User Reviews

Between his short-lived western television series "Cimarron City" (1958-1959) and Maury Dexter's "Outlaw of Red River" (1965) his one and only stint at Spaghetti westerns, George Montgomery made "King of the Wild Stallions" for prolific western director R.G. Springsteen. Basically, this is a tame, standard-issue oater with traditional elements about a female rancher and a lone mustang named 'Lightning.' The mustang leads a bunch of other horses into land owned by two rival ranchers when it cannot find water at its usual stomping grounds.

One of the ranchers is the unscrupulous Matt Maguire (Emile Meyer of "Shane") who has deep pockets and wants to buy off his rival rancher. As it turns out, Maguire's rival is a widow woman, Martha Morse (Diane Brewster of "Black Patch"), who is having a tough go of it. She has only two ranch hands, Randy Burke (George Montgomery of "Hostile Guns") and an old-timer Idaho (Edgar Buchanan of "The Comancheros") to work her sprawling spread. Somebody has driven off her cattle and she is about to lose her government grazing rights if she cannot get a $500 loan. Maguire convinces the local real estate agent, A.B. Orcutt (Byron Foulger of "Sullivan's Travels"), not to lend her the loot. Morse's top hand Randy Burke coerces the banker into giving him the money when he enters his office after hours. Orcutt accuses him of strong-arm robbery, but the sheriff doesn't see it that way, especially since Randy gave Orcutt a deed. Unfortunately, the wicked Maguire and his two henchmen, Doc Webber (Denver Pyle of "Bonnie & Clyde") and Woody Baines (Dan Sheridan), steal the money from him. Meantime, the eponymous stallion has been giving everybody fits. Initially, Martha's young son Bucky (Jerry Harlteben of "The Buccaneer") thwarted Woody from shooting the horse. Now, Maguire has offered a $500 bounty on the horse. Everybody tries to capture the horse, but Bucky manages to pull off the impossible. He has captured the unruly black stallion accidentally after it had eluded everybody else.

"Shootout at Medicine Bend" lenser Carl Guthrie's widescreen cinematography in Deluxe color is truly a sight to behold. Vasquez Rocks has never looked more picturesque. Springsteen does the best that he can with Ford Beebe's one-dimensional screenplay. It looks like the lady is going to lose everything, but everything turns out alright at fade-out. Montgomery and Meyer tangle in a street brawl at the end. This isn't a shoot'em up dust raiser with a high body count. Indeed, "King of the Wild Stallions" qualifies as a family western.

George Montgomery made quite a few westerns in the 1950s. The handsome actor also starred in his own weekly western television series when this Allied Artists B film was produced. So he was very familiar to fans of the genre. Of course, nobody was ever going to say Montgomery was the next Olivier, but he always did a serviceable job with his screen assignments.

The title character is a dark-colored mustang called Lightnin' who get a bit more screen time than Montgomery does in the beginning of the story. The film starts with a nice outdoor sequence shot in the Vasquez Rocks park near Agua Dulce, California. Lightnin' and his equine friends have come looking for water in a section of land where two rival ranchers covet important grazing rights.

One of the ranchers is a lovely widow (Diane Brewster) who is assisted on her property by Montgomery and a world-weary sidekick (Edgar Buchanan) who aim to keep her from bankruptcy and losing everything. Brewster has a young son (Jerry Hartleben) who is fascinated by Lightnin' after spotting him up on the ridge one day. The boy intends to capture and tame the wild stallion.

Complicating matters is the fact that the rival rancher (Emile Meyer) is resorting to some rather underhanded tactics to prevent Brewster from obtaining a much-needed loan to remain in operation. It turns out Brewster needs $500 to retain the grazing land she's been using. In a neat bit of irony, Meyer has offered anyone in town five hundred bucks if they can capture and tame Lightnin' for him. You can see where this is going.

Montgomery and Buchanan work to catch the animal, in order to collect the money from Meyer and save Brewster's ranch. However, they are not successful in their efforts. Though unbeknownst to them, Brewster's son has caught Lightnin' and is taming him. From here it becomes a story about a kid who must part with a beloved horse to save his mom's land. The lesson of a child making a sacrifice is a fine one, sure to teach something important to youngsters watching the film.

The tale could be called a family western. What we have here is a mild and gentle motion picture with pleasant cinematography, above average performances and a sturdy narrative that reflects moral mid-century American values. I don't think anyone can go wrong spending time watching this.