.; interestingly, we get a couple of romances going on (Murphy with the daughter of a man who shelters them and Best with a fiery Mexican girl) and the female characters are surprisingly strong for this type of film. Reassembling themselves in the wake of a bank hold-up gone awry (the film's best action sequence, climaxing in Beery's memorable come-uppance with the spilling coins a graphic substitution for blood), the gang is subsequently betrayed by the 'inside man' in a train robbery they try to pull off. Murphy is eventually persuaded to give himself up, with Erickson promising him a fair trial this time around. Shot in pleasant Technicolor, the generically-titled THE CIMARRON KID serves up compact, pacy and unpretentious entertainment – perfect viewing after a hard day's work.

"The Cimarron Kid" was another of Universal's great little 80 minute westerns based on legendary outlaws of the old west. This one benefits from crisp direction from soon to be legendary Diector Budd Boetticher, a great supporting cast and good story. It stars Audie Murphy in one his early and best roles.Bill Doolin aka "The Cimarron Kid" (Murphy) is paroled from prison and intends to go straight. Unfortunately, the train on which he is riding is held up by the notorious Dalton Gang (I always thought that there were four Daltons but this story has six). One of the gang, Red Buck (Hugh O'Brian complete with red hair and beard) recognizes the Kid. The passengers think that the Kid is a part of the gang and try to restrain him. The Kid escapes and goes to the Dalton's camp.The Daltons led by Bob Dalton (Noah Beery Jr.) welcome him into the gang. The overly ambitious Red Buck doesn't trust the Kid and a conflict develops. The gang has a two bank heist planned for Coffeyville, Kansas. Seasonedw western fans will know what happens there. With the gang decimated, the Kid takes over as leader and they flee to the ranch of Pat Roberts (Roy Roberts) to hide out with Marshal John Sutton (Leif Ericson) and Railroad detective Tilden (Eugene Baxter) hot on their trail. Naturally Roberts has a comely young daughter, Carrie (Beverly Tyler) who is attracted to the Kid and likewise.The gang in spite of several setbacks, continues to operate. Dynamite Dick Dalton (John Hudson), who was believed to be lost, returns to the hideout with a proposal. With the help of his brother-in-law Geaorge Webster (John Hubbard), he proposes the robbery of a train carrying gold bullion and replacing it with lead. As the plan unfolds, the Kid discovers a double cross and.........................................As with most of Universal's westerns, the supporting cast consists of several of their up and coming contract players, sprinkled with a few recognizable veterans. In addition to those mentioned above we have James Best, Gregg Palmer (aka Palmer Lee), Rand Brooks and William Reynolds as the other Daltons, as well as, Yvette Duguay as Best's girlfriend Rose, John Bromfield, Richard Garland and Frank Silvera as Dalton Gang members and Tristram Coffin as a womanizer/gambler.The boyish looking Murphy was developing into a competent actor by this time and would enjoy a long career at Universal making these excellent little westerns.