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"The Desperadoes" although released in 1943, was Columbia's first color feature. Director Charles Vidor gives us some dazzling outdoor scenes and plenty of action to boot.

"Respectable" citizens Banker Clanton (Porter Hall) and Postmaster "Uncle Willie" (Edgar Buchanan) stage a phony bank robbery and plan a second robbery when a herd of horses is sold to the army. Gunman, Cheyenne Rogers (a very young Glenn Ford) was hired to carry out the first robbery but is delayed and Jack Lester (Bernard Nedell) and his gang substitute. After "borrowing" Sheriff Steve Upton's (Randolph Scott) horse, he rides into town and meets Uncle Willie's daughter Allison (Evelyn Keyes) with whom he falls in love.

In town, saloon madame, "The Countess" (Claire Trevor) turns out to also be in love with Cheyenne. There Cheyenne hooks up with partner "Nitro" (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams). Lester exposes Cheyenne as an outlaw to the town and a slam-bang saloon brawl ensues. Following the fight, Steve orders Cheyenne and Nitro out of town. Unbeknownst to Cheyenne, Nitro robs the bank on the way out of town. After being cornered, the boys surrender and are sentenced to be hanged by Judge Raymond Walburn.

Steve helps the boys to escape but is himself imprisoned as an accomplice. Naturally, Cheyenne and Nitro return to help their friend and the final showdown ensues.

Although Scott and Trevor are top-billed, this is really Ford's movie. He and Williams form the usual western type hero and sidekick and Keyes is the real heroine. Scott and Trevor are really in supporting roles although Trevor does have a couple of good scenes. Irving Bacon provides some comic relief as the nervous saloon keeper. Also, watch for western veterans Francis Ford and Bud Osborne as townsmen and Glenn Strange as one of Nedell's henchmen.

A fast-paced and entertaining western.

The bank of Red Valley, a small town in Utah, is robbed by a gang and three residents are murdered during the heist. However the corrupt banker Stanley Clanton (Porter Hall) has plotted the heist with the owner of the local stable, Uncle Willie McLeod (Edgar Buchanan), and the rancher Jack Lester (Bernard Nedell) and his gang. Sheriff Steve Upton (Randolph Scott) is out of town investigating the holdup and is surprised by the wanted outlaw Cheyenne Rogers (Glenn Ford). The gunman that was hired by Stanley but arrived late for the heist, steals his horse and heads to Red Valley. In the stable, the daughter of Uncle Willie, Allison McLeod (Evelyn Keyes), recognizes the horse and rescues the sheriff from the wilderness. Meanwhile Cheyenne meets Countess Maletta (Claire Trevor) and his friend Nitro Rankin (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams). The Countess is the owner of the local saloon and suffers from unrequited love for him, and feels guilty for the crime life of Cheyenne that committed his first murder to protect her ranch. When Steve returns to Red Valley and sees Cheyenne, he feels happy to see his old friend and Allison falls in love with Cheyenne. But Sheriff Steve is getting close to Jack Lester and now Stanley Clanton masterminds a plan to incriminate Cheyenne for robbing the bank. Will he succeed?

"The Desperadoes" is a funny and entertaining western directed by Charles Vidor and with a great cast highlighting the names of Randolph Scott, Claire Trevor and a young Glenn Ford. The story combines western, comedy and action in right doses and there are amazing scenes like for example the stampede. There is also a great message of friendship. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Império da Desordem" ("Empire of Mayhem")

For an enjoyable western starring the young Glenn Ford, Randolph Scott, Claire Trevor and Evelyn Keyes, you can't go wrong with THE DESPERADOES. Filmed in gorgeous technicolor, there's a Zane Grey feeling about the storyline--a man (Ford) hoping to redeem his crooked past joins forces with a lawman (Scott) and helps him capture the thieves behind a bank robbery. Sure, it's all been done before but the pace is quick, the dialogue brisk and the action is sometimes quite spectacular.

