Springfield Rifle (1952)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

André De Toth

Writers:

Charles Marquis Warren (screenplay) and
Frank Davis (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

25 October 1952 (USA)

Genre:

War | Western

Tagline:

The Gun That Made One Man The Equal Of Five!

Plot:

Major Lex Kearny becomes the North's first counterespionage agent as he tries to discover who's behind the theft of Union cavalry horses in Colorado during the Civil War.

Plot Keywords:

Horse | Cavalry | Undercover | Colorado | Jayhawker

Cast

Gary Cooper	...	Maj. Alex 'Lex' Kearney
Phyllis Thaxter	...	Erin Kearney
David Brian	...	Austin McCool, Raider Leader
Paul Kelly	...	Lt. Col John Hudson (Ft. Hedley CO)
Lon Chaney Jr.	...	Pete Elm, Leader of Non-military Raiders (as Lon Chaney)
Philip Carey	...	Capt. Edward Tennick
James Millican	...	Det. Matthew Quint
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams	...	Sgt. Snow
Alan Hale Jr.	...	Mizzell
Martin Milner	...	Pvt. Olie Larsen
Wilton Graff	...	Col. George Sharpe

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Warnercolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (nf) | UK:U (cut) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1953) | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #16005)

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When Kearney and the troopers ride out of town in the wagon with the Springfield rifles, at one point the edge of a road can be seen in the lower left of the screen.

Quotes:

Col. George Sharpe: Just before I left Washington, Halleck gave me the latest high command opinion on organizing a group like ours. They laughed at the general. Said the word "counterespionage" wasn't even in the dictionary. It seemed ridiculous to try to create something that couldn't even be defined. Well, we're defining it for him and in great big capital letters!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Golden Saddles, Silver Spurs (2000) (TV)

Finding the Inside Man

Springfield Rifle is the film Gary Cooper made after his much acclaimed performance in High Noon. Not that it's a bad film, but a fairly routine western which even kind of gives away who the inside man is way too early in the film. It would have been better had their been more suspense.

Gary Cooper goes undercover to find a ring of rustlers who are working in cahoots with the Confederacy during the Civil War, stealing horses meant for the Union cavalry.

To do this he gets himself courtmartialed and drummed out of the army. And he gets the full Chuck Connors treatment, that Connors received on his series Branded. This enables Cooper to join the renegades led by David Brian and Lon Chaney, Jr.

Things do get complicated when Coop's wife, Phyllis Thaxter, shows up to tell him about their son who has run away. Her concern nearly derails the mission and her husband.

Some good western action is in Springfield Rifle, a couple of pitched battles with the renegades and Cooper finally uncovering the inside man in the rustling ring.

Three good performances besides the players mentioned are Guinn Williams as the sergeant who saves Cooper from a hangman, Paul Kelly as the post commander, and Philip Carey as a rival officer to Cooper on the post.

Springfield Rifle is good action entertainment for those who like their westerns action filled.