Watch Yuma For Free

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Just perfect...

Best movie of this year hands down!

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Ted Post directed this Charles A. Wallace story which was created most likely as a pilot for a T.V. Series. I suppose that's why Clint Walker was selected. He looks tall and Majestic in the saddle. The story as Wallace wrote it has Marshal Dave Harmona (Clint Walker) arriving in town and no sooner does he arrive, when a couple of rowdies challenge his authority. Unable to talk one cowboy out of his gun, the Marshal is force to kill the other which does not sit well with the older brother. (Morgan Woodward) In addition to taking charge of the law in town, Harmon is given a murder mystery to solve and some restless Indians who are threatening to go on the warpath to placate. Finally, there a hotel owner who is set on winning a place in the marshal's heart. All in all the series would have begun as part western, part who-done-it, had the option been picked up. As it is, the movie moves into the what-if category and Walker rides into the sunset. It would have been interesting to see the film pan out as several other notables were included in the cast. Such actors as Barry Sullivan, Edgar Buchanan and Peter Mark Richman as Major Lucas. Otherwise, it's a good movie which never ever matured. ****

A sheriff named Harmon(Clint Walker) goes into a small town to impose peace and order .The picture deals an intrigue concerning livestock smuggling.Harmon confronts against corrupt owners,Indians and gunfighters.At the ending contains a little action and plot twists.This mediocre and old-style TV western produced by Aaron Spelling is redeemed by its great stars and supporting cast. Good casting formed by Clint Walker(Dirty dozen), Western usual(Bounty man,None but the brave,Pancho Villa,White Buffalo),Barry Sullivan as mean proprietary of Decker's freighter company, Kathryn Hays as hotel's receptionist, Peter Mark Richman as colonel of cavalry, John Kerr as a captain, and Edgar Buchanan as deputy,he's an eternal secondary of uncountable Western.The movie was a pilot episode but its little success caused cancellation of series. Passable and some dull direction by Ted Post. He's a Western expert, in fact his best movie is still a Western called ¨The legend of Tom Rooley¨. Besides, he has directed Clint Eastwood many times , starting working on Eastwood's television Western series, ¨Rawhide¨. When Eastwood returned to America after his successful Sergio Leone movies , he called for Post who directed him in Western ¨Hang'Em high¨ and the second entry Dirty Harry pictures, ¨Magnum Force¨.Ted Post also directed acceptable Sci Fi(Beneath of the planet of apes,Harrard experiment) and horror movies(The Baby,Dr Cook's garden).

Here's a neat little TV Western that gets interesting following a fairly standard set up. A new Marshal arrives in town just in time to confront a pair of rowdy brothers and winds up killing one in self defense. Then he hears about how he'll have to pay once big brother hits town along with all of his trail hands. The hotel clerk (Kathryn Hays) even asks for her ten dollar room rent in advance, knowing that the life expectancy of a Yuma town marshal isn't all that great.What made the story interesting for me was how a number of innovative elements were used that I haven't seen in a Western before. Like Marshal Dave Harmon (Clint Walker) using ketchup to fake a gunshot wound to a murder suspect from earlier in the story, when the perpetrator is already dead! The ruse is used to smoke out the partner who's still at large. And how about Harmon shooting the gun right out of Sanders' holster when he's slow to cooperate in answering the marshal's questions? The best is probably when the real villain masterminding the cattle resale scheme is uncovered by Harmon; how many times do you get to see Edgar Buchanan as the bad guy?!Here's another one, and I thought I was hearing things, but when Harmon is surprised and surrounded by the Indian tribe the first time, the chief calls him 'Star Man' in deference to his marshal's badge. That just made perfect sense.All in all, a quickly paced story with a good supporting cast including Barry Sullivan (bad guy), Morgan Woodward (bad guy), Robert Phillips (bad guy), and Peter Mark Richman as an Army major (thought he'd be a bad guy, but another twist to prevent the clichéd outcome). I'll also give the picture credit for not stereotyping the expected romantic angle to play out between Harmon and Julie Williams. There was a hint of that at the finale, but you can draw your own conclusions.

"Yuma" is hardly great art, nor even a great Western. It is a good TV Western, and a good TV mystery. The cast of stalwart TV regulars, a post-Cheyenne Clint Walker as well as the lovely Kathryn Hays (Gem of the odd Star Trek episode "The Empath" I believe)make for good viewing. Peter Mark Richman brings his unusual screen presence and the writing is rather good. Walker's character has a tragic back-story that supports his gritty determination. Morgan Woodward brings his usual strong Western presence (again a guest star from Star Trek). In many ways a cross between a fifties Western and a sixties mystery, "Yuma" is not at all a bad way to take a break from the challenges of everyday life in the 21st century. The kid is not all that irritating.