The Rage (1997)

Southern Hoosier "pioneers"
I had a special, selfish reason for enjoying this vintage western: The action all takes place within 25-50 miles of my hometown of Madison, IN. When I began watching the movie I thought it was just another western -- until I heard the names "North Vernon" and "Seymour" mentioned. What a shock!
This was one of Randolph Scott's last few movies -- he was 57 by this time, rather long in the tooth to be playing Mala Powers' love interest. But he managed. After all, when you're tall, have kept yourself in pretty good shape, and still have all your hair, with a distinguished gray cast, you can get away with that.
The film moves along briskly -- slightly under 90 minutes in length -- and is based pretty closely on the true story of the Reno brothers, Hoosiers who pulled what is considered the first peacetime train robbery in world history on Oct. 6, 1866, near their hometown of Seymour. The train caper was just one of many done by the four brothers and their gang. They really did rob several county treasurer's offices -- some as far away as Iowa -- as depicted in the movie. And several of them really did meet the grisly end shown here, at the hands of an organized band of vigilantes who decided that Seymour and Jackson County in southern Indiana had seen enough of the Reno boys and that the law would do nothing about their career of crime.
A special added fillip to this movie is that one of the stars, Forrest Tucker, was a native Hoosier in real life.
The Reno brothers weren't Hoosiers to be proud of, and their "first" wasn't one to be bragged about by their descendants. But I'm just state-proud enough to say I'm glad they made this movie, and glad that it was so faithful to the true story of the Renos.

Movie = 2.5 stars, Video Transfer = 1.5 stars
This review is for the Roan DVD. The movie is an okay western, nothing special, but it has some good moments, particularly those involving the corrupt officials of the town. The transfer, unfortunately, is bad. The color is uneven, the contrast is a mess, and the sharpness and clarity leave a lot to be desired. So I do NOT recommend the Roan version of this film.

"Rage at Dawn (1955) ... Randolph Scott ... RKO Pictures Classic Westerns"
RKO Pictures presents "RAGE AT DAWN" (1955) (87 mins/Color) (Dolby digitally remastered) --- Starring Randolph Scott, Forrest Tucker, Mala Powers, J. Carrol Naish & Edgar Buchanan --- Directed by Tim Whelan and released in March 26, 1955, our story line and film, Terrorizing 1866 Indiana, the Reno brothers use the town of Seymour as a safe haven, paying off three crooked town officials. Sent in to clean up the gang is Peterson Detective Agency operative James Barlow, who poses as an outlaw to gain the confidence of the officials and the Renos ... Complicating matters are Barlow's feelings for the Reno sister, Laura, who reluctantly keeps house for the boys out of family loyalty, events heat up and rage surfaces as Barlow sets up the gang in a dawn train robbery --- from the book "Seven Bad Men" by author Frank Gruber --- Scott's presence carried many a mediocre western and, with interesting actors supporting him like Forrest Tucker, J. Carrol Naish, Denver Plye and Edgar Buchanan it's a winner --- The film is shot in California State parks as is reflected on the coloristic cinematography by the cameraman Ray Rennahan, with storyline by Horace McCoy and Frank Gruber, two wonderful screenwriters ... the film is splendidly directed by Tim Whelan --- this will satisfy western lovers and Randolph Scott fans alike.

Under Tim Whelan (Director), Nat Holt (Producer), Frank Gruber (Short Story Author), Horace McCoy (Screenwriter), Ray Rennahan (Cinematographer), Paul Sawtell (Musical Direction/Supervision / Composer (Music Score), Harry Marker (Editor), Walter E. Keller (Art Director) - - - - the cast includes Randolph Scott (James Barlow), Forrest Tucker (Frank Reno), Mala Powers (Laura Reno), J. Carrol Naish (Sim Reno), Denver Pyle (Clint Reno), Myron Healey (John Reno), Edgar Buchanan (Judge Hawkins), Ray Teal (Constable Brant), William Forrest (Amos Peterson), Trevor Bardette (Fisher), Kenneth Tobey (Monk Claxton), Chubby Johnson (Hyronemus), Richard Garland (Bill Reno), Howard Petrie (Lattimore) - - - - 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 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. Forrest Tucker
Date of Birth: 12 February 1919 - Plainfield, Indiana
Date of Death: 25 October 1986 - Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

3. Mala Powers
Date of Birth: 20 December 1931, San Francisco, California
Date of death: Still Living

4. J. Carrol Naish
Date of Birth: 21 January 1897 - New York, New York
Date of Death: 24 January 1973 - La Jolla, California

5. Myron Healey
Date of Birth: 8 June 1923 - Petaluma, California
Date of Death: 21 December 2005 - Burbank, California

6. Denver Pyle
Date of Birth: 11 May 1920 - Bethune, Colorado
Date of Death: 25 December 1997 - Burbank, California

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

8. Tim Whelan (Director)
Date of Birth: 2 November 1893 - Cannelton, Indiana
Date of Death: 12 August 1957 - Beverly Hills, 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: 87 min on DVD ~ Roan Home Video ~ (10/26/99)