Duel At Silver Creek [DVD]

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A gang of outlaws is murdering miners and taking over their claims, but they cross the wrong man when they target the father of Luke Cromwell (Audie Murphy), a gunslinger known as "the Silver Kid. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. There’s enough action, and it moves along quickly enough, that it’s hard to fault the movie for anything.

Web icon An illustration of a computer application window Wayback Machine Texts icon An illustration of an open book. Slimy brutal villains and great characters abound in a film that sure doesn’t feel like Don Siegel’s first crack at the Wild West.

The tropes and structure that he's working with here are certainly very conventional since it looks, acts, and is executed like a pretty typical Western of the classic variety.

Participating in the proceedings are Faith Domergue, Susan Cabot and Eugene Iglesias, who gives the film's best performance. He is deputised by Marshal Lightning Tyrone ( Stephen McNally) of Silver City, who wants to defeat the claim jumpers.I don't know what surprised me the most, a western directed by Don Siegel and such a clean one (in the sense it is not very gritty and it follows the plot points of most westerns of the 50's) or the fact that Lee Marvin once had hair which was not white. Siegel's first western is a fun film and should be enjoyed as such – it's far from his best and fans may only come to it because of the significance in his career but it is worth seeing if you're in the mood for this type of film. Kass remarks that Audie Murphy is “ludicrously attired in black leather, like a Western The Wild One (1953).

don 'the don' siegel directs with intense grit -- a comparative trifle, but the seeds of greatness to come; the rare one of his films that actually has interesting female characters, including a high-femme villain! Tyrone pursues the treacherous Opal Lacey ( Faith Domergue), who is secretly in league with the claim jumpers, and Cromwell falls for tomboy Dusty Fargo ( Susan Cabot) who is only interested in Lightning. It was the first time Murphy had appeared in a film where he played a character who was good throughout the movie.The plot is pretty basic and doesn't live up to the suggestions of the opening – instead becoming rather focused on the actions of a few characters. Additionally, Audie Murphy's cropped, black leather jacket is sweet as hell, and this early Lee Marvin role as a local shit disturber reveals just how early he settled into playing sexy, smirking dirtbags. But, man alive, how many movie problems could be avoided if it occurred to men FOR EVEN A SECOND that women might not be the helpless, delicate flowers as which they portray themselves? We hear his narration of the case of a gang of claim-jumpers led by Gerald Mohr as Rod Lacy, Opal's slimy brother.