Colorado Territory Backdrop Blur
Colorado Territory Poster

Colorado Territory

"A mighty, memorable new adventure hurtling out of the heroic vastness of Colorado Territory."

After escaping from jail, outlaw Wes McQueen is convinced by his old partner in crime to do one last heist.

Top Cast

  • Joel McCrea

    Joel McCrea

    Wes McQueen

  • Virginia Mayo

    Virginia Mayo

    Colorado Carson

  • Dorothy Malone

    Dorothy Malone

    Julie Ann Winslow

  • Henry Hull

    Henry Hull

    Fred Winslow

  • John Archer

    John Archer

    Reno Blake

  • James Mitchell

    James Mitchell

    Duke Harris

  • Morris Ankrum

    Morris Ankrum

    United States Marshal

  • Basil Ruysdael

    Basil Ruysdael

    Dave Rickard ('The Old Man')

  • Frank Puglia

    Frank Puglia

    Brother Tomas

Overview

After escaping from jail, outlaw Wes McQueen is convinced by his old partner in crime to do one last heist.

Rating

6.9 / 10
77 Reviews
1 Popular

1 Reviews

  • John Chard
    John Chard
    9 Jul 12, 2015

    Territorial Doom. Colorado Territory is directed by Raoul Walsh and adapted to screenplay by Edmund H. North and John Twist from the novel "High Sierra" written by W.R. Burnett. It stars Joel McCrea, Virginia Mayo, Dorothy Malone and Henry Hull. Music is by David Buttolph and cinematography by Sidney Hickox. Raoul Walsh remakes his own High Sierra from 1941 but supplants it into a Western genre setting - with tremendous results. McCrea plays outlaw Wes McQueen who springs from prison and vows to go straight, but with a price on his head he is coerced into one last railroad robbery. If he can escape the law then he can make a go of it as a new man, with a new name, and comforted by a new found love of a good woman, Colorado Carson (Mayo). Can he escape the law and those who would sell him out for money? A remake of a classic film noir, Colorado Territory is itself classic film noir. Whilst not reaching the dizzying star heights of Bogart's 41 version, this is a film of great strengths. Thematically it's noir gold dust, the great Walsh not pandering to anyone and ensuring the dark edges of Burnett's novel play out on screen - including the shattering finale. The photography is grade "A", both in chiaroscuro textures and sumptuous location framings. Cast can't be faulted either, McCrea a genuine horseman is firmly at home in a Western setting, Mayo and Malone positively light and sex up the screen, while classy performer Hull lends weighty support. High end Western staples are adhered to, with robbery actions, fights, stunts, villainous betrayals and back stabbers, these marry up to the noirish cement of a man unable to escape his fate, his past weighing heavy on his shoulders, all ensuring there's constantly a doom laden feel permeating the story. Rarely mentioned when talk turns to film noir Westerns, but it should be since it's one of the best. 9/10

Recommendations

Will Penny

Will Penny, an aging cowpoke, takes a job on a ranch which requires him to ride the line of the property looking for trespassers or, worse, squatters. He finds that his cabin in the high mountains has been appropriated by a woman whose guide to Oregon has deserted her and her son. Too ashamed to kick mother and child out just as the bitter winter of the mountains sets in, he agrees to share the cabin until the spring thaw. But it isn't just the snow that slowly thaws; the lonely man and woman soon forget their mutual hostility and start developing a deep love for one another.

Will Penny

6.7 1967