SYNOPSICS
Rage at Dawn (1955) is a English movie. Tim Whelan has directed this movie. Randolph Scott,Forrest Tucker,Mala Powers,J. Carrol Naish are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1955. Rage at Dawn (1955) is considered one of the best Action,Adventure,Crime,Drama,Western movie in India and around the world.
Terrorizing 1866 Indiana, the Reno brothers gang uses the town of Seymour as a safe haven, paying off three crooked town officials. Sent in to clean up the gang is Peterson Detective Agency operative James Barlow, who poses as an outlaw to gain the confidence of the officials and the thick-headed brothers. Complicating matters are Barlow's feelings for the Reno sister, Laura, who reluctantly keeps house for the boys out of family loyalty. Events heat up and rage surfaces as Barlow sets up the gang in a dawn train robbery.
Rage at Dawn (1955) Reviews
Better than average Western
It is more than twenty minutes into the movie before its star Randolph Scott makes his appearance and his lean craggy presence gives a decided lift to proceedings .He plays an undercover agent sent to pose as a train robber and infiltrate the Reno brothers gang who -aided by corrupt local officials -are wreaking havoc in Indiana .He then persuades the gang to embark on a train robbery with a view to entrapping them . The script is by the cult pulp crime novelist Horace McCoy and is based on a story by another feted pulpster ,Frank Gruber, and it is slick and efficient with solid performance from a sturdy supporting cast which includes dependable performers like Forrest Tucker ,and J Carroll Naish as two of the Reno brothers Handsome photography and the brisk direction of Tim Whelan are distinct assets and the historically accurate finale ends proceedings on a gritty and powerful note as frontier justice takes over from the rule of law . A good little movie which Western devotees will like
Good Western; Great Cast
"Rage of Dawn" is one of a series of excellent westerns made by Randolph Scott in the 1950s. This one has Scott posing as a train robber in order to infiltrate the Reno Brothers gang in 1866. The brothers Frank (Forrest Tucker), Sim (J. Carroll Naish) and John (Myron Healey) among others are ambushed during a holdup attempt in which their youngest brother is killed. They suspect an informer. It turns out to be Peterson Detective Agency man Murphy (Arthur Space) who is quickly eliminated. Back at the Peterson office, Mr. Peterson (William Forrest) assigns Monk Paxton (Kenneth Tobey) to the case along with ex-southern spy James Barlow (Scott). They stage a phony train robbery in order to gain the gang's confidence. They then take refuge at Barlow's "uncle's" (Ralph Moody) ranch and await contact from the gang. Meanwhile, Barlow has become acquainted with the Reno's sister Laura (Mala Powers) and sparks fly. Good Reno brother Clint (Denver Pyle) pleads with Barlow to take his sister "away from all of this". Barlow gets in with the gang and learns that the local Judge (Edgar Buchanan), prosecutor (Howard Petrie) and sheriff (Ray Teal) are involved with the gang. Barlow sets them up in a train robbery and the Reno Brothers are arrested. Concerned citizens Fisher (Trevor Bardette) and Dedrick (James Lydon) form a lynch mob and go to the jail, overpower the local sheriff (George Wallace) and....... This has got to be one of the greatest casts of veteran western performers ever to appear in one film. Western lovers will know what I'm talking about. In addition to those mentioned above you'll spot Mike Ragan (aka Holly Bane), Dennis Moore, Chubby Johnson and William Phipps in other roles. One of Scott's better westerns of the period.
Formula Scott Western
Any movie that has J. Carroll Naish as a cowboy can't be all bad (he's good) and pros like Kenneth Tobey and Edgar Buchanon have a certain "authenticity" that benefits a western. Forrest Tucker could be a good guy or a bad guy as the occasion demanded. Here, he's in his nasty, bad guy mode, pumping lead at people and even burning an informer alive. Tucker heads a gang of notorious robbers, including three of his brothers, that owns the corrupt lawmen of one Indiana county. In order to undo them, Randolph Scott, a resourceful spy, must be infiltrated into the gang. To complicate matters, Tucker and Naish's sister, who disapproves of their illegal ways, falls in love with Scott but is disillusioned when he appears to be an outlaw like them. Almost everything (there is a slight surprise at the end) works out as one would expect. Scott's presence carried many a mediocre western and, with interesting actors supporting him, it happens here but don't expect anything more than variations on a familiar theme.
Would it have made a difference knowing what I really am?
This is the true story of the Reno brothers....Clint, a respected farmer, and Frank, Simeon, John, and Bill...who were the first train robbers in American history. Looting, burning and killing, this infamous clan rode through the middle border states setting the pattern for the great outlaw bands which were to follow: the James boys, the Daltons and the Youngers. The Year 1866, the place is Southern Indiana. Well not quite Indiana exactly as the film was shot on location at Columbia State Historic Park, and apparently some Western purists see this as a blip on the movies Western worth! (hmm) I don't conspire to that at all since what I want from a B Western such as this is a lush Western feel, with identifiable good and bad guys. I feel that director Tim Whelan achieves the latter and his cinematographer Ray Rennahan achieves the former. Rage At Dawn does have a sense of seen it all before about it, but that's not in detriment to it because it's possibly a picture that has been copied more than it has copied from others before it. It's nice to have a real solid Western using a proper and reliable story to work from. While using top professional actors like Forrest Tucker and J. Carrol Naish to be bad fellas obviously helps the piece; as does having the genre legend that is Randolph Scott as your ebullient good guy. Scott fans who haven't seen the picture should be advised, tho, that he isn't actually in the film for the first third. But as always he's worth the wait and it's clever of Whelan to keep us waiting whilst fully forming the Reno legend. With some nicely staged set pieces (the train scenes are well worth our time) and a fabulously dark turn of events in the finale that goes against the grain (shadow play supreme at work), this becomes a genre film well worth taking a peek at. 7/10 Footnote: DVD/Public Domain prints of the film are low on quality and do not do justice to the location and costuming. The best print I have seen of this film was on Commercial British TV. Caution is advised on where you source the film from.
A fine western, Scott and Tucker shine!
First a bit of trivia: In the opening segment as the Reno Boys are riding into the Indiana Territory township for the robbery you can see an American Flag (with 48 stars I imagine) in the background with a California state flag underneath it, with it's bear in the center. The movie was shot in part in California's Columbian Historic Park in 1955..................... Anyway, I thought the movie was excellent and realistic, well told, the writing was excellent and well acted by everyone involved. What a superlative cast: Tucker was excellent, as evil as I ever saw him in any movie, Buchanan, a wonderful actor, was his sly self to perfection, as usual, Mala Powers as beautiful as usual in what I consider an unnecessary part (I wonder if this was a true part of the story), in 1955 you had to have a love interest to sell movie tickets or they supposed it to be. You also had Jimmy Lydon (Henry Aldrich), Arthur Space, Myron Healey, Kenneth Tobey, Denver Pyle, all familiar faces even today, doing what they did best; act, under the fine direction of Tim Whelan, creating what I would think 1866 was like. Also with great music by Paul Sawtell and photographed beautifully by Ray Rennahan. A Fine film that held my interest.