A tight script, decent dialogue, and good supporting cast, separate this one from the routine shoot 'em ups. Sort of a "buddy movie" with Cameron, the lawman and Tucker the outlaw, forced to set aside differences to avoid a sioux massacre. Fix, as one of the bad guys, delivers cynical wit throughout. They just don't make 'em like this anymore.
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bsmith555210 February 2014"The Plunderers" of the title is a gang of outlaws headed up by Whit Lacey (Forrest Tucker) who are committing robberies. Apparently, the gang is receiving inside information from within the town to help them set up their capers.
Army Major John Drum (Rod Cameron)and Sheriff Sam Borden (George Cleveland) set up a plan where Drum will hopefully infiltrate the gang and thus lead to their eventual capture. Drum becomes friendly with Lacey to the point of "marrying" his girl friend Julie Ann (Adrian Booth) to aid in Lacey and Julie Ann's eventual escape. Drum while playing along with the masquerade, becomes smitten with saloon singer Lin Connor (Ilona Massey).
Following Lacey's capture, he is taken to the army fort to be hanged. But just as justice is about to be served, an Indian attack occurs.
Republic Pictures was noted as a major producer of westerns. This was one of their better ones shot in Trucolor and with an apparent higher budget than usual. The story is filled with a few little surprises to keep the viewer's interest. The Indian attack is one of the better staged such attacks making use of the studio's crack team of stunt men.
As for the cast, Ilona Massey with her thick European accent is totally out of place here. It seems studio head Herbert J. Yates had a thing for European actresses. He would later marry a similarly accented Vera Hruba Ralston. Rod Cameron makes a fine upstanding hero, Forrest Tucker has you rooting for him as Lacey, Grant Withers plays against type as the dumb Deputy. Paul Fix is Tucker's henchman Calico, Francis (brother of John) Ford plays storekeeper Barnaby and Taylor Holmes upstanding citizen Martin.
Other familiar faces (to "B" western fans) appearing are Hank Bell, Wheaton Chambers, Bud Osborne, Franklyn Farnum, John Hart, Clayton Moore (both of whom played The Lone Ranger) and 30s star Rex Lease.
Not to be confused with the 1960 film of the same name. -
AAdaSC3 June 2018It's a Western set in the 1870s that sees stranger-in-town Rod Cameron (John) buy a coconut from a shop and meet Lorna Gray (Julie Ann) and Ilona Massey (Lin). Sheriff George Cleveland (Sam) comes into the shop after hearing a gunshot. Cameron has shot into the coconut to get the milk and share it with the girls. He's a smooth operator. However, the sheriff recognizes Cameron as a wanted man and Cameron is forced to escape town. Whilst on the run, he bumps into fellow outlaw Forrest Tucker (Whit). Things aren't what they seem...
It's an entertaining Western with a good cast and a buddy-buddy feel to it as we follow Cameron and Tucker Throw in some Indians at the climax and this film covers all bases. It has plenty of action, there is tension, the lead characters are appealing and you root for the bad guys. Well, I did. It's a shame that Massey gets 2 rubbish songs to sing. I like my Western saloon girl songs to be uptempo with a catchy tune. Not here, unfortunately.
I can't wait to go to my local shop, ask for a coconut and try out my latest way of getting into the damn thing. I might buy some arms as well whilst I'm there and sell them to the enemy. Everyone seems to be up to those tricks in Westerns. And in real life, just check out what our Governments are STILL doing! -
bkoganbing9 November 2015The Plunderers has Rod Cameron on detached duty pretending to be an outlaw. His mission is to get outlaw Forrest Tucker who's been causing such mayhem in the territory that the army has an interest in his capture, conviction, and execution.
To establish his credentials with Tucker, a fake killing of sheriff George Cleveland is carried out and that does put him in solid with Tucker. It also puts him in solid with Tucker's girlfriend Lorna Gray and her companion Ilona Massey. By the way Massey looks completely lost in a western. Maybe Herbert J. Yates had Vera Hruba Ralston shooting another picture at Republic.
There's a nicely staged Sioux attack as a climax where both Cameron and Tucker find out who's been selling rifles to the Sioux. Selling weaponry to the Indians is a cardinal sin in all western films.
Yates put a bit more budget into this western than normal, possibly thinking that Cameron, Tucker or both might be a breakout star from the B westerns. Of course that never happened as it did with John Wayne. It should have had a better story with better drawn characters. Paul Fix for instance when we first meet him is a back shooting rat. For no apparent reason he becomes downright noble in the end.
Not the best western Yates ever turned out of his horse opera factory. -
gtroup9 December 2020I watched a hi-def copy of this recently that looked quite good, although the Trucolor process gave it a very bluish look with muted reds and greens. There is a good balance of outdoor scenery with some soundstage work. It certainly doesn't lack for action but the plot doesn't make a lot of sense and just seems to be written to cram in a number of familiar western tropes such as a lynching, Indian attacks, sympathetic outlaw, cavalry rescue, and even the upstanding citizen colluding with the bad guys. For a B western it must have had a decent budget with fair number of actors, extras and various sets. The acting is adequate with a couple of notable western actors in Forrest Tucker and Rod Cameron but no real believable chemistry in the two romantic relationships and the outlaws aren't especially menacing as you'd expect. All in all, it passes the time but isn't particularly memorable.
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coltras3521 March 2021I always found Rod Cameron a solid actor, and it was a shame he didn't star in bigger scaled B-westerns a la Randolph Scott throughout the 50's. He was an archetypical cowboy, tall and deadly, but with a twinkle in his eye. And this appeal is showcased in the Plunderers, an energetic film where he plays an undercover agent who befriends Forrest Tucker so he could capture Tucker and his gang of robbers pilfering from wagons. It's great entertainment, irrespective of the year it was made, and it's a buddy western punctuated with some romance, quick-witted dialogue, great saloon songs, and well-staged action scenes. It was good for 1948, and it's good for now.
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searchanddestroy-17 November 2022At a lesser scale than DARK COMMAND, which I commented a few minutes ago. Not the same actors either, but at least this is an outdoor western, unlike so many other westerns from this company. Anyway, it is action packed, pense, rough, very entertaining. However don't expect any surprise on the story. Jo Kane was a western maker who worked entirely for Republic during his entire career, he knew his job, and was familiar with Rod Cameron and Forrest Tucker; they will work together several more times for Republic. But here, you can not avoid cabaret sequences, a trademark of westerns at Republic, but there are not too long, as it was for JUBILEE TRAIL, with river boats and cabaret scenes, too many for a western, if my memory is faithful. So, enjoy this western. One more thing, as in many Republic westerns, if you removed riding sequences, scenes where you watch cow boys on their horses thru sierras, plains, mesas, desert, valleys, if you removed those long scenes, you will remove one third of the film. This was a trick used by many film makers for western, to fill up the feature length. Ha ha ha.
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Watched this movie last night for the first time, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. As one reviewer said, they sure don't make them like this anymore.
The pace was good......the romances were given just the right amount of screen time (I'm a softie that way), along with the fisticuffs.
I only have one nagging feeling about this film: the title it was given. Okay, I understand (I guess) that "The Plunderers" could be considered the white bad guys in cahoots with the Indian bad guys to wreak some havoc; but, for me, the title seems to not hit the mark of this film. It seems to me that there was not really the "feeling" of plundering being the main attraction here. As other reviewers point out, it's the friendly relationship between the good man lead and the bad man lead characters that is the thrust of this story. And that is something that sets this film apart from other standard westerns.
As if the plundering were just a side event.
Wish they could have come up with something more meaty for a title.