The Command

Time to take a trip in the way back machine to a simpler time, a better time, my childhood. Before TBS turned into a zombie channel that shows Family Guy and The Office exclusively, it was a channel that showed older movies, and pleasantly enough, good, harder to find older movies. Their schedule always blocked out 1 to 3 in the afternoon, often showing some old western or war movies that ran about 90 minutes and with commercials could fill out a two-hour slot. Silly me, I was typically at school until about 2:30, but when I knew a good one would be on, my Mom was always nice enough to record the movie so I could watch it later. I watched a lot of good movies thanks to TBS, but two especially stand out in my head, both of them westerns, 1953's Charge at Feather River and 1954's The Command.

Part of my interest with these two movies is that neither is readily available in any format, although The Command is now available for purchase through the Warner Archive. Are they as good as I remember them? Maybe not, but they're still worth revisiting at least 10 years later. Good news, I have an old beat-up VHS tape of 'Feather River' and TCM recently showed a pristine widescreen presentation of The Command (thank you very much).  Besides the fact that both movies are above average, pretty straightforward B-westerns, the other unifying link is that Guy Madison starred in both flicks. An actor who made a name for himself out of B-westerns like these, Madison had a short window of success in the 1950s before turning to Italian war movies and spaghetti westerns in the 1960s.  Mostly though, he's known for playing Wild Bill Hickok in a western TV show that lasted seven years from 1951-1958.  He wasn't a great actor -- a little stiff at times -- but he was what these B-westerns needed. Honest, strong-willed, and always ready to be a hero.  That's certainly the case in The Command.

Riding along as part of a cavalry patrol, Doctor/Captain Robert MacClaw (Madison) has command thrust upon him when the patrol's commanding officer is mortally wounded and tells him to lead the patrol back to the fort. With no military/cavalry experience, MacClaw