Yellowstone Kelly

I think that although Yellowstone Kelly was probably only made to accommodate Clint Walkers popularity as Cheyenne Bodie just before and around the release of the film it was exceptionally well done with a great supporting cast and a super story line, but as I was only 12 at the time and I still recall it today it just shows it has lasted the test of time. I can remember very well all the old TV westerns of the fifties even at such an early age.Bronco Layne, Tenderfoot, Gun Law, Lawman, Maverick, Wells Fargo, Have gun will travel, Wagon train, The restless gun with John Payne, and of course my favourite Cheyenne.I love nostalgia and all these all time greats bring back fond memories of a more innocent age than today, although as my wife is always telling me I am very old Fashioned. Graham Lenegan.

Warner Brothers came up with a winner in this film of a fur trader who finds himself caught in the middle of a cavalry-Indian just wants to run his trap lines in Montana high country but proposed treaty-breaking by the government poses the threat of an Indian uprising. The film dwells a bit on a sub plot that has Kelly saving an Indian maiden's life as well as playing wet nurse to a tenderfoot who seeks to win the trapper's friendship and respect. There is a fine battle scene between the soldiers and the Indians, one of the best of its type and is the film's high point. John Russell, Ray Danton and Claude Akins are among the cast names that contribute greatly to fine story. Andra Martin is striking as the Arapahoe girl and a point of contention between Kelly and the Sioux warriors. Edd Byrnes is okay as Kelly's young helper. Outstanding camera work and music score make this forgotten western one of the genre's best pictures.

I finally got to see Yellowstone Kelly today and found it to be a decent enough western. Back in the day I was going to see it at the age of 12, but did not want to deal with the unbelievably long lines or the screaming teens who came to see Kookie.

This was not Edd Byrnes first feature film, but the first after his success on 77 Sunset Strip. The bobbysoxers were nuts about him back in the day and crowded out us connoisseurs of the western. I remember the long lines and the stories about how one could not hear the dialog with the adolescent females going gaga for Kookie.

The real star in the title role was another Warner Brothers TV veteran, Clint Walker. He plays a mountain man trapper and scout, the last of a breed. He's allowed to do his thing on Sioux land because he saved John Russell's life who is the chief.

After taking on Edd Byrnes as a young assistant, the two visit the Sioux where both of them catch the eye of Andra Martin who is an Arapahoe captive and Russell's personal squeeze. Another brave Ray Danton would like to replace Russell in her tepee. When she runs away and follows Walker and Byrnes to their cabin, Russell and Danton come calling with the tribe. These kind of things start wars as the Ancient Greeks would be the first to tell you.

As much as Kookie got all the publicity and was the reason for Yellowstone Kelly's box office, this film belongs to the stoic Clint Walker who if he had come along a decade earlier would have been a great cowboy hero. Walker is smart and stoic in the title role.

I have to say that Andra Martin as a blue eyed Arapahoe was most disconcerting. Just like Burt Lancaster in Apache.

Despite that Yellowstone Kelly was a well made action western that any fan of the horse opera will love.

I can't believe that there is only one comment about Yellowstone Kelly, I know you couldn't really call it a classic or anything but I know films that are a lot worse that have been much better received in your lists. That is only my opinion and I don't wish to upset anyone but again as previously stated I think this film is a real cracker and has lasted the test of time! Graham Lenegan.

This unpretentious and well-paced film min my judgment almost redefines the 'B' movie. It uses the talents of solid-plot novelist Clay Fisher, action director Gordon Douglas's skills, script additions by Burt Kennedy, lucid cinematography by Carl Guthrie, costumes by Marjorie Best, set decorations by William Wallace and a good cast of supporting actors. The storyline is a very simple one. Luther Kelloey has saved the life of a Sioux chief, Gall. Because of this during the troubles in their country, he is still allowed to set his traplines. After some trouble with toughs at a fort, he enlists young tenderfoot Anse Harper as his helper--before discovering he is hopeless at everything; then Kelley heads upcountry. Once there, they save an Arapaho woman fleeing her enemies. Answe worships her; she falls in love with Kelley, but he fights the urge as he nurses her back to health. Then all discover that it is the Sioux chief who wants her back. Anse dies; and finally he has to lead soldiers against the Sioux to save the ill-led patrol; and he kills Gall's nephew, the real troublemaker in the situation, in battle. He then advises the Sioux chief to leave the Yellowstone country, telling him it no longer smiles on them; and they follow his advice. The film stars popular and very large Clint Walker, in the best of several western he was allowed to make in the 1950s, as who did not; Anse is well-done by Edd Byrnes, John Russell is the Sioux chief, Ray Danton the deadly nephew and Andra Martin the lovely Arapaho woman. Claude Akins as a skeptical sergeant, Rex Reason, Gary Vinson and Warren Oates are also featured. This is a very authentic western, physically-beautiful. The viewer learns a lot about what it takes to survive in the West through the very Eastern eyes of Anse; also, Kelley's very sound advice is doubted, not heeded or contradicted by soldiers, with the result that they need him to save their hides. This is not a great picture; but I suggest as a writer its authors gave it clear motivations, a solid story line for its under-budgeted producers to realize. The dialogue is above average, terse, never show; and Douglas's camera has quite a bit to work with in the way of interior dialogue exchanges, action scenes and angry confrontations. The highlight comes when Martin tells Walker, "You have LOOKED AT ME." From that moment, we know he likes her, she wants him--and all they have to do is fight a major battle against angry Sioux warriors to win their future...Many viewers have found this to be a very unpretentious and entertaining 'B' effort.