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I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

A shrewish mother(Ma McDade) is waiting for the return of the last of her 4 outlaw sons, before she reveals the location of the stolen $100,000 gold they buried. The other 3 sons are reported dead and 4th one may or may not be alive. Meanwhile, the widows or girlfriends of her 4 sons are holed up in the isolated family ranch, hoping to eventually obtain some of the hidden loot. Ma's domineering treatment of the widows suggests a similar treatment of her sons. Along comes wandering con man Gable, who is told about the situation on this ranch, and decides to risk being shot by the trigger-happy crack shot Ma, who doesn't want any men snooping around, as if the widows are expected to remain frozen in their status. Gable is shot by Ma when caught trespassing, but Ma decides to let him stay a day until he recovers some strength. The widows are naturally interested in presenting themselves as desirable romantic partners for Gable, despite Ma's interference...Yes, a pretty far-fetched screenplay!I would guess that Ma is modeled on Ma Barker and her 4 criminal sons, who were especially active in the 1920s and 30s.As in most of his films in the '50s and '60s, Gable is playing someone who should be at least 20 years younger, the studio banking on his historic appeal as a sex symbol and his continuing charm to make up for his weathered looks. I knew I had seen a character very similar to Ma somewhere. After checking Fleet's film credits, I discovered why. She played the old, cantankerous, matriarch in "Wild River". Fleet was only 46 in that film, made up to look and act much older, and was 14 years younger than Gable in the present film! Largely because of her dominating presence, both these films are very slow paced, for the most part.Gable and Ma engage in a periodic duel of wits, with Gable finding additional reasons to hold off Ma's demand that he leave immediately. Meanwhile, he gets to know each of the 'queens' better in individual escapades, some including a passionate kiss. It's clear he finds little long term interest in Barbara Nichol's sexy infantile bimbo character. Sara Shane's Oralie, also a striking blond, seems too conventional and lacking in self confidence to be good soul mate material for Garble. On the other hand, brassy Jean Willes, as Ruby, is too sure of her superior sexual talents and too lethally jealous, and Gable is afraid that may be all she has to offer him. Gable gradually comes to the realization that Eleanor Parker's Sabina has the right combination of brains and personality to be a potential compatible mate for him. Skip the rest of this review, if you don't want to hear about the finale.After a leisurely pace for most of the film, things get hectic after Gable and Sabina find and take off with the gold. But, we sense that something will go wrong during their flight. It does. After Ma discovers that they and the gold are missing, she rings the tower bell as a signal for the posse to come. They give chase to the duo in their buckboard, expecting to find her son. Over Sabrina's objection, Gable decides to drop 95% of the gold to the posse, and hope they agree that he deserves the remainder as a reward for finding and delivering the gold. While Sabrina rides off to a prearranged destination, Gable succeeds in concocting a story that the posse swallows. Thus, things work out for a happy ending for some, while Ma and the other widows are left holding the empty bags. But, Ma did achieve a partial victory in forcing Gable and Sabrina to give up most of the gold.This was the only film released by Gable's short-lived production company. He decided to end the company after the disappointing box office response to this film.... The filming locations included several areas in southern Utah that Gable was familiar with....The legendary Raoul Walsh directed 3 Gable-starring films in the mid-'50s, this being the middle one. In contrast to this film, the other two: "The Tall Men" and "Band of Angels" were epic-scale films. This film has the lowest mean rating at this site of any of Gable's '50s and '60s films.

Extremely disappointing western starring Clark Gable, Eleanor Parker and Jo Van Fleet. Despite the great cast, weak writing did this film in.Finding out that an old woman is staying with her 4 daughters-in-law in a house, and hiding gold-Gable decides to pay the ladies a visit. Seems that the old woman's four sons robbed a bank and three of them got blown up in the process. They're waiting for the return of the surviving son. The wait can be compared to Come Back, Little Sheba.The film is ridiculous at best. As the old lady, Jo Van Fleet is a pistol-packing grandma type. She has somewhat of a heart but is as nasty as can be while she quotes from the bible. Van Fleet, who made a career of playing much older women, looks like she just came out of playing Katie Roth in the later scenes of the memorable "I'll Cry Tomorrow."No doubt about it, Gable was aging by 1956. Barbara Nicholls has that sing-song voice which is so inappropriate here. She talks like she is still in a comedy sketch of Wayne and Schuster on the old Ed Sullivan television series.The one shining point here is Eleanor Parker who is young and vibrant. She together with Gable ultimately fool the rest of the cast, but you can't be fooled by poor writing and not much going on. For a western, we lack complete action. Can you imagine Gable and the girls singing and dancing with a suspicious Van Fleet looking on?

Clark Gable dreamed up some sweet con game to do four lovely widows and their mother-in-law out of some stolen loot that their late husbands an outlaw brother gang have robbed.One McDade brother is still alive, but we're not sure which one. And through force of personality their mother-in-law is keeping them in a ghost town hide out until he returns for what's his. If stolen loot can be considered his.Gable arrives in town and woos all the women who don't need much encouragement. No male companionship for seven years, got to be tough on a gal. The women are Eleanor Parker, Jean Willes, Sara Shane, and Barbara Nichols. The King and Four Queens though Clark Gable is billed above the title, this picture really belongs to Jo Van Fleet. 1956 was a good year for her, Jo also turned in an outstanding performance as Doc Holiday's gal pal Kate Fisher in Gunfight at the OK Corral. Her's is the dominant performance of the film. It has to be or the idea that these women wouldn't have just overpowered her and forced Van Fleet to tell where the loot is becomes ludicrous.Lots of sexual innuendo in this film, very much a precursor to the adult TV westerns that were to come soon. One of the more interesting of Clark Gable's post World War II films.

Stranger Gable hears of a treasure of gold, hidden somewhere in a ghost town and guarded by an old woman and four widows. "Man's man" Gable throws all of his charms in the battle to find out where to find the treasure. As you see, the storyline is very very thin here. Most of the film is about Gable trying to charm the women, using every single trick in the book. There are a few minor surprises near the end, but this is really nothing special. Nice to catch on a rainy afternoon. 6/10