Particularly exciting and novel is the use of a stampede started by a blast of nitro, all designed as a distraction while Ford rushes to the aid of a wrongly imprisoned sheriff (Scott). Guinn "Big Boy" Williams plays his 'Nitro' character with his usual blustery charm.

Nice performances from a cast including Edgar Buchanan, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Raymond Walburn and Irving Bacon as a bartender whose saloon keeps getting blasted and destroyed by gunfire battles.

Entertaining all the way through.

... and that's a rarity during this particular year, but perhaps more likely in a western such as this.

Although Randolph Scott and Claire Trevor get top billing, they are actually second leads. Top leads go to the second-billed couple, a young and startlingly luxuriously-pated Glenn Ford along with Evelyne Keyes in leather pants. Ford is not quite as noxious as he would later become on-screen; he makes an effective "good bad man", as Keyes refers to him.

Randolph Scott basically grins his way through the story of a sheriff, Ford, and Keyes busting the corrupt banker who has arranged for his own bank to be robbed. Trevor doesn't get much to do as the local madam. Guinn "Big Boy" Williams provides good comic relief as Ford's loyal sidekick, and Edgar Buchanan is wonderful as the morally wavering "town uncle" whose own corruption is incomplete because of his paternal worrying over daughter Keyes.

The story may be rote, but the script is excellent, the direction is efficient, and there are some scenery shots that are actually "new", such as from-above shots of a very narrow path cut through a rocky hill. This is a good film, not just a good Western.

Randolph Scott and Glenn Ford were once outlaw pals together, but now Scott's a sheriff and young Ford is still hiring his gun out. He gets hired to pull a bank job, but is delayed getting to town and those that hired him get someone else. That leads to all kinds of complications, a lot for a film that's not even 90 minutes long.

Randy and Glenn both got girls here. Claire Trevor plays her usual good time gal with a heart of gold. And Evelyn Keyes is the daughter of Edgar Buchanan who falls for Ford big time without realizing who he is or why he came to the town that Scott is the sheriff in.

It's B western, but unusual for the time and for Columbia Pictures it was given the full technicolor treatment. The Desperadoes marked Glenn Ford's first film in technicolor, a process reserved only for some of the more expensive films from bigger studios. Harry Cohn was certainly not one to shell out for it. And definitely not during war time.

The plot gets a bit convoluted as both Ford and Scott are put to the test of friendship versus expediency/duty. The plot also involves some high class hypocritical skunks in Randy's town who are the real outlaws as far as the film is concerned.

The four leads do a fine job and the best supporting performance is Guinn Williams as Ford's lovable explosive lunkhead of a sidekick. The climax involves a cattle stampede and a shootout in the town saloon and is one of the best ever done in a western film.

Fans of the four leads and westerns in general will enjoy this one.

A good-natured, good-looking 'A' western set in 1863 with plush production values and a plot centring largely upon a brooding young Glenn Ford.

It boasts a lively barroom brawl - and later a shootout - played for laughs, a cameo from Raymond Walburn as a blowhard judge and the pleasure of savouring in Technicolor Claire Trevor as saloon-owner 'Countess', usually dressed in purple in gowns by Travilla, Evelyn Keyes in buckskin britches and the beguilingly horsey-faced Joan Woodbury as a floozy from Countess's establishment.

"The Desperadoes" (1943) is a genuine classic, not for its story (which is fairly routine), but for its technical production elements. This was a landmark western, the biggest ever at the time of its release and all the more unique because it was a Columbia production-a lightweight studio with a bottom feeding reputation. Only Fox's "Jesse James" (also starring Randolph Scott) from a few years earlier gave anywhere near this lavish a treatment to the genre. Although it would be eclipsed in a few years by "The Searchers" and "High Noon", "The Desperadoes" was a ground breaking effort and a historical treasure.

In 1863, the economy in the town of Red Valley, Utah is based on rounding up and selling wild horses to the Union Army. The script gets a little messed up here with references to the railroad (which was several years away in Utah's future) and Custer's Last Stand (Custer was busy fighting Stuart in Pennsylvania at the time) but these are not important plot elements.

