Santa Fe Trail/Abilene Town

Description

200 minute double feature film DVD.

Customer Reviews:

two very different westerns for the price of one.......2007-08-07

The picture quality of Abilene Town on this DVD is marginal:rather fuzzy at times,
but it didn't really bother me that much. The story involves a familiar theme of cattlemen vs. sod busters, but with the added ingredient of non-saloon shopkeepers as a third major block in the politics of Abilene. It's Marshal Randolph Scott's job to try to keep these 3 groups from destroying each other and to ease the inevitable transformation of Abilene from a rowdy cow town into a more civilized place. The limited humor mostly derives from the love-hate relationship between Scott and dance hall canary Ann Dvrak. Edgar Buchanan's character is more pathetic than humorous. He is unbelievably cowardly: Let sleeping dogs lie and run from barking dogs. Why does Scott tolerate him as often his only potential helper in his various duties as marshal. In fact, Scott lies about Buchanan's role in the capture of a desperado in order to help him keep his job as county sheriff.
Though an older film, the quality of the Santa Fe Trail DVD is much better. This story exploits some big names in the coming Civil War, who supposedly all graduated from West Point at the same time and all were newly assigned to keep order in bleeding Kansas. Clean-shaven mild-mannered Ronald Reagan reminds us much more of the Gipper than of George Custer. Again, Errol Flynn is a remarkably clean-shaven representation of normally hirsute Jeb Stuart. Ramond Massey makes an unbeatable characterization of fanatic John Brown, even if many of the details are historically inaccurate. Van Heflin's character is purely fictitious, but does add another dimension to the film story. It offers an alternative explanation for the unexpected arrival of Federal troops at Harper's Ferry during Brown's raid. Actually, Brown made a fatal blunder in allowing a train from the west to procede to Washington. Before these troops arrived, local militia actually sealed off the bridge across the Potomac, which was Brown's intended escape route. If you can stomach all the gross historical inaccuracies in this film, it is an action-packed entertaining story, mostly carried by the charisma of Flynn and Massey, the banter between and within several buddy pairs and the well-established cinematic romantic partnership of Flynn and Olivia. Van Heflin's difficult character and betrayal adds an additional dimension.

DON'T TAKE SIDES.......2007-07-16

Based on an original screenplay by Robert Buckner, SANTA FE TRAIL was shot by Michael Curtiz in 1940. There are two ways to get onto this movie nowadays, more than 65 years after its release. You could enjoy, like I did, its rythm, the actors or the strange idea, in a film made in Hollywood, to depict the abolitionists as fanatics and the unionists as sensible people.

You could also take the time to think about the message conveyed by SANTA FE TRAIL through the actions of its main character Errol Flynn. Jeb - Errol Flynn - Stuart is a man who doesn't take sides, who just obeys orders and waits for the happy ending History will certainly provide to the American nation. The description of this passive demeanour shocked me a lot and, while I was watching SANTA FE TRAIL, I couldn't but think that, the same year, another American director, Charles S. Chaplin, was desperately trying to alert the world about what was going on in Europe with The Great Dictator (2 Disc Special Edition).

A DVD zone mixed feelings.

History lesson sorely needed.......2007-06-02

How many school children in 21 st century know about John Brown? How many know about the causes of this horrible war that pitted former comrades against one another? Is this movie entirely accurate and does take artistic license with the characters and storyline? Yes and No, but and so do many contemporary films such as 'Saving Private Ryan' or 'Patton' take liberties with actual events. As a number of reviewers have noted, we see events in history through politically correct eyes. My major fault with the movie is that southerners did not have a distinctive regional drawl, especially Errol Flynn's character, Jeb Stuart. Having your children watch this movie will provide them an insight into a forgotten epic American history while at the same time entertaining them with battles and other action scenes. John Brown may have been right in his core principles but he is a prime example of excessive zeal clashing with established law and order.

