Albuquerque
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Movie Reviews of Albuquerque
Movie Review: Albuquerque
Summary: 5 Stars
All Randolph Scott movies are inriched with good over evil concepts, no swearing and unnessary footage that you see in to many of todays westerns.Movie Review: Randy and Gabby stand up for the little guy
Summary: 4 Stars
A stagecoach robbery - a young couple (Russell Hayden and Catherine Craig) are divested of $10,000, and the coach nearly carries off young Myrtle (Karolyn Grimes), who would be lost if not for handsome stranger Cole (Randolph Scott). When the coach gets to Albuquerque, we learn that the couple are the Wallaces, Ted and Celia - a brother and sister (Cole of course is interested in the sister pretty much from the start), and the money was to start up an ore freighting company in competition with John Armin (George Cleveland), the nasty and unscrupulous ruler of just about everything in town. It turns out that Cole is actually Mr. Armin's nephew, and has come to Albuquerque for a family job - but it's not revealing too much to say that an upright Randolph Scott character isn't going to work long for a completely amoral businessman who won't even stop at murder to control the town. Soon Cole is paired up with stagecoach driver Juke (Gabby Hayes) helping the Wallaces, but Armin has lots of trouble cooked up to stop the upstarts, including his pocketed sheriff (Bernard Nedell), big dumb thug Merkle (Lon Chaney Jr), and eventually a charming diversion and spy (Barbara Britton). Cole and company will have their hands full getting their ore down treacherous paths - and getting the town out of the hands of the bad men.
There isn't anything particularly novel or exciting about ALBUQUERQUE - based on a book by famed western pulp writer Luke Short - and Ray Enright's direction can best be described as "efficient" and "solid". It seems to straddle the A-B levels in a strange way; at 87 minutes it's a bit long for a "b" western, but it's filmed in the cheap, mediocre Cinecolor process - all the reds look brownish or orange, the blues are dull, green and yellow practically nonexistant. Several of Scott's color westerns made between 1947-51 suffer from this watered-down color technology, unfortunately. But the cast is definitely closer to "a" level, and what a cast it is! Not too many Randy Scott films I've seen have such a wealth of fine character actors and principals, from the devious and beautiful Britton, to western sidekick stalwart Hayes - in the best role I've seen him in - to the most minor roles, like waiter Harvey (Dick Elliott - a short, fat actor who was in almost 300 films playing excitable, agitated characters). It also shares a couple of interesting (if fairly trivial) elements with 1946's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, having two actors (Elliott and child actress Grimes, who played Zuzu in the Capra film) in common, and having as the main bad guy a wheelchair-bound businessman who at one point holds a large sum of money belonging to the protaganists.
So basically this is a film to enjoy on a scene-by-scene basis. Every time Gabby is on screen it's a joy; villains Chaney and Nedell are lots of fun; there are some good fight sequences, one of them involving a whip; and we get a nice large-scale shootout in the emptied town for a climax. I wouldn't think this would be on most people's lists of best Scott films, and it doesn't rank all that high amongst genre films for 1948, one of the great years for the western - but it's lots of fun, and it doesn't have any significant problems apart from the less-than gorgeous color.
Universal's disc looks decent enough, apart from a few momentary patches of ghosting; it strikes me that they may have boosted the contrast a little bit, but this is a good choice with a muted and dull color scheme like the one present here. The only extras are subtitles in Spanish and French, and close captioning.
Movie Review: Nothing like DECISION AT SUNDOWN, but suitable for a matinee
Summary: 4 Stars
Randolph Scott was an American icon, the quintessential western hero who exhibited fewer emotions than Clint Eastwood and Gary Cooper and spoke fewer lines than either of those western stars. Was he a great actor -- probably not. Was he like many real characters who existed in the American west -- possibly. Was he believable as a hero who seemed interested in women -- not really. A romantic lead he was not. Will he be forgotten as an actor who appeared in more westerns than most American actors -- probably not. Like John Wayne whose best western role was in THE SEARCHERS, Scott's best role was arguably his last performance in Sam Peckinpah's RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY (GUNS IN THE AFTERNOON), but who can turn in a bad performance with Peckinpah as a director?
My favorite of the Scott westerns is DECISION AT SUNDOWN because of its unexpected ending where Scott discovers that he is defending the reputation of a woman whose morals are not worth defending. Compared to SUNDOWN and other westerns later in his career, ALBUQUERQUE does not really stand up. That said, we must admit that the story, based on a work by the well-known Luke Short, is complex enough to be interesting. Barbara Britton is the mystery character who plays her cards close to her lovely chest. That she does not turn out to be Scott's love interest plays against some expectations, but Russell Hayden is on hand to provide that role.
Of course, it is always fun to see George (Gabby) Hayes in these old westerns, the old coot type who shows that he can still twirl a hand-gun better than anyone. That he still plays himself, as other reviewers have stated, is probably not surprising. To have him play a believable villain instead of a crusty, lovable good guy-- now that would be a surprise. His trademark has to be his immense bush of whiskers. As George Carlin once remarked, some actors have beards -- which sometimes sounds a little ominous -- but Gabby Hayes
has whiskers. That Scott and the other good guys in the film want to see him shave them off completely really strains credibility. Asking Hayes to appear without his whiskers is like asking John Wayne to play an effeminate character or Glenn Ford to appear in a western without his familiar black hat. Ain't gonna happen.
