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Waste of time

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Generally good primary feature (90 min.) western from Republic, shot in Trucolor, in mostly Colorado settings, which match the scripted Colorado setting.......The story begins with the return of Jet Cosgrave(John Derek) to Colton, CO: a town said to be run by his uncle: Major Linton Cosgrave(Jim Davis), who also apparently inherited the large Circle C Ranch from Jet's father. This is a true wild west town, that lacks a sheriff, because the last 4 were either killed or soon resigned. Jet has reason to believe that the will giving the Major the Circle C is a forgery, but cannot prove that. He is prepared to use violent means to take ownership of the Circle C, if the will cannot be proven to be a forgery. .....No explanation is given for Jet's disappearance from home 8 years ago, when his father died, nor information on what he has been doing in the meantime, nor explanation for why he decided to return just now. He has contracted for 9 gunslingers, headed by Dude Rankin(Bob Steele) to help him wrest the ranch from the Major. If Jet had known the reputation of Dude, he wouldn't have entrusted him with the leadership of this group, for Dude would prove a turncoat when the Major offered him more compensation, in the form of all the Polsen cattle they could rustle, which had recently reoccupied the Newmark Valley, which the Major considered part of his territory. The Newmark Valley was owned by a Mr. Newmark, who had disappeared some years ago, rumored to have been killed by the Major. The Major had pushed the Polsen family out of the valley a while ago. Jet, with his little army aimed to support a Polsen retake of the valley, to irritate the Major. However, when Dude switched sides, the Polsen cattle disappeared one night. Yet, the relationship between Jet and the Polsens is still uncertain. Papa Polsen, a bible freak, whipped his daughter Judy and disowned her just because Jet had grabbed and kissed her. Later, papa would apologize. Curly(Nacho Gulindo) was the only one of Dude's bunch who didn't defect to the enemy. He and Jet would be attacked by Prince(James Millican): the Major's foreman, plus other men, but the pair would kill all except Prince, who escaped, and would survive until the finale shootout. The pair then were accosted by the Polsens, who thought they had rustled their cattle. Several of the Polsens then accompanied Jet to try to retrieve their cattle, which had been stolen by Dude and bunch. They managed to kill nearly all these gunslingers after engineering a stampede. Dude fled on his horse, but Jet caught up and they arm wrestled while riding their horses, until Jet transferred to Dude's horse and pushed him off, apparently breaking his neck upon landing.......I like that the expected finale showdown between Jet and the Major was more complex than that. There were 5 participants in the shootout, that occurred on Main Street. Besides Jet and the Major, there was Prince, Boone Polsen(Slim Pickens) and crooked lawyer, Andrew Devlin(Taylor Holmes). Boone's main objective was to protect Jet from being killed. The Major had had recent fallings out with Prince and Devlin. Prince was eager to shoot both Jet and the Major. The major had just pistol whipped Devlin, and the latter was itching for revenge, which partly took the form of shouting that Jet's father's will was a forgery. See the film(available free at YouTube) to find out the sequence of shootings and final result.......I also liked that, instead of the formulistic good girl vs. bad girl conflict, the women involved: Alice Austin((Catherine McCleod), and Judy Polsen(Joan Evans) became friends, although one(Alice) was promised to wed the Major, while Judy fancied that Jet might ask her to marry him. Jet flirted with both, although he claimed to Judy that his flirtation with Alice was just to irritate the Major. Toward the end, both women were fed up with the war. Alice returned to Virginia, and Judy swore off further romancing with Jet. However, Judy would quickly change her attitude after the results of the finale showdown. ... ...Joan Evans and Catherine McLeod were both minor Hollywood players. Bob Steele was in the midst of his entertainment career. Once playing cowboy heroes, by the mid-40s, this diminutive(5' 5") scrappy man was relegated to character parts. In contrast, Jim Davis(the Major) was tall and well built. He played in many B westerns, but would receive the most fame from his role in the "Dallas" TV series.

"The Outcast" of the title is Jet Cosgrave (John Derek) who returns home after eight years to claim the ranch left him by his father but swindled away from him by his unscrupulous uncle Major Linton Cosgrave (Jim Davis) and his lawyer Andrew Devlin (Taylor Holmes).Jet meets his uncle's fiancé Alice Austin (Catherine McLeod) and sets out to take her away from his uncle. Into the mix comes Judy Polsen (Joan Evans) the daughter of a rival rancher Chad Polsen (Frank Ferguson). Slim Pickens plays Judy's brother the hard ridin' Boone Polsen.Jet has hired a group of gunman led by the murderous Dude Rankin (Bob Steele) who guns a helpless ranch cook in the back. On the other side is Cal Prince (James Millican) and his gang which includes the trigger happy "The Kid" (Ben Cooper) and Bert (Harry Carey Jr.). Double crosses abound until the final showdown between the two Cosgraves.The film was directed by Republic veteran William Whitney best known for his work in serials and his realistic fight scenes. He even allowed Roy Rogers to display a blood trickle in "Trail of Robin Hood" (1950).John Derek was more renowned for his off-screen life than for his acting. He was fortunate enough to have been married at one time or another to three of the most beautiful women of their day..Ursula Andress, Linda Evans and Bo Derek. To me he didn't make a very convincing hero though. I couldn't see him besting the 6' 4" Jim Davis in a fight.Jim Davis was a familiar face in many Republic westerns of the period. He usually played a villain but did on occasion did play on the right side of the law. Slim Pickens was working in Republic's Rex Allen series at the time and also turned up in a couple of Republic's "A" features as well. Bob Steele had been a "B" series star in the 30s and had been reduced to supporting roles from the late 40s onward. He was at his best as a villain as in this film. James Millican was a veteran of several Randolph Scott westerns and Harry Carey Jr. was a familiar face in several John Ford Westerns. Ben Cooper was being groomed by Republic to be their next juvenile lead.Great photography, action, color and story and except for Derek as the hero, a great cast.

The Outcast is set in 1880s Colorado about a man who rides into town with a gang of hired gunmen to reclaim his inheritance. But the man opposing him is none other than his uncle, who will not give up the ranch, and all that goes with it, without a fight.A truly pleasant surprise to me this one was. Too many times I care to mention when I have sat down for a B movie Western and cringed at the banality on show. Directed by prolific B helmer William Witney and coming out of the mightily solid Republic Pictures house, The Outcast {AKA The Fortune Hunter} uses a standard story premise and expands it further with a multitude of interesting character arcs. There is so much going on in this part of Colorado, the film never has time to become boring or twee in its execution. Each character serves a purpose, if they have screen time then they are functional to the plot{s} in hand. We have feuding families, hired thugs, a pugilist blacksmith, reams of gun play, fist fights on horseback {fine stunt work here} and pretty gals pulling the male protagonists emotions left and right! All set against a lovely rolling location backdrop {sadly not able to find where at the time of writing} and filmed in the safer cheaper colour aspect of Trucolor, which looks nicer now in this day and age of HD TV.The cast are led by John Derek (All the King's Men) and an assortment of stoic and professional Western players fill out the roll call. It does look to be either largely unseen or consigned wrongly to the B movie bin. But it's certainly a must for the Western genre fan, and definitely a film to prove that Republic Pictures did have good films in their locker. So do check it out if you get the chance 7/10

An early performance by Derek is the main attraction here, in this action packed tale of a young man, returning home to reclaim his ranch from a dastardly cattle baron. A good supporting cast, and a director that doesn't let the romance scenes get in the way, make this good fare.