Two good films, in good condition........2005-11-14

I don't very often write reviews (although I enjoy reading those of others), but I must just tell anyone wondering which version of "Santa Fe Trail" to buy that the Marengo version (the one that includes "Abilene Town" as a bonus) is excellent. I was not familiar with either of these movies before - I don't know why, as they are both really good movies, and better than many others that I have bought individually and paid more money for. "Santa Fe Trail" is a really unusual, and interesting movie. The combination of Curtiz and Flynn gives it something - a depth, or thoughtfulness, perhaps - that most movies just don't have. It is also, IMHO, a better movie than Errol Flynn's other cavalry outing, "They Died With Their Boots On", so I don't know why the former is in the public domain, as if nobody cares about it, with numerous versions available (some of which don't sound very good), while the latter is presumably still owned and guarded exclusively by Warner Brothers, who have recently brought out a lavish DVD version of it, with various "extras" on it.
As for "Abilene Town", that also is a surprisingly good movie, its plot not unlike that of "Dodge City". On a trivial note: it looks to me as if Gary Cooper's famous, iconic "look" in "High Noon" (reproduced in books and posters so often) was in fact inspired by the outfit that Randolph Scott wears in "Abilene Town".

Rousing but inaccurate adventure movie.......2005-07-06

The title may well lead people to expect a Western and indeed this is how the movie has been packaged ,but I would argue it is nothing of the sort .While the Santa Fe Trail is mentioned and the role of the railroad in opening up the West is touched upon the movie is really about the origins of the Civil War .
Flynn stars as J E B Stuart -arguably the most famous cavalry commnader in the Confederate army .We first meet him as a West Point cadet, along with several other men who became prominent in the military in subsequent years chief among them being Custer (Ronald Reagan ) Phil Sheridan ( David Bruce) and George Pickett( Willam Marshall ) .His nemesis at the Academy is "Rader" played by Van Heflin ,a fervent abolitionist and disciple of the firebrand preacher John Brown .The two get involved in a brawl and Rader is sent down for having abolitionist pamphlets in his locker .Already the Civil war is casting its shadows over the military -;we meet Lee and Davis ,men who were to play a key role in events in the following decade .
Stuart ,Custer and Sheridan are sent to "Bloody Kansas" to keep the peace in the face of John Browns agitation for it to become a free state .They clash early on when they foil a gun running bid by Brown and his followers who now number the embittered and mercenary Rader in their ranks (it is made clear he fights for money ,not belief in the cause) .Further confrontations with Brown arise ,culminating in the bloody affray at Harper's Ferry
There is no shortage of movies dealing with the Civil War but very few have adressed its origins which makes this aspect of tghe movie so disappointing .Perhaps mindful of the need not to damage its potential in the South ,scriptwriter Robert Bruckner has come up with an evasive screenplay which sits on the fence politically .Brown is depicted as a fiery psychopath and an irrational madman whose cause is founded on the need for someone to hate rather than any love of the blacks or sense of moral righness ,while the Heflin character is a vain ,envious opportunist who loves only money and betrays any cause he feels does not value his contribution to it .He is shown as interfering in a system which Stuart claims is reforming itself from within ,and by so doing bringing about an avoidable conflict This is a gross distortion of the facts .Thus ,faced with such moral equivocation ,the best thing to do is enjoy it on an action movie level and here it works well .The action is lively and plentiful and the acting is pretty solid .Flynn is ideally cast as the archetypal military man -one who fights nobly for his cause ,despite his own doubts and de Havilland is excellent as the feisty tomboyish Kit Carson Halliday over whom Custer and Stuart bicker .Raymond Massey is hypnotic if hammy as Brown and there is a solid "best friend of the leading man "turn from Reagan ,whose character is allowed a few tentative pro-Brown remarks
One scene stands out -when Custer ,Sheridan ,Stuart and Pickett consult an Indian seeress they are told they will all be generals but will never again all meet as friend ;they react with uneasy laughter but in the scene we see the gathering clouds of the impending war ,
Muddy monochrome photography from the usually dependable Sal Polito does not help while Max Steiner's score is not his best by a long eway
Enjoy it as a vigorous and robust action picture from the great Michael Curtiz and this is okay but as a serious treatment of the issues it is sunk by its own timorousness and refusal to address reality

