Cast a Long Shadow (1959) User Reviews (10)

Audie The Bastard: Red River In Reverse

[FightingWesterner · 7/10 · 26 May 2014]

Drifter Audie Murphy inherits a massive ranch from the man long-rumored to be his real father and returns home to sell it to a worker's collective, most of which resent him for being the boss's son and look down on him for being illegitimate and the son of a loose woman.

Though critically panned, this isn't nearly as bad as some say. it's actually an interesting study of both social and personal psychology, with Murphy changing his mind and pushing back hard against the patronizing cowboys in a do-or-die cattle drive, where he (the son) becomes an inverted, mini-version of John Wayne in Red River.

As entertaining as it is, it could have used a healthier budget and a more polished script. Also, the ending was annoyingly abrupt as well and main villain James Best (the best of the underrated heavies) should have been given more to do.

Though this was pretty much forgotten, producer Walter Murch struck gold the following year with The Magnificent Seven.

What's in a name?

[hitchcockthelegend · 6/10 · 12 August 2014]

Cast a Long Shadow is directed by Thomas Carr and adapted to screenplay by Martin M. Goldsmith and John McGreevey from the novel written by Wayne D. Overholser. It stars Audie Murphy, Terry Moore, John Dehner, James Best, Denver Pyle and Ann Doran. Music is by Gerald Fried and cinematography by Wilfred Cline.

Filmed in black and white and produced out of the company Murphy formed with Walter Mirisch, Cast a Long Shadow is a tired Oater on narrative terms. The look and feel is fine and the performances are more than up to scratch, but there's a thematic drive missing from the writing, a missed opportunity to really pump some psychologically distorted blood into its veins.

Murphy is a tough drinking loose cannon type who inherits a ranch and renounces his past and plans to marry his sweetheart. But the ranch is wanted by the townsfolk as a means of productivity salvation and it transpires it's in a whole bunch of debt - with the bank vultures circling. So Audie takes control of a crucial cattle drive and proves to be a very hard task master, so much so he just may kill off any hope of saving the ranch in the process.

In the background is the hovering question of Murphy's illegitimacy, something which bothers him so, and with him trying to go straight and sober - but in the process alienating everyone around him, the meat is there for a tasty stew. Sadly it's only averagely unfurled and culmination of story leaves loose ends dangling. Still, it's never dull, music and photography are in sync with the play, and Murphy fans get good value for their time. 6/10

RED RIVER AS AUDIE WOULD'VE DONE IT...!

[masonfisk · 7/10 · 31 December 2020]

An Audie Murphy Western from 1959. Murphy is drunk, playing cards in a saloon when a man, played by John Dehner, comes a-calling. It turns out Murphy's father has passed & left his ranch to him but Murphy left home a while ago on the outs w/his father so Dehner proposes to purchase the estate from him (he's cobbled together a collection from all the other ranch hands), all Murphy has to do is come back, sign over the deed & go his merry way but once he's among the people he left behind, specifically the girl, now a young woman, who jilted him at the altar, all his past transgressions melt away emboldening him to propose marriage, which she accepts. The fearlessness continues when he announces he's not going to sell & herd 3000 head of cattle to New Mexico (to pay off the debt his father had saddled the farm with). At first his workers/investors aren't too pleased but his determination to get the job done does impress even though there are those among them who would be willing to bump him off if a stampede could happen at the right time. Offbeat to be sure, Murphy rises to the challenge in a role not unlike John Wayne's in Red River (where a megalomaniac pushes his men to their limits) but Dehner is his equal as an old herder who's too stubborn to admit his past regrets must now swallow his pride for the good of the ranch. Also starring a couple of Dukes of Hazzard vets, Denver Pyle & James Best, as Murphy's reluctant workmen.

One of most unknown movie of Audie Murphy !!

[elo-equipamentos · 7/10 · 16 July 2019]

Maybe the most unknown picture that Audie Murphy offerings to us, a bad temper guy wanderer which is running from is rough father, his name is Matt, until be found by the loyal foreman (Dehner) that his father already has dead and surprisingly he left to him the big farm, the young drunkard don't want to be rancher again, The foreman has a fair proposition, many employers has 20.000 dollars to offer to all lands, Matt accept at once, but has to go back to sign the papers, there he was seen with sneering by so many people, just a useless booze, in such atmosphere he refused to sell their lands anymore, meanwhile his father left a bank's debit a large sum of money that must to pay in few days, the answer will be sell all cattle at Santa Fé, Matt becomes in few days likes his father, cruel, bossy and has no feelings concerning those employers, who work so hard for countless years, this picture has an contradiction, the sudden changing in just few days of a man, sounds weird in such behavior, the major fact will be reveal in the cattle's journey, a minor picture of Murphy, but still interesting due such greatness of this charismatic cowboy, pay attention on John Dehner, he was a key of the all things!!

Resume:

First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7

Audrey is never bad

[bornagain710-331-212635 · 7/10 · 17 August 2019]

Not his best but not his worst. He will always be one of my Western Heroes

The left side of the blanket

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 17 May 2017]

Back in those days of the 19th century the polite phrase in describing Audie Murphy's illegitimate birth was to say he was born on the left side of the blanket. I think this story came from the left side of the blanket.

