Mit Büchse und Colt (1959)

Mit Büchse und Colt: Directed by Gene Fowler Jr.. With Fred MacMurray, William Bishop, Nina Shipman, Gloria Talbott. In 1846, a newspaperman joins an Oregon Trail wagon train to verify rumors about the U.S. government sending troops disguised as settlers there in order to claim Oregon.

“By 1959, TV westerns had begun to replace the Hollywood B-western so thereu0026#39;s the distinct feeling that u0026quot;The Oregon Trailu0026quot; — despite its color and widescreen — really isnu0026#39;t needed. Certainly thereu0026#39;s no passion or style apparent in the filmu0026#39;s making. Itu0026#39;s more a case of everyone just going through the motions and collecting a paycheck.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThings begin unpromisingly with a scene involving President Polk in Washington D.C. This scene tries to give the story a historical context but itu0026#39;s on the dull and talky side. This is followed by another lax scene in which dapper, man-about-town reporter, Fred MacMurray, is assigned to go west on a wagon train and write a story for his newspaper. Finally, as MacMurray arrives in Westport, Missouri — the eastern start of the Oregon Trail — things begin rolling. They do so in a conventional way, however, and the entire trek west is filled with the usual situations: troubling encounters with Indians, dry water holes, tensions among the folk on the wagon train, an unexpected rain storm, a funeral service by the side of the trail, a settler protecting his apple-tree seedlings, etc. The use of stock shots and indoor sets hamper the effects of many of these scenes and thereu0026#39;s no real villain to conflict with Fred MacMurray. Thereu0026#39;s also no tension about his mission since he makes no effort to hide it and the possible romantic- triangle involving him and William Bishop and Nina Shipman never takes form. Instead, MacMurray is implausibly paired with Gloria Talbott who appears fairly late in the proceedings.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAction builds toward a last-reel Indian attack which now seems quite u0026quot;politically incorrect.u0026quot; (The u0026quot;half-breedu0026quot; Indian girl implausibly says: u0026quot;It is because of this, I renounce my people.u0026quot;) Perhaps the only notable thing about u0026quot;The Oregon Trailu0026quot; is the scene in which Indians capture Fred MacMurray, strip off his shirt, and stake him out to die. (For a man in his early 50s, MacMurray looks pretty good bare-chested!) While TV westerns often staged these stake-outs, theyu0026#39;re not all that common in the movies, and whou0026#39;d believe one of them would u0026quot;staru0026quot; an actor about to get a career boost by playing in Disney comedies?!”