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Abilene Town
Starring: Ann Dvorak; Randolph Scott; Edgar Buchanan; Rhonda Fleming; Lloyd Bridges
Director: Edwin L. Marin
Manufacturer: Reel Enterprises
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000PDZRYQ
Release Date: 2007-04-13

Randolph Scott Double Feature, Vol. 1: Abilene Town/Fighting Westerner

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Excellent Critics' Choice Randolph Scott western-double-feature #1 from yesteryear
Very Pleased and pleasantly surprised!.

Randolph Scott Double Feature, Vol. 1: Abilene Town/Fighting Westerner
Starring: Randolph Scott , Charles 'Chic' Sale , Mrs. Leslie Carter , Kathleen Burke , and Ann Sheridan
Director: Charles Barton , and Edwin L. Marin
Manufacturer: Critic's Choice
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000CBEX4G
Release Date: 2006-05-16

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Critics' Choice Randolph Scott western-double-feature #1 from yesteryear.......2007-01-28

The two black and white westerns featured here are both excellent western fare although "Abilene Town" is the main event here and is without doubt the better film, although perfectly viewable it is let down by a less than perfect transfer to DVD (Star rating reduced accordingly). Strangely enough although eleven years older and somewhat dated "The Fighting Westerner" transfer to DVD is excellent! All well worth the low asking price from Amazon.

ABILENE TOWN (1946 - 89 Minutes).
Based on the novel "Trail Town" by Ernest Haycox and well scripted by Harold Shumate with some excellent one-liners - The story is set in Kansas five years after the end of the Civil War. Abilene is the town at the end of the Chisholm Trail and depicts the struggle between cattlemen and homesteaders in between the two is upright town marshal Dan Mitchell (Randolph Scott) who is trying to calm down the homesteaders led by a head-strong Henry Dreiser (Lloyd Bridges) whilst routing out the corrupt cattlemen. Vying for the marshal's attention is dance hall queen Rita (Ann Dvorak) and general store keeper Ed Balder's (Howard Freeman) daughter Sherry (Rhonda Fleming). Jet Younger (Jack Lampart) is wanted for a train robbery and an out-of-town murder; Dan sets off to capture him with county sheriff "Bravo" Trimble (Edgar Buchanan). Later the homesteaders fence off the cattle trail, leading to the cattlemen stampeding the cattle across the homesteaders land resulting in several deaths. Culminating in both sides facing each other across the streets of Abilene.

Directed by Edward L. Marin with some nice Fordian touches like the hymn singing in the church with the 23-year old Rhonda Fleming in fine voice, also the haunting strains of `Glory Glory Hallelujah' at the homesteaders camp. Marin also seemed to have Scott alternately (according to his attire) to look like Gary Cooper or William S. Hart. On its release in January '46, critics of the day reported that "Scott showed his age (47) also he looked tired and in need of a rest" Indeed little or no rest lay ahead for him as over the next 15 years discounting a cameo appearance he made another 40 films 38 of them westerns; half-a-dozen of them minor-masterpieces and culminating in Sam Peckinpah's elegiac RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY (1962).

THE FIGHTING WESTERNER (1935 - 70 Minutes).
Formerly known as "Rocky Mountain Mystery" Based on a Zane Grey story "Golden Dreams" this charming early Randolph Scott contemporary western is, more or less a semi-comic murder mystery set in the West. Mining engineer Larry Sutton (Randolph Scott) teams up with a cantankerous Deputy Sheriff "Tex" Murdock (Charles "Chic" Sale) to solve a series of murders in a Nevadan Radium Mine. James Ballard (George Marion Sr.) has hired Sutton for his mining expertise on arrival at the mine he is fired on by Rita Ballard (Ann Sheridan). From here on in the story moves at a fast pace as Sutton and Co try to solve the Rocky Mountain mystery.

