Johnny Reno (1966)

On his way to a small western town to look up an old girlfriend (Jane Russell), a U.S. Marshal (Dana Andrews) is ambushed by two brothers (Tom Drake, Dale Van Sickel) on the run. After disposing of one brother, the Marshal takes the surviving brother in in spite of his entreaties of innocence. In the 1960s, the producer A.C. Lyles made a string of low budget westerns featuring stars whose salad days were behind them. Andrews and Russell still have a bit of their old spark left but they're definitely a little ragged around the edges. Even in his prime, the slender Andrews would have seemed out of place in the barroom brawl here featuring an obvious but robust stunt double. This is a simple (or simplistic if you prefer) uncomplicated western that owes a lot to John Sturges' BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK. Just replace the Japanese farmer of that film with an Indian and you can pretty much guess where the film is going. Andrews and Russell are always welcome but there's not much they can do with the cliched dialogue or predictable narrative. Drake's character as written is so dumb that it's hard to drum up much sympathy for him. Directed by R.G. Springsteen. Among the other veterans in the cast: Lon Chaney Jr., Lyle Bettger, John Agar (as incompetent as ever) and Richard Arlen.