Really Surprised!

one of my absolute favorites!

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

...are the strengths of this muddled movie. And the soundtrack is reasonably good, too. The gunfight between the cattle rustlers and Jet and two of the Polson boys provides some dandy footage of cowboys ridin' and shootin' - not to mention the nice stunt work during the horseback tussle between Jet and Dude. Otherwise you should avoid it.The plot is a variation on the old Hatfields and McCoys feud. In this variant, however, one of the families is, itself, also split into two factions, and the pater familias of the other family buggy whips and banishes his daughter. Oddly, the Polsons even call themselves "hill people," reflecting a social milieu and jargon straight out of Appalachia and foreign to the Old West. The dialog is full of other, similar oddities and apparent anachronisms. Most of the characters are not well-defined or well-portrayed. Derek's character is especially unsympathetic, and his acting is pure wooden bravado without any nuance. When he tells Judy that he has just been making a play for Alice in order to embarrass his uncle, it comes as a totally incredible fabrication.As one commentator already noted, the anticipated gunfight between Jet and The Major is at first delayed by some pseudo-romantic exposition and then finished with other anti- climactic interruptions from a hired gun and a raving lawyer.Easily the best scene is apparently unscripted. The sight of Jet wheeling his horse into Dude, whacking him on the head with the horse's mouth is just about the only thing in this movie that seems genuine.

Sorry I can't share the same enthusiasm for this film that prior reviewers have, but it seems to muddle from scene to scene in search of the righteous revenge angle that never quite materializes. The protagonist, Jet Cosgrave (John Derek), never evokes the kind of sympathy one would expect for his cause, because even though he was swindled out of ownership of his father's ranch, he only seems one track minded on doing away with his uncle The Major (Jim Davis). Along the way, he can't seem to keep his hands off the ladies, and I get the impression that if Mrs. Banner was a little younger, he might have tried to kiss her too.I guess where I lost empathy for Jet was when he failed to deal with his hired gun Dude Rankin (Bob Steele) for the shooting of the camp cook at the line ranch. It was almost like, 'well that wasn't a cool thing to do, but a purpose was served so we'll let it slide'. Check the scene right after Jet admonishes Rankin, saying he's to do what he's paid for and not more; as Jet turns his horse to ride away, the horse hits Rankin in the head! I was surprised that wasn't a do over.You know what perplexed me - the showdown that I expected to occur between Jet and the Major the first time was interrupted by the love triangle, and the Major didn't do anything but hang out waiting for something to happen. Not very believable when he was already worked up enough to face off against his nephew. Then when it was set up again, attorney Devlin interfered to prevent a more satisfying resolution. In their own way, the only characters that seemed to maintain their integrity as bad boys were the gun for hire ranch bosses, Cal Prince (James Millican) and Dude Rankin. Oh yeah, and kudos to Curly too for remaining true to his principles and not selling out his boss; what else would you expect from an actor named Nacho Galindo? At least there was that cool fist fight on horseback between Jet and The Dude, I've never seen that before. Just about everything else though was pretty much by the book for a 'B' oater. For a better John Derek effort in a Western, I would recommend checking out the 1957 picture, "Fury at Showdown". It's got better atmosphere as a black and white film, a great bar room brawl, and an effective early appearance by Nick Adams.

Republic, among other small studios in Hollywood was considered to be "Poverty Row", but they had a lot of talent working for them and "The Outcast" is one of their best productions. John Derek is Jet Cosgrave, a man who has been cheated out of his inheritance by his uncle Jim Davis, and lost his ranch. He contracts some gunfighters, whose leader is Bob Steele, in order to get it back. He flirts with Joan Evans, and she falls in love with him, but he is not sure about his feelings because he is also very impressed by his uncle's wife to be Catherine McLeod. Derek is excellent in his role, you don't really know up to the end if he is a good guy or not. William Witney made a lot of westerns and here is at his best, providing good action scenes, specially one where Derek jumps in the horse Steele is riding. Also there are many shootouts, some of them among cattle. It was great to see a young Slim Pickens, I remembered him very well as the old sheriff in Pat Garret and Billy the Kid. The color system used Trucolor is less expensive than Technicolor but the result is satisfactory. A film that did not age, great entertainment for those who like westerns

An early performance by Derek is the main attraction here, in this action packed tale of a young man, returning home to reclaim his ranch from a dastardly cattle baron. A good supporting cast, and a director that doesn't let the romance scenes get in the way, make this good fare.