Directed by Charles Barton. Scott is perfectly at home in the title role. The love interest is supplied by 20 year-old former Beauty Queen Ann Sheridan in only her second major role. Charles "Chic" Sale (1885 - 1937) played "Ben Gunn" in the 1934 version of TREASURE ISLAND. Halliwell's Film Guide records: Mrs. Leslie Carter (a rare screen appearance, and just as well to judge from her performance) plays Mrs Borg the housekeeper.

Very Pleased and pleasantly surprised!........2007-01-15

I had never seen these two Randolph Scott westerns before, and boy I was bowled over by Ann Dvorak's dancehall scene. Wow where have I been! Actually wrong generation. I'm sure my grandfather would have known about Ann Dvorak.
Both movies were very interesting in their own way. Abilene Town shows the stress between ranchers and cattleman, and the difficulty presented to Abilene in living with both sides. Rhonda Fleming is beautiful, but looses out to Ann Dovrak in the end. Lloyd Bridges is good as one of the young ranchers. Seems to be a very authentic story, but one very short section of the film has contrast problems.
Rocky Mountain Mystery, based on a Zane Grey story, is typical of the kinds of westerns I remember seeing on Saturday morning television in the fifties. I wonder if it was originally meant to be a serial, because of the way Randy Scott seems to escape from certain death every 20 minutes or so? Very entertaining, and like a lot of these movies the gorgeous outdoors, trees, range, seems to steal the movie from the actors, even when filmed in black & white.

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Rage At Dawn / Abilene Town
Starring: Forrest Tucker; Randolph Scott
Director: Tim Whelan; Edward Marin
Manufacturer: Miracle Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00069UCWQ
Release Date: 2002-02-02

Product Description

Double Feature

Average customer rating:

"Abilene Town (1946) ... Randolph Scott ... United Artists Classic Western"

Abilene Town
Starring: Randolph Scott; Ann Dvorak; Edgar Buchanan
Director: Edward L. Marin
Manufacturer: Miracle Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0002CR7ZW
Release Date: 2005-05-15

Product Description

In the years following the Civil War, the town of Abilene, Kansas is poised on the brink of an explosive confrontation between the homesteaders and the cattlemen. Randolph Scott portrays a genial town marshall who is determined to bring about a peaceful solution and restore calm.

Customer Reviews:

"Abilene Town (1946) ... Randolph Scott ... United Artists Classic Western".......2007-04-01

United Artists presents "ABILENE TOWN" (1946) (89 mins/B&W) (Dolby digitally remastered) --- Starring Randolph Scott, Ann Dorvak, Edgar Buchanan, Rhonda Fleming & Lloyd Bridges --- Directed by Edwin L. Marin and released in January 11, 1946, our story line and film following the Civil War in the town of Abilene, a delicate peace is inadvertantly shattered when a group of homesteaders lay down their stakes on the cattlemen's side of town, upsetting the balance that had existed thus far and sparking an all-out war between the farmers, who want the land tamed and property lines drawn, and the cowboys, who want the prairies to be open for their cattle to roam. Into the mix walks a patient sheriff - guess who! ... from the book "Trail Town" by Ernest Haycox --- From 1945 until 1962 when he retired, Randolph Scott made a series of good adult themed westerns, some of them considered real classics