Red Valley has an honest sheriff, Steve Upton (Scott), but the banker and several citizens are corrupt; robbing their own bank each time the government pays for a herd of horses. The town is visited by Cheyenne Rogers (Glenn Ford), a famous outlaw who is an old friend Steve's. He wants to go straight, especially after falling for the pretty livery stable owner Alison McLeod (Evelyn Keyes). Cheyenne's partner "Nitro" Rankin (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams) is mainly there for comic relief as are Uncle Willie McLeod (Edgar Buchanan) and the town judge (Raymond Walburn who models his character on Frank Morgan's "Wizard of Oz" crystal ball faker).

Taking no chances with their huge budget Columbia packed this thing with tons of action and every western movie element but Indians and covered wagons. There is the best wild horse stampede ever filmed, a spectacular barroom brawl, an explosive climax, romance, and three-strip Technicolor. All this stuff doesn't necessarily fit together but who would have cared back in 1943. Unity is a problem as it tries to be both a serious action western and a comedy.

The cinematography was probably the best ever at the time of its filming. The indoor scenes are solid but it is the naturalistic outdoor photography that is truly impressive; both the lyrical static shots and the moving camera filming of the action sequences.

Scott and Claire Trevor were top billed, but the studio clearly wanted to promote Ford, who would soon be their biggest star. And Director Charles Vidor utilized the film to showcase his new wife Keyes (whose portrayal of Scarlett's sister in "Gone With the Wind" had connected with audiences more than any small part in the history of films).

The Ford-Keyes dynamic is "The Desperadoes" most unique and important feature. Rather than go for the cliché "love triangle" with Scott and/or Trevor (which it first appears will happen), the entire romantic focus is on the two younger actors. This was probably the best role Keyes ever got and she makes the most of it. Playing a tomboyish but extremely sexy young woman who looks great in both leather pants and dresses, and who rides and fights like Kiera Knightley's character in "Pirates of the Caribbean". This was revolutionary at the time and coincided with the 1942 formation of the WAAC for WWII military service.

"The Desperadoes" is one film that has been well taken care of and the print looks like it is brand new. Unfortunately there are no special features on the DVD.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Randolph Scott is the star of this diverting Western, playing the sheriff of a small town. His old friend Cheyenne Rogers, alias Bill Smith (Glenn Ford), is an outlaw who's newly arrived in town. Cheyenne was hired to rob a bank...that has already been robbed! Cheyennes' reputation dictates that he will fall under suspicion, despite his best efforts to go straight.

There's much to enjoy here, in this, Columbia Pictures' first Technicolor Western. The color photography is lovely, and helps the movie to feel more modern than many other Westerns of the era. Robert Carson wrote the screenplay, based on an original story by Max Brand, and it's quite easy to follow and involving every step of the way. The script has its fair share of quotable lines, a number of them spoken by scene stealer Edgar Buchanan, playing "Uncle" Willie McLeod, a mildly villainous but still likable character. There's a romantic triangle between Sheriff Steve, Cheyenne, and local gal Allison (pretty Evelyn Keyes), the daughter of Willie. Best of all, director Charles Vidor maintains a wonderful balancing act of drama and some genuinely funny comedy, including a show stopping barroom brawl (one of the classic tropes of this genre). The cast features some delightfully colorful characters, brought to life by a very fine cast.

Mr. Scott is engaging as the easygoing lead, a man who will do right by his old friend, even it means not adhering to the strict letter of the law. However, "The Desperadoes" often functions more as a vehicle for the excellent Ford, as the plot tends to revolve a little more around Cheyenne. In addition to Buchanan, another performer who regularly dominates his scenes is lively Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams as an outlaw nicknamed 'Nitro' for his preferred tool of his trade. Bernard Nedell is appropriately odious as a lowlife named Jack Lester, Raymond Walburn is hilarious as a doddering old judge, Porter Hall is good as dubious banker Stanley Clanton, and a glamorous Claire Trevor makes the most of her role as The Countess, with whom Cheyenne associated as a child.

First rate action - such as a climactic stampede - helps to make this solid entertainment for 87 minutes.

Seven out of 10.