ALBUQUERQUE (how many people can correctly spell the name of that New Mexico city without looking it up?) is a serviceable western in the matinee mode of THE SUNDOWNERS and HIGH LONESOME, suitable for a double feature and for those Scott fans who want to have a complete collection, but don't expect anything in the mode of DECISION AT SUNDOWN or THE TALL T. For something that shows what the west must have really been like, check out SHANE, or COWBOY, or THE CULPEPPER CATTLE COMPANY.
After all, as the Mel Brooks film states: "You'd do it for Randolph Scott."
Movie Review: Excellent well-paced Randolph Scott western with a good supporting cast
Summary: 4 Stars
ALBUQUERQUE aka SILVER CITY a big-budget full 90-minute western from 1948. Based on a Luke Short novel and starring the ever dependable Randolph Scott and most peoples favourite western sidekick George "Gabby" Hayes. Although Hayes always played the old timer he was in fact less than 13 years older than the unusually (at times) cheerful Randolph Scott as seen here! Also starring Russell Hayden a real westerner he was probably best known as Hopalong Cassidy's (William Boyd) sidekick `Lucky' Jenkins.
Juke (George `Gabby' Hayes) is the stagecoach driver bound for Albuquerque, New Mexico from El Paso, Texas. On board is Celia Wallace (Catherine Craig) co-owner (with her brother) of the Wallace Freight Company she is delivering a $10,000 business bankroll. Also on board is former Texas Ranger Cole Armin who is taking a job for his uncle John, en-route the stage is held up a man is killed and Miss Wallace is relieved of her bankroll. On arriving in Albuquerque, Cole soon realises that Armin is a dirty word around town, suspecting his uncle knows something about the bankroll heist Cole sets about retrieving the bankroll then switches allegiance to Ted Wallace (Russell Hayden) and his sister. Meanwhile wheelchair-bound John Armin (George Cleveland) who runs the rival Monarch Freighting Company, hires a pretty female spy Letty Tyler (Barbara Britton) to infiltrate and set a trap for the newly formed Wallace (Cole) Armin Freight Company who have just won a contract with the Angel Roost Silver Mine to haul ore down a perilous shale-filled one-way mountain track into town using a ten wagon mule train. Despite a runaway sabotaged wagon with faulty brakes, they still managed somehow to safely negotiate the hill. Celia Wallace met them at the bottom of the hill having come warn them of an ambush by a bunch of hired guns led by John Armin's henchman Steve Murkill (Lon Chaney Jr.) As they set out for town Cole plans a counterattack as they head for the final showdown.
Ray Enfield was the director here; he also directed several more Randolph Scott westerns including the third version of the oft-filmed western THE SPOILERS (1942) in which Scott co-starred with John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich.
This original Cinecolor Paramount film maybe nearly sixty years old (2007) but the transfer to DVD with scene select option is first class. Released under the Universal Western Collection label this is good all round western fare, well worth the money!
Movie Review: An Action-Filled Western From The Forties
Summary: 4 Stars
If you're fond of older movies which were essentially programmers, you might enjoy this. It's a better-than-average Randolph Scott Western with some good elements. Cole Armin (Scott) arrives in Albuquerque ready to take up a job offer made by his uncle, John Armin (George Cleveland). John Armin, aging and confined to a wheelchair, runs things in Albuquerque with a ruthless fist, the sheriff in his pocket, a thug on call and a merciless inclination to destroy any competition. Cole quickly sees what the "job" will call for, quits, and joins up with a brother and sister, Tom and Celia Wallace (Russell Hayden and Catherine Craig), who are trying to start a hauling business. They plan to sign contracts with mine owners to bring ore down from the nearby silver mines. Juke (Gabby Hayes), who has become friends with Cole, signs on to show them the ropes of mule train hauling. There are holdups, fist fights, shootings, fires and a lovely spy (Barbara Britton) as Cole takes on the criminal hirelings of his uncle. The climax comes when Juke and Cole lead ten 12-mule wagons laden with ore down a dangerous shale-filled mountain road from the Angel's Roost mine into town, to be met by his uncle's hired guns.
As I say, it's not bad. Scott always seemed to me to be a credible Western hero. Catherine Craig as Scott's love interest is no actress but she has a calmness about her which is nice and she has a great, low speaking voice. George Cleveland, who one critic called "round and twinkling," was a long-time character actor who usually played granddads. He turned in an effective performance as a ruthless man who will not be denied. Lon Chaney Jr. played his thug with a nice combination of thickness and meanness. The only real drawback for me was Gabby Hayes, who by this time could only play Gabby Hayes. I'm not sure who was the biggest ham in late Thirties and Forties movies, Hayes or Lionel Barrymore. For me, a little Gabby goes a long way.
I think Albuquerque is a better than average Western, made during the time when Hollywood was churning out double features. The DVD picture is a little soft and slightly orange but not enough to be distracting. There are no extras.