Under Edwin L. Marin (Director), Jules Levy (Producer), Ernest Haycox (Book Author), Harold Shumate (Screenwriter), Victor Heerman (Cinematographer / Editor), Otho Lovering (Cinematographer / Editor), Louis Clyde Stoumen (Cinematographer), Nathaniel W. Finston (Musical Direction/Supervision), Albert Glasser (Composer (Music Score), Kermit Goell (Songwriter), Fred Spielman (Songwriter), Duncan Cramer (Art Director), Peter Tuesday (Costume Designer), James Barker (Makeup), Sammy Lee (Choreography) - - - - the cast includes Randolph Scott (Dan Mitchell), Helen Boyce (Big Annie), Ann Dvorak (Rita), Edgar Buchanan (Sheriff Bravo Trimble), Rhonda Fleming (Sherry Balder), Dick Curtis (Cap Ryker), Lloyd Bridges (Henry Dreiser), Howard Freeman (Ed Balder), Richard Hale (Charlie Fair), Jack Lambert (Jet Younger), Hank Patterson (Doug Neil), Earl Schenck (Hazelhurst), Eddy Waller (Hannaberry), Walter S. Baldwin (Train Conductor) --- take note some veteran character actors Edgar Buchanan, Hank Patterson and Eddy Waller all familiar to the oaters of Hollywood - - - - Randy Scott had a quiet gentleman nature about him which is not seen in the films of today ... Randy took his job and his responsibility to his audience very seriously, would not settle for anything less than his best ... same was true in his personal life.

SPECIAL FEATURES BIOS:
1. Randolph Scott (aka: George Randolph Scott)
Date of birth: 23 January 1898 - Orange County, Virginia
Date of death: 2 March 1987 - Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California

Special footnote, George Randolph Scott better known as Randolph Scott, was an American film actor whose career spanned the sound era from the late 1920s to the early 1960s ... his popularity grew in the 1940s and 1950s, appearing in such films as "Gung Ho"! (1943) and "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" (1938); but he was especially famous for his numerous Westerns including "Virginia City" (1940) with Errol Flynn and Humphrey Bogart, "Western Union" (1941) with Robert Young and "Ride the High Country" (1962) with Joel McCrea (a coin was flipped to see whether Scott or McCrea would receive top billing, and Scott won despite having a slightly smaller role) ... his long fistfight with John Wayne in "The Spoilers" (1942) was frequently cited by critics and the press as the most thrilling ever filmed; they were fighting over Marlene Dietrich ... another smash hit film together that same year called "Pittsburgh" (1942) once again with Dietrich, Scott and Wayne --- Daniel Webster defines "Legend", as being a notable person, or the stories told about that person exploits --- well by the time Randolph Scott made his best films he had long established himself as a legend in the film industry --- they say practice makes perfect, if that is true by 1958 at 60 years of age he was the master with these oaters from the 50s ... "The Cariboo Trail" (1950), "The Nevadan" (1950), "Colt .45" (1950), "Santa Fe" (1951), "Sugarfoot" (1951), "Fort Worth" (1951), "Man in the Saddle" (1951), "Carson City" (1952), "The Man Behind the Gun" (1952), "Hangman's Knot" (1952), "Thunder over the Plains" (1953), "The Stranger Wore a Gun" (1953), "Ten Wanted Men" (1954), "Riding Shotgun" (1954), "The Bounty Hunter" (1954), "Rage at Dawn" (1955), "Tall Man Riding" (1955), "A Lawless Street" (1955), "Seven Men from Now" (1956), "Seventh Cavalry" (1956), "Decision at Sundown: (1957), "Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend" (1957), "The Tall T" (1957), "Buchanan Rides Alone" (1958), "Ride Lonesome" (1959), "Westbound" (1959), "Comanche Station" (1960) --- Scott's age seemed to matter little, they only came to see another Randolph Scott film and always got their money's worth --- Scott's films were good and getting better becoming classics --- so if you ever wonder "What Ever Happened To Randolph Scott", just rent or purchase one of his films and you'll see he's never left us.

