Two fugitive Texan brothers called Bill Mayhew/John Payne and Sam Mayhew/Skip Homeier at odds with one another escape from a Texas Town and go to Central City . Bill finally gives up on his younger brother and heads for Colorado . As they flee to Colorado where they take jobs with rival bosses , as there takes place a strong confrontation brother against brother . Then Bill gets a job , working for the good entrepreneur John Sutton (Ray Middleton) , both of them carry out a Stageline from Central City to Denver , leaving Central City on regular schedule along Wednesday , Friday and Sunday , transporting passengers , express and US mail ; this company is called ¨Sutton and Mayhew¨ Props . And all is well until his brother appears and takes a job that puts them on opposite sides of the law , as Sam works for the mean Jim Donovan (Lee J. Cobb), a wealthy baron who is owner of the Central City saloon and Golgonda Bar . By the way , a love triangle emerges in which implicates Bill/Payne who falls for Sutton's daughter and Sam/Skip Homeier who is also in love with Elizabeth Sutton/Mona Freeman . Face-To-Face and Pistol-To-Pistol! Young...but not too young for love! Honey-haired Liz---an exciting girl in a town of reckless men! He Was The Fastest Gun In A Gunfighter's Town...'Til A Tall Texan With A Lightning Draw Hunted Him Down...it was brother against brother ¡
Decent but run-of-the-mill Republic Pictures with usual elements , such as noisy action , thrills , crossfire , assaults , drama , treason , romance and some spectacular action scenes . Thrilling and colorful Western starred by a tough John Payne , involving a sibling confrontation in which the older brother Bill repeatedly attempts to keep younger brother Sam out of jail , but at the end they contend each other . Acceptable Western blending some functional main actors with great character players of whom John Payne holds the best role as the righteous brother . The hothouse plot drives mercilessly forward with go riding , action , thrills , attacks , betrayals and turns . The tale is strong one and the yarn is wonderfully located against a background of Utah . Well directed by Joseph Kane who made a lot of low-budget movies , though he followed to work for cinema and was capable of making a few large-scale films . Stars John Payne, one of the popular actors of the forties and fifties, today a little forgotten. He starred the classy ¨Miracle in 34th street¨ and performed all kinds of genres as Noir : ¨Slighly scarlet¨, ¨Kansas City confidential¨, ¨The vanquished¨ ; Adventure: ¨Raiders of seven seas¨, ¨Crosswinds¨, ¨Tripoli¨, ¨Iceland¨ and Western : ¨Santa Fe passage¨, ¨Silver lode¨, ¨Tennessee's partner¨, ¨The Road to Denver¨. Payne also starred various TV series and episodes : ¨The restless gun¨ and ¨Zane Grey¨. Payne is well accompanied by a good support cast , such as : the prestigious Lee J. Cobb , here co-starring , along with the usual villian Skip Homeier . Remaining support cast is pretty good , such as : Ray Middleton , Glenn Strange , Andy Clyde , 'Killer' Davis , Robert 'Buzz' Henry , and some uncredited as John Dierkes , Chuck Hamilton , Chuck Hayward , and , of course , Lee Van Cleef , pre-Sergio Leone .
It contains colorful and brilliant cinematography in Trucolor by director of photography Reggie Lanning . And thrilling and atmospheric musical score by Dale Butts . This classic as well as traditional movie was produced by Herbert J Yates from Republic Pictures and professionally directed by Joseph , ¨Joe¨ , Kane , containing some vigorous scenes . Kane was a good craftsman who made around 100 titles from the 30s . This motion picture was well directed , though with no much enthusiasm. Kane directed a great number of films and several episodes of notorious TV episodes . Kane started directing career started with co-directing serials for Mascot and Republic, and he soon became Republic's top western director. He handled many of John Wayne's Republic westerns of the 1940s, and piloted numerous Roy Rogers and Gene Autry films . He was once asked in an interview why he did so many westerns . He replied, "I like the outdoors. The horses. The cowboys. I like that". Unlike most Republic house directors, Kane was credited as associate producer on many of his films. He stayed at Republic until the studio's demise in 1959, and after freelancing for mostly independent production companies, he turned to directing TV series as Bonanza . Kane usually worked with Vera Ralston, whom husband Herbert J. Yates, president of Republic Pictures and Kane's boss, attempted without success to make a star . He made a lot of westerns , such as : King of the Cowboys 1943 , Idaho 1942 , Ridin' Down the Canyon 1942, Heart of the Golden West 1942 ,Sunset Serenade 1942, Sons of the Pioneers 1942 Romance on the Range 1942 , Sunset on the Desert 1942 , South of Santa Fe 1942 ,Man from Cheyenne 1941 , Red River Valley 1941 , Jesse James at Bay 1941, Bad Man of Deadwood 1941, Rags to Riches 1941 , Nevada City 1941 ,Sheriff of Tombstone 1941, In Old Cheyenne 1941, The Great Train Robbery 1941 , Robin Hood of the Pecos 1940 , The Border Legion 1940 , Young Bill Hickok 1940 Colorado 1940 ,The Ranger and the Lady 1940 ,The Carson City Kid 1940 ,Young Buffalo Bill 1939, Days of Jesse James 1939 , Saga of Death Valley 1939 , The Arizona Kid 1939 , In Old Monterey 1939 , Wall Street Cowboy 1939 , and many others . The motion picture will appeal to Western/adventure buffs ; it's an agreeable popcorn story plenty of breathtaking scenes , emotion , adventures , colorful exteriors and many other things . It's a wonderful enjoyable story for kids , teens and old people . Rating : Decent Western 6.5/10 .
