The Bull of the West (1972)

Television Western about confrontation between cattlemen . As cattlemen and some homesteaders battle for land in the open spaces of the Wild West when some put barb-wires over countrysides . Rowdy cowboys and all types of frontier riff-raff and the place became notorious for its lawlessness . At the beginning a wandering Texan named Johnny Wade (Brian Keith) is traveling on a train and adopts a drifter youngster (Gary Clarke) from the East . As serious and smooth-talking gunfighter adopts him and teaches to shoot and defense . Experimented Wade trains his new disciple and both men look for work and fortune , being hired by Landlady Georgia Price (Geraldine Brooks). Meanwhile , a two-fisted but poor owner called Ben Justin (Charles Bronson) married to Mary (Lois Nettleton) attempts to progress surrounded by land barons ; furthermore he has hard problems with his son . Ben Justin carries out his dream: the introduction of Hereford cattle into the American West . Ben enlists Gilly (Vito Scotty) in their efforts to transport their lone bull, a Hereford , a "rare breed" of cattle, to breed , but the trail is fraught with danger . Of course , there appears the Virginian (James Drury) , Shilo judge (Lee J. Cobb) and brief appearance by the intimate Trampas (Doug McClure) attempting to resolve troubles , as usual .

The picture gets action Western , shootouts , stampede , a familiar drama and is entertaining but lousily realized . It is two episodes of the TV series "The Virginian" lousily edited together : "Duel at Shiloh" (2 Jan. 1963) and "Nobility of Kings" (10 Nov. 1965). It's a medium budget film with good actors , technicians, production values and mediocre results . There are two separated stories , the first dealing with an experimented cowboy played by Brian Keith and his disciple and the second about a tough father with dark past played by Charles Bronson who attempts to rebuild his ranch . Most of the fun in this one is picking out the locations and identifying stock performers , as there appears several secondaries such as Ben Johnson as Spinner , DeForest Kelley as Ben Tully , George Kennedy as 'Bear'Suchette , Doug McClure as Trampas . Two episodes are respectively directed by Paul Stanley and Jerry Hooper . Stanley directed a lot of TV chapters such as Mission impossible , Jim West , Time tunnel , Lost in space , Combat , Peter Gunn . Jerry Hooper also filmed a great quantity of television episodes such as Voyage to the bottom of the sea , The fugitive , Perry Mason , Shenandoah , Adams family , Caravan , Gunsmoke and occasionally for cinema as : Hurricane Smith , Alaska seas , Naked alibi ; in addition : The Private War of Major Benson , Secret of the Incas and Pony Express , all of them starred by Charlton Heston .