2. Lloyd Bridges
Date of Birth: 15 January 1913 - San Leandro, California
Date of Death: 10 March 1998 - Los Angeles, California

3. Ann Dvorak (aka: Anna McKim)
Date of Birth: 2 August 1912 - New York, New York
Date of Death: 10 December 1979 - Honolulu, Hawaii

4. Edgar Buchanan
Date of Birth: 20 March 1903 - Humansville, Missouri
Date of Death: 4 April 1979 - Palm Desert, California

5. Edwin L. Marin (Director)
Date of Birth: 21 February 1899 - Jersey City, New Jersey
Date of Death: 2 May 1951 - Los Angeles, California

Hats off and thanks to Les Adams (collector/guideslines for character identification), Chuck Anderson (Webmaster: The Old Corral/B-Westerns.Com), Boyd Magers (Western Clippings), Bobby J. Copeland (author of "Trail Talk"), Rhonda Lemons (Empire Publishing Inc), Bob Nareau (author of "The Real Bob Steele") and Trevor Scott (Down Under Com) as they have rekindled my interest once again for Film Noir, B-Westerns and Serials --- looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '20s, '30s & '40s and B-Westerns ... order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on VHS, stay tuned once again for top notch action mixed with deadly adventure --- if you enjoyed this title, why not check out VCI Entertainment where they are experts in releasing B-Westerns and Serials --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 89 min on DVD ~ Miracle Pictures ~ (5/15/2005)

Tales From the Old West Collection: Abilene Town/Under California Stars/Angel and the Badman

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Tales From the Old West Collection: Abilene Town/Under California Stars/Angel and the Badman
Starring: Great Collections
Manufacturer: Madacy Records
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002IQL7Q
Release Date: 2004-08-10

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Abilene Town
The tame always win
From cattle chaos to homesteading order
Cattlemen vs homesteaders vs law

Abilene Town
Starring: Randolph Scott , Ann Dvorak , Edgar Buchanan , Rhonda Fleming , and Lloyd Bridges
Director: Edwin L. Marin
Manufacturer: St Clair Vision
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0001GH7BS
Release Date: 2004-02-17

Amazon.com

Stiff-as-a-board town marshal Randolph Scott, with his laconic drawl and smiling as if at some personal joke, is the moral authority of an end-of-the-trail frontier town in this surprisingly intriguing 1946 Western. The community is literally split down the middle--shops and churches line one side of main street, saloons and taverns the other--and Abilene's citizens tolerate the rowdy, rough-and-tumble antics of trail hands and rambunctious cowboys as long as they remain on their side of the street. Lloyd Bridges plays the leader of a flock of newly arrived settlers who inadvertently tip the uneasy balance when they string up the open range and draw the fire of the cattlemen, who bring their reign of terror into the town. Edwin L. Marin's professional (if pedestrian) direction keeps the film plugging along, but the smart script, an ingeniously mercenary climactic battle plan, and a defiantly righteous performance from Bridges give the film bite. Hellfire in heels dance-hall girl Ann Dvorak's love-hate relationship with Scott provides comic sparks and a potent challenge to his chaste courting of shop girl Rhonda Fleming. Edgar Buchanan is suitably dry as a cowardly, card-playing county sheriff who knows the value of a voting constituency. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Abilene Town.......2006-07-03

If you like westerns and especially if you like Randolf Scott you will enjoy Abilene Town. Being in B&W makes it like a documnetary on the growth of our nation. Yet this movie does have action and lessons to be learned without all of the blood and guts that the current movies like to show; and yes it does have a happy ending. This is a movie you can watch with your kids to give them an opportunity to see how the west was won.