I'm sure this one was issued on DVD only because it was an early Glenn Ford movie. Both Charles Vidor (the director) and Ford made a much better film together a couple of years later with "Gilda".

The action is supposed to take place in 1863 in the Utah Territory. I guess all the history books are wrong because evidently the railroad was already there six years before the "Golden Spike" ceremony.

Halfway through the film, the action takes a turn during a barroom brawl and suddenly we are watching a comedy. I guess since WWII was being fought at the time, this movie was designed to offer some entertainment value for the troops abroad and the folks at home.

It's watchable but entirely forgettable. Much better westerns were made by Michael Curtiz a few years earlier along the same theme. So see "Dodge City" and "Virginia City" instead. Indeed, the latter features both Randolph Scott and "Big Boy" Williams who also appear in "The Desperadoes".

Glenn Ford is hired by a crooked bank owner and wily stable owner Edger Buchanan to stage a fake robbery while the banker hides the real loot. With Ford a no-show, the two instead go with a trigger happy second choice, leaving Ford on the hook for killings he didn't commit.

Columbia Pictures' first color feature, The Desperadoes looks fantastic with sets and costumes fabricated to take full advantage of the Technicolor process accentuating tons of well staged western spectacle.

This has the irresistible teaming of a young Glenn Ford (third-billed but essentially the star) and a prime Randolph Scott leading an incredible supporting cast of great character actors in colorful roles, including scene-stealer Edger Buchanan as a good-natured but mildly villainous yokel who isn't as dumb as he looks and who has quite a few memorable lines.

A fairly complex script effectively mixes incredible action sequences, melodrama, and comedy, well directed by Charles Vidor. This is one of the great westerns of the nineteen-forties and highly recommended.

Ladies and gentlemen, is the daily grind getting you down? Do you want a good, old-fashioned oater to fill in the early evening hours? Well, it's all here for you folks in Charles Vidor's 1943 production "The Desperadoes".

You've got your stalwart lawman (Randolph Scott), your good bad guy (Glenn Ford), the spunky romantic interest (Evelyn Keyes), the tough but tender saloon hostess (Claire Trevor) and the not-too-bright sidekick (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams). You've got gorgeous Technicolor, stampedes, bronco riding, shady businessmen and an explosion or two! So, pop that corn and melt that butter. What's that? You want more, folks? You want scene stealers? Well, seeing as it's you, we have two of the greatest. Mr. Edgar Buchanan and Mr. Raymond Walburn will commit grand larceny before your very eyes.

So, sit back and relax, ladies and gentlemen. It's all here!

Though Randolph Scott takes top billing, I think it's Glenn Ford who takes the plaudits here in this ultimately rather predicable western. It starts off quite promisingly when the town of Red valley has it's bank robbed and suffers three citizens slaughtered. The bank's owner, "Clanton" (Porter Hall), magnanimously decides to pay out 50 cents on the dollar to those who lost out. In his back room, though, we realise that's a bit of an empty gesture as he and cheery stagecoach driver "Uncle Willie" (Edgar Buchanan) are part of a wheeze to pocket quite a lot of loot. Thing is, the robbery didn't quite go to plan and the gang employed are just a bit too local for comfort when sheriff "Upton" (the so-so Scott) starts to investigate. He is caught off guard by "Rogers" (Ford) who pinches his horse and arrives in town at the stable run by "Allison" (Evelyn Keyes) - who just happens to be the daughter of the dodgy stagecoach captain. She recognises the horse as that of the lawman but luckily it turns out that when they are face to face, these two men are actually friends and swiftly turn their attentions to exposing the crooked "Clanton" before he manages to frame "Cheyenne" for the hold-up. Claire Trevor also features as the glamorous, bar-owing, "Countess" who also has some skin in the game with both men and luckily for this now rather muddling and over-populated narrative she has a pal who likes to play with nitro-glycerin! There are just too many characters vying for a space in the story here, and that story is just too thin to sustain it after about thirty minutes when the audience knows all there is to know and the path is laid towards a standard conclusion. There's some gunfighting now and again, but otherwise this isn't much to write home about, sorry.

