The Young Land (1959)

Set in the California of 1848 as it attempts to make a transition to statehood, a young punk (Dennis Hopper) kills a Mexican in cold blood. As a jury deliberates his fate, tensions mount between the Mexican population awaiting to see if "American" justice includes Mexicans and the Caucasian posse of the killer who plan on blowing the town wide open if he's convicted. Produced by Patrick Ford, John's son, and starring Patrick Wayne, John's son, as the green and callow sheriff, one can't help but think of the superior westerns made by their fathers. While the concept is interesting and there is some genuine tension as to the outcome of the verdict and its repercussions, it comes across as a "I was a teen age sheriff" B western. Young Wayne's acting skills are primitive to put it kindly and Hopper's creepily smug killer erases him off the screen. It's crudely directed by Ted Tetzlaff, probably best known as the director of the noir THE WINDOW. The noisy score is by Dimitri Tiomkin who received the film's only Oscar nomination for the title song, Strange Are The Ways Of Love. With Dan O'Herlihy, Yvonne Craig, Ken Curtis, Pedro Gonzales-Gonzzales and Cliff Ketchum.