Here's a perfect example of film makers pulling two historical names out of the past, putting them together and then throwing them up against the wall to see what sticks. This story could just as easily have been told without the names of Calamity Jane and Sam Bass in the title, but then I guess it might not have been a draw at the cinema. Oh well, it could have been worse.
It turns out that the film had some pretty good star power going for it, at least in retrospect. Howard Duff and Lloyd Bridges both had respectable careers in film and TV, and the inclusion of Yvonne De Carlo as one of the title characters was an interesting casting decision. To me she'll always be Lily Munster, but she had a pretty diverse career as well. The surprise for me in this picture was Willard Parker in the role of Sheriff Will Egan. It made me wonder why I've never seen him in another movie Western before, as he was one of my TV favorites as a kid watching "Tales of the Texas Rangers". He partnered with the always hungry Harry Lauter as Ranger Clay Morgan.
Even though the Calamity Jane/Sam Bass team up is pure fiction, the story itself is fairly credible in the way it follows a hard luck cowpoke trying to make his way honorably, but sidelined by circumstances that create a turn for the worse. The business about the Denton Mare suddenly brought back to life was a stretch though; everyone at the race who saw him go down knew he was dead, and one of the bystanders even offered to bury it.
What I thought was clever was the way the story ended, requiring the viewer to try and figure out which woman Sam Bass was talking about when he revealed his feverish dream about owning his own ranch and sharing it with a 'different' girl, the only one he really loved. That could have been either Calamity or Kathy Egan (Dorothy Hart), so in a way, he was able to let them both down easy. Personally, I lean toward Miss Egan, but otherwise it's a close toss up.
There actually was one element the film makers got right historically. The real Sam Bass did die a day after being shot by a Texas Ranger near Round Rock, Texas. He was buried there, with the remains of the original gravestone marker on display at the Public Library in downtown Round Rock on Sam Bass Road.
It turns out that the film had some pretty good star power going for it, at least in retrospect. Howard Duff and Lloyd Bridges both had respectable careers in film and TV, and the inclusion of Yvonne De Carlo as one of the title characters was an interesting casting decision. To me she'll always be Lily Munster, but she had a pretty diverse career as well. The surprise for me in this picture was Willard Parker in the role of Sheriff Will Egan. It made me wonder why I've never seen him in another movie Western before, as he was one of my TV favorites as a kid watching "Tales of the Texas Rangers". He partnered with the always hungry Harry Lauter as Ranger Clay Morgan.
Even though the Calamity Jane/Sam Bass team up is pure fiction, the story itself is fairly credible in the way it follows a hard luck cowpoke trying to make his way honorably, but sidelined by circumstances that create a turn for the worse. The business about the Denton Mare suddenly brought back to life was a stretch though; everyone at the race who saw him go down knew he was dead, and one of the bystanders even offered to bury it.
What I thought was clever was the way the story ended, requiring the viewer to try and figure out which woman Sam Bass was talking about when he revealed his feverish dream about owning his own ranch and sharing it with a 'different' girl, the only one he really loved. That could have been either Calamity or Kathy Egan (Dorothy Hart), so in a way, he was able to let them both down easy. Personally, I lean toward Miss Egan, but otherwise it's a close toss up.
There actually was one element the film makers got right historically. The real Sam Bass did die a day after being shot by a Texas Ranger near Round Rock, Texas. He was buried there, with the remains of the original gravestone marker on display at the Public Library in downtown Round Rock on Sam Bass Road.