The tame always win.......2004-10-25

Smart and briskly told, ABILENE TOWN is an above-average homesteader vs. cattle rancher movie. Randolph Scott stars as the town marshal of Abilene who finds himself in the middle of a land war. Short of only John Wayne, Scott is the man for the task. The movie opens with Scott in church, singing hymns with the angelic Rhonda Fleming. The pious music is interrupted by the sound of gunfire. The cattle drovers are in town, shooting up the honey pots.
Check that - they're shooting up-wards in the saloons, more in emphatic syncopation with song and dance girl Ann Dvorak's act that in meanness. The wranglers and ramrods are saving that meanness for act two, when the hymn singing, sodbusting homesteaders arrive and begin planting houses and barb-wiring up the northern terminus of the Abilene Trail. That levels out their aim some.
ABILENE TOWN is about the tension of opposites, with Randolph Scott smack in the middle. His character is a failed rancher who sympathizes with the "decent life" desiring homesteaders. He has to chose between Good Girl Rhonda Fleming and Bad Girl (with a heart of gold) Ann Dvorak. The movie also pits the merchants against the saloons, cattle against wheat, the pious against the profane. It's a contest between a restoration of the status quo and the establishment of a new order.
With its strong story, straight-ahead direction, and solid cast, ABILENE TOWN is a treat. Scott is well within his competent comfort zone as the man with the badge, Edgar Buchanan and Ann Dvorak leaven things with amusing diversions, and a young Lloyd Bridge is effective as the firebrand leader of the sodbusters. Hired thug Chet Younger, played by the underrated Jack Lambert, burns enough barns and shoots enough defenseless women and children to keep our sympathies from straying over to the wrong side of the fence. The transfer print on the review copy was faded out some, which tends to flatten out the picture. Nothing major. Otherwise it's in good shape, a real bargain considering its deeply discounted price.
ABILENE TOWN is a classic western that will delight fans of the genre and quite possibly hold the attention of non-converts as well.

From cattle chaos to homesteading order.......2002-06-13

This film is interesting because it shows how a city that was built and that prospered thanks to the driving of cattle from the SouthWest to the Middle West becomes a farming town. The fight between the drovers and the homesteaders is very well depicted, with its killings when the drovers deem it necessary to impose their domination. But the city is cut in two. On one side of the street the saloons. On the other side of the street the shops. The change comes when the homesteaders cut the trail with their barbed wire and when the shopkeepers understand that there is more money on the homesteaders' side than on the drovers'. The drovers push their last pawns, with the support at first of the saloonkeepers. But it means killing some homesteaders and the local marshall opposes it and imposes law and order. The drovers are driven out of the city. The city becomes a farming city and Kansas moves from a state that is crossed by herds of cattle to a farming state. This is possible, though never really said, because the railroads make it feasible to transport the cattle from Texas to Illinois without having to cross any farmland any more. But this future is made a reality because of the alliance of the shopkeepers with the homesteaders. We thus are shown history in its making.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Cattlemen vs homesteaders vs law.......2001-03-28

In this opus,town marshall(Randolph Scott)his his hands full keeping trail hands,at the end of a drive from treeing his town. Added to this is an enept sheriff(Edgar Bucannan),a hot headed farmer (Lloyd Bridges)and the town's saloon keepers -who will do anything to make a fast buck

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The Fighting Westerner/Abiline Town
Starring: Fighting Westerner , and Abilene Town
Manufacturer: Direct Source Label
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000KGH002
Release Date: 2006-12-26

The Randolph Scott Collection: Rage at Dawn/Abilene Town/Captain Kidd/Gung Ho

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The Randolph Scott Collection: Rage at Dawn/Abilene Town/Captain Kidd/Gung Ho

ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000GTNLPQ

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Abilene Town

Manufacturer: Synergy Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000QRIL9E
Release Date: 2007-05-14

amazon.com

In the years following the Civil War, the town of Abilene, Kansas is poised on the brink of an explosive confrontation. A line has been drawn down the center of the town where the homesteaders and the cattlemen have come to a very uneasy truce. The delicate peace is inadvertantly shattered when a group of new homesteaders lay down their stakes on the cattlemen's side of town, upsetting the delicate balance that had existed thus far and sparking an all-out war between the farmers, who want the land tamed and property lines drawn, and the cowboys, who want the prairies to be open for their cattle to roam.

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