What separates this horse opera from the hundreds of others produced in this decade is its sense of humor. I especially liked the trap shut pun. However, there is some interesting plot developments along the way, and you might not be able to guess them (although most of the film is predictable). An entertaining Western with my father's favorite actor (Randolph Scott).

Randolph Scott, Claire Trevor and Evelyn Keyes star in this outstanding western, along with Glenn Ford, as an outlaw on the run, and Edgar Buchanan as a shady town patriarch. There are also good supporting performances from Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Raymond Walburn and Irving Bacon.

The action is non-stop, and while there is a fair share of shooting and killing, the pace is light and there is a fair amount of humor. Unlike some westerns that try to be comedies, the humor here helps the pace along, and it is never just a comedy. I like how they keep things going towards murder and mayhem but throw in just enough humor so the movie does not get too heavy.

Randolph Scott is his usual great self as a decent guy who is also a cowboy and the town sheriff. He is great in trying to figure out who is helping the outlaws, and it turns out to be some of the most respected members of the town. Scott keeps it cool, and always seems to trust the bad guys, so they never suspect he knows until it is too late.

In the mix is Glenn Ford, who is getting a big build-up here with the support of Scott. He is a fugitive outlaw, a friend of Scott, but also part of the gang of criminals. Whose side will he be on at the end? Ford, Buchanan, and Scott keep everybody guessing and the action tells the story at the end.

This is a very good movie. The good guys are good, the bad guys are really mean and evil killers, and there are several major players that are in the middle. That makes the story a lot more interesting, to figure out what is going to happen at the final showdown.

This movie's best assets are the shots of Randolph Scott sitting, almost motionlessly, astride a galloping horse. He was simply poetry in motion, along with Joel McCrea, Gary Cooper, and young Johnny Crawford. These four were the best horseback riders in filmed entertainment. You can stop reading right...HERE!

Since I have to include a minimum of 10 lines, let me continue by saying the worst horseback riders, IMHO, were John Wayne (ouch!) and Chuck Connors.

Coop's best scenes, I think, were in The Westerner and Northwest Mounted Police (both 1940). McCrea's were in Cattle Drive (1951), Wichita (1955), and Cattle Empire (1958). Scott's were in The Desperadoes (1943), Ft. Worth (1951), and one other I cannot recall. Strangely, none of his Boetticher pictures.

Connors was at his worst anytime his scenes in The Rifleman called for him to ride hell-for-leather for the ranch. Duke's were just about anytime he had to ride (oh, it hurts to say that - I just love John Wayne). There, I'm over the 10-line minimum.

At times this movie seemed aimed towards kids but then there are things in the movie that don't seem age appropriate. For example, the barroom brawl: Nitro and the bartender are definitely played for laughs but Glenn Ford's fight is rather brutal. The message that obey the law until it gets in the way also makes me a little uneasy (of course our heroes were right in doing that but I still don't know). The cast is a good one for a B-western: Randolph Scott plays the usual stand-up guy, Edgar Buchanan and Raymond Walburn play their usual roles (except the fact that Buchanan's Uncle Willie isn't what he seems, is a little disconcerting). The only one that really doesn't work well is Claire Trevor, she didn't convince me as the town madam. The horse stampede was well executed and a clever idea. The movie moves along nicely and the romance does make sense, its just that westerns like this one always make me wonder who the intended audience was.

i liked this western Starring Randolph Scoot and Glenn Ford.it's got pretty much everything a western should have.there's gunfights,action,chases on horseback.there's a bit of a romance angle that's hinted at.there's some nice comic relief in the form of Edgar Buchanan,who plays Uncle Willie McLeod,a character who pretend to be a doddering old fool,but is actually aware of everything going on.Randolph Scott plays the town Sheriff,and Glenn Ford Plays Cheyenne Rogers/Bill Smith,a hunted outlaw who eventually tries to change his ways.i liked the different mix of characters in the movie.i didn't find it always fast paced,but i never found it boring either.even though the movie is in 1943,it is in colour. 8/10

Columbia's 1943 Western "The Desperadoes" is a diverting (albeit familiar) tale of a good outlaw trying to go straight. The film straddles the line between comedy and drama but ultimately falls on the side of humor. The tone of the film is a stark contrast to the Randolph Scott oaters of the 1950s; its lighthearted tone prevents it from becoming a memorable film.

