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Good idea lost in the noise

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

There is a lot going for this Western.Randolph Scott, of course, is one thing that stands out in any Western.But this one is extra clever. At first, the viewer feels it's going to be pretty mushy, but we're given surprise after surprise. There is actually a lot of cleverness in this plot, and it actually becomes very credible, even for this era, and certainly more credible than the ridiculous spaghetti westerns of the sixties and seventies.The wit and banter is great. This is one of Edgar Buchanan's shining roles. And the women are the ones who save the day. There are three focal women who become more and more important during the story. There's the older lady who truly becomes the catapult to make things work, there's the gorgeous girl singing in a church next to Randolph (but later it is Lloyd Bridges we realize who will get her), and there is the relatively plain dance hall girl who does have a great pair of legs. Each of them does their part to make things work.But it is the cleverness of the story that in amazing. There is bloodshed, but it is believable bloodshed. All that happens is very credible, and Scott's character is very crafty.What is most "original" and ground breaking, and even "risk taking" is that this movie shows three women performing heroine heroics that actually outdo the three males they are linked to. And in the end, Edgar gets the brave old lady, Lloyd gets the gorgeous girl, and Randolph get "Legs" in stage play style.

A righteous sheriff finds himself in the pinch when there is hostility against homesteaders. He urges his fellow villagers to choose sides and to help him end the conflict.Decent old-school western. Every cliché is there: from the fierce shootouts to the merry can-can dancers; from the stubborn but righteous sheriff to the crooks stirring up things in town. It's not as harsh as we're used to since Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinah and the boundary between right and wrong is pretty clear from the start. But I liked it as a fan of the western. It's not a classic in any way, but still a decent flick to see if you like the genre.

Abilene, Kansas is at a critical watershed moment in its history and only town marshal Randolph Scott seems to realize it. That is Scott and a bunch of homesteaders led by Lloyd Bridges. They're the future of the place if they settle there permanently and grow their crops. The homesteader has it over the cowboy. He's raising families for the future, not cain at the end of the trail drive.In a trend that seemed to start with Destry Rides Again in westerns, Scott has two girls after him in this film. Saloon singer Ann Dvorak and storekeeper's daughter Rhonda Fleming. You figure out who the marshal winds up with.Abilene Town doesn't lack for anything any western fan could hope for. Lots of gunplay and fist fights and the triangular conflict of cattlemen, townspeople, and homesteaders. And it has a scene stealing performance by Edgar Buchanan as the county sheriff who becomes a hero in spite of his less than honorable ways.At the time that Abilene Town came out, Abilene, Kansas had one of the most famous people in the world calling it his home town. I don't know how they did it because Howard Hughes didn't own RKO yet, but for the premier of the film in Abilene, Kansas, General Dwight D. Eisenhower showed up himself with Randolph Scott and some of the rest of the cast. A red letter day in the history of RKO studios. To be fair Ike never missed an opportunity to be a booster for the place he grew up in. Hey if the architect of D-Day gave his seal of approval to this film, how could any of you go wrong in seeing it?

1st watched 10/20/2000 - 5 out of 10 (Dir-Edwin L. Mitrin): Flat, typical western with unemotional Scott trying to play the hardcore part of marshall. Silly sheriff played by Edgar Buchanon is the best part.