Wow! Such a good movie.

Good concept, poorly executed.

Expected more

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Directed by George Marshall, and written by William Bowers and James Edward Grant (who earned an Oscar nomination for their story & screenplay written directly for the screen), this above average Western comedy features Glenn Ford in the title role. Though three of the other leads are Shirley MacLaine, Leslie Nielsen and Mickey Shaughnessy, the rest of the cast is full of familiar faces (like Ford's) from this genre, though many have merely cameo roles (like Slim Pickens as the Marshal who goes fishing every time there's trouble).The first 20 minutes of the film are the funniest, as Ford's "stranger in town" character blows through so many of the "tried and true" Western clichés, spoofing them as he goes. The latter two thirds grow more serious as Ford and Nielsen battle each other for control of the town, and MacLaine. I'm not sure where this one was filmed, but the "purple mountains majesty" and the abundant yellow aspen trees made for a beautiful backdrop.Jason Sweet (Ford) made quite an impression on the people of Powder Valley within the first few minutes of his arrival by train. After "insulting" the town's station master (Percy Helton, uncredited), a lady who's having trouble controlling her horse that turns out to be Dell Payton (MacLane), its wise guy Milt Masters (Edgar Buchanan; Roscoe Ates appears uncredited as another of its loafers), whom he later out horse trades, and its general store proprietor (Harry Harvey), he describes and then asks the town folk where their toughest hombre might be. Finding the aptly named Jumbo (Shaughnessy) in the Chinaman's (Lee Tung Foo, uncredited) restaurant, Sweet picks a fight, which he wins, and then states his intention to bring sheep to graze among the cattle on the area's public lands. On the way out, he has a brief conversation with Milt, whom he'd sized up a man without honor (e.g. willing to rat out anybody for $1), before checking into the town's only hotel.Though Dell shows up to warn him that Powder Valley is now a peaceable place without the usual Western trouble, Sweet is greeted by Jumbo, who insists upon taking him to meet his boss, "the Colonel". Sweet then demonstrates that he's easily the quickest man (with a gun) in town and that, if the Colonel wants to see him, he should come to see Sweet. However, Jumbo and a couple of other toughs later persuade, at the point of a gun, Sweet to come with them. Upon being taken to the Colonel's, where Sweet learns that Dell is his fiancée, he comes face to face with the town's leading rancher (Nielsen). As it turns out, Sweet knows this "Colonel", who is really Johnny Bledsoe, a former gunslinger like Sweet who'd decided to go straight and settled in Powder Valley six years ago. The two decide not to resolve their conflict at this time, though it's clear neither will back down - Sweet is determined to raise sheep in the valley, Col. Stephen Bedford will figure out a way to drive Sweet out of "his" town.The two men's methods are completely different - Sweet is straightforward, Bedford's are more underhanded. Though Sweet is able to use Dell and her carriage to surprise Jumbo and some other toughs, making them help his Mexican sheepherder Angelo (Pedro Gonzales-Gonzales) unload his sheep from the train, he is later manipulated by Dell himself. Her father (Willis Bouchey) and her fiancé convince her to invite Sweet to a party and then use her charm to distract him while Bedford's men round up Sweet's sheep and load them back on the train. During this time, Dell learned that Sweet once had a fiancée that was killed, and had settled down to raise sheep after winning them in a poker game. Jumbo, with pistol drawn, then "puts" Sweet, Angelo, and also Milt on the train, whose conductors are instructed to drive 200 miles before stopping to unlock it cars.However, Sweet is able to turn the tables on Bedford once again, and informs the rest of the town's people that Bedford had been using Milt to buy up all the area's public grazing lands for himself. After her father checks out Sweet's story, Dell breaks her engagement and later, with Milt, helps Sweet avoid an unfair fight with Chocktaw (Pernell Roberts), a former foe hired by Bedford to run off Sweet's sheep and kill his hired help. Once the odds are evened, Sweet easily wins the shootout with Chocktaw and Jumbo rides off to inform Bedford. Inevitably, this all leads to a showdown between Sweet and Bedford, who's naturally got more surprises up his sleeve. Whereas Bedford's trick, using a seemingly harmless (but actually armed) old pistol, enables him to wound Sweet, Sweet's shot kills Bedford. Having made his point, being too stubborn to let anyone tell him what to do, Sweet decides to have Jumbo corral his sheep to market where Milt will sell them. Naturally, Sweet then decides to become a cattle rancher and win Dell as his own.

A man comes into a town to settle down with his flock of sheep, something that does not sit well with the resident cattlemen. The film contains a number of funny characters. About the only character who's serious is future funny man Nielsen as the villain who rules the town until Ford arrives. Ford is terrific in the title role of an easygoing fellow who just wants to settle down with his sheep. MacLaine is charming as a feisty young woman who is betrothed to Nielsen, unaware of his shady past. The supporting cast includes such veterans as Buchanan, Shaughnessy, and Pickens. Under the capable direction of veteran Marshall, the film moves at a breezy pace.

This is a very special western ,very tongue in cheek ,which was very unusual in the fifties where the masters produced unsurpassed classics (Ford,Daves ,Walsh,Mann....)Till the moment when Glenn Ford tells the story of his former fiancée to Shirley McLaine ,there's absolutely nothing dramatic in this plot which involves a Sheepman who has got problems with the inhabitants of a cattle village .Sheepman has to battle for sheep herds and for the "colonel"'s fiancée, a tomboy who was ahead of her time ,as far as woman's lib is concerned ,at least till her very last lines ;Glenn Ford ,Shirley McLaine and Leslie Nielsen do not take their roles seriously and it's much fun watching them battling against each others ;one can regret that Georges Marshall should have introduced drama in the second part .It should have stayed a comedy till the end!The scenes of the ball and the night train tooting alone are worth the price of admission.Didn't Jason get the Golden Fleece?

This movie is played for laughs, particularly in the early scenes. The Fall scenery of the Colorado Rockies is gorgeous. The pretty title theme by composer Jeff Alexander reappears later in another Glenn Ford outing, "The Rounders". The strong cast includes Glenn Ford, Shirley McLaine, and Leslie Nielson. Edgar Buchanan is particularly good in a supporting role.This movie is fun to watch. Ford is good as the sheepman and Shirley McLain does well with her role as the almost-wife of bad guy Leslie Nielson. The film is a little short on action, but the witty script more than makes up for it. Most of the action occurs at the end with Sheepman Ford shooting the bad guys.I particularly enjoyed Shirley McLain's performance. The script gives her a character with some potential and she makes the most of it. If she's done another Western I can't remember what it is.>