Although the film headlines Scott and Claire Trevor they merely serve as bait to attract 1943 audiences to witness the buildup of third billed Glenn Ford. He triggers all the action scenes and enjoys the love of both Miss Trevor and the lovely Evelyn Keyes. His character, Cheyenne Rogers, is being set up for a bad end; he's basically a decent man that has been forced down the outlaw path by circumstance. He eventually decides to go straight when he falls for a girl (Miss Keyes) but events pull him back into a life of crime. Despite all the foreshadowing the movie's lighthearted tone allows him to skirt his inevitable fate and ride off to a happy ending.

Filmed in Technicolor, the movie looks gorgeous and is further aided by a lack of process shots. The principals are clearly riding horses in the close shots and that certainly adds an air of authenticity. The action scenes, particularly a barroom brawl and the climactic horse stampede, are expertly handled.

Ford is solid but not spectacular as the good badman; not an abundance of star potential is displayed. Evelyn Keyes looks great in a tomboyish role and is easily believable as the love interest. Claire Trevor is wasted but she is always a joy to have around. Irving Bacon has some genuinely funny moments as a beleaguered bartender desperately trying to salvage his establishment which gets destroyed twice. Edward Pawley, taking a break from playing cons and hoods at Warners, is on hand as a mustachioed deputy and future Frankenstein Monster Glenn Strange enacts one of the villains.

Two performers deserve special mention. One of my personal favorites, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, portrays Ford's pal. Williams has to be one of the best sidekicks ever and has several hilarious moments. Perhaps his best is when he gallops up to Ford pulling his buddy's horse behind him. When the now-reformed outlaw Ford inquires what the rush is Williams simply informs him he's just robbed a bank. Ford almost blows a gasket as he's now forced to hightail it out of town.

The second notable performance is turned in by Edgar Buchanan. He is the father of Miss Keyes and also involved in Bank Manager Porter Hall's scheme to rob his own institution. As the plot unfolds he's forced into allowing Ford to be framed for the crime in order to protect himself. Buchanan expertly straddles the line between drama and comedy as his conscience slowly weighs him down.

As for top billed Randolph Scott, the film provides another bland, asexual hero part. He doesn't have much to do except counsel Ford and cheerfully steer him into the arms of a woman (Miss Keyes) that he probably wants for himself. The fact that both leading ladies have no interest in Scott is pretty remarkable for a supposed star.

All in all "The Desperadoes" is an entertaining film and can be enjoyed if one doesn't expect much from Scott or Miss Trevor.

Sometimes western pictures blur together, especially when they star the same leading man. There have been many times when I wonder, "Didn't I see this John Wayne/Randolph Scott movie?" because I can't tell based on the title (usually the name of a city) or the brief plot (a man out for revenge comes to a small western town). When you watch as many thousands of movies as I do, it's bound to happen, no matter the genre. "Didn't I see this Dana Andrews noir?" "This Bette Davis tearjerker seems familiar."

The Desperadoes, a western starring Randolph Scott and Glenn Ford, slipped under my radar. I accidentally watched it twice! The leading ladies, Claire Trevor and Evelyn Keyes, aren't my favorite, and the love triangle presented in the plot wasn't very suspenseful. I'm not surprised that I forgot I saw it, but under normal circumstances it wasn't good enough to watch twice.

Glenn Ford is the lead in this one, and I'm always more partial to Scottie McScottie Pants; right away, there's a disappointment. Glenn is the fun, frisky, flirty outlaw. Scottie is the honorable, boring sheriff. Glenn comes to town to rob a bank, but it's already been robbed so he has no choice but to stick around and hopefully stay out of trouble. If you like Glenn in his westerns, you can watch this one, but Scottie fans should stick to movies where he's the lead.