Cast A Long Shadow has Murphy as the illegitimate son of the owner of the local Ponderosa who lives a wastrel life. As the film opens the foreman of said Ponderosa John Dehner pulls a drunk Murphy out of the saloon and tells him his father died and as he had no other family the whole thing is left to him.

Dehner was hoping it be left to him, but since it wasn't and Murphy just wants to keep on with his wastrel life, Dehner has built up a syndicate of sorts from the locals to purchase the place and keep Murphy in booze for a very long time.

What happens afterward, the way Murphy is treated by the townspeople no matter how their 19th century blue noses felt for a man who was to be their benefactor is just ridiculous. Only Terry Moore who Murphy once courted treats him well.

All Dehner's and the rest's plans go up in smoke for the unbridled contempt they hold him in and for another little joker in the deck that gets sprung on everyone. How it all is resolved is for you to see Cast A Long Shadow.

Try as I may I really could not accept people acting against their own rational self interest the way these people do when it comes to Murphy. Cast A Long Shadow will not be rated as one of Audie's better westerns.

Typical 50's western!

[jeanbarb · 3/10 · 26 March 2007]

Murphy was a hero in World War 2, being the most decorated soldier of the war, but as an actor he left much to be desired. Black and white should have gone the way of the arc projector lamp by the 1950's! The film does have a good cast of character actors doing they're best to pull this film out of it doldrums. Ms. Moore seems out of place in this film, lacking her usual sensuality. John Dehner is his usual best as the stern character of the film, outdoing Murphy who's supposed to be the lead. James Best is in his heyday period and shows good acting. One wonders if Murphy being a co-producer has any bearing on the quality of this flick? I would recommend it to people who like typical westerns of the B class.

AUDIE MURPHY DESCENDING FROM A DECADE OF STAR-POWER & SOME FINE WESTERNS

[LeonLouisRicci · 8/10 · 11 August 2021]

At this Point in His Career Audie Murphy began to Show Personal Problems and Uneasiness with Films and Productions Available.

The Off-Screen Personal Problems, such as Gambling Debts and a Disgruntled Attitude Started to Manifest On-Set and On-Screen.

In this "Red River" (1948) Retread He seems Miscast as a Bully.

The Movie even Cribbed Scenes from the Aforementioned Cattle-Drive and Murph Thought the Script was Sub-Par.

Filmed in B&W, another Irritation that Didn't Sit Well.

Co-Star Terry Moore Encouraged Him to "Bite the Bullet" and Give it His All when Murph didn't even want to Rehearse.

That Helped a Little, but His Performance came Across as Below His Usual Standard.

John Dehner does a Good Job and the Rest of the Cast are OK.

But Thomas Carr's Lackluster Direction Didn't Help the Movie to Rise Above Average.

Overall, it's Not a Bad Movie, but Audie Murphy Fans may be Disappointed.

The 60's were Not Kind to the Former Super-Star and this one could be Seen as the Start of the Decline.

The Western Movie was also Suffering from Over-Exposure on the Big and Small Screen and would Soon be Out of Favor.

The End of the Decade Long Run was around 1962.

But After All this Being Said, its Still...

Worth a Watch.

Among the less interesting from Audie Murphy

[searchanddestroy-1 · 26 March 2023]

I won't say the worst, because this is not that junk, garbage film, but it is easily forgettable, run of the mill western. It is outrageous to compare it with NO NAME ON THE BULLET, also with Audie Murphy, for instance. Only John Dehner, more than Murphy, brings some thing in this tepid film. It is only a bit touching because of the atmosphere and little music. I hardly watched it till the end of those eighty minutes. Yes, if you want to find something nearly worth the watch, search in the smooth, I would say oater, side of this film directed by a western maker. Don't lose you time with this one if you want to discover Audie Murphy in a good role.

For the short runnning time resulting to the abrupt ending, the producers must have ran out money

[jordondave-28085 · 4/10 · 10 July 2023]

(1959) Cast A Long Shadow WESTERN

Low budget equivalent of "Red River" with Audie Murphy taking the John Wayne role and John Dehner taking the role of Montgomery Clift. It has uncle Chip Donohue (John Dehner) finding Matt Brown (Audie Murphy) in a bar getting drunk and getting into trouble until he intervened. And the purpose for Chip to finding him was to inform Matt that his dad had passed away leaving the ranch/ cattle property to him. And upon his arrival he meets former clients of Matt's dad, including the lady who runs the bar, Hortensia (Rita Lynn) and his former love interest Janet Calvert (Terry Moore). And just when he was about to sell as Matt never got along with his dad, he begins to witness scrupulous people with no good intentions how the property was going to be run. As he clashes with a nefarious guy named Mullen (Sam Best). And it was at this point, Matt decides not to sell the ranch and run it the way he'd wanted to. With a guy name Hugh Rigdon (Robert Foulk) the first to get fired from his cattle drive for disobeying his rule about drinking.

I was involved until it got toward the end when the guy Matt had fired by the name of Hugh Rigdon saved his life when Mullen attempted to shoot him, and was killed as a result despite him having a wife and kids. The fact that there was no kind of acknowledgement or an appreciation by helping Hugh's family financially by putting some money to his wife and kids for saving Matt's life, gives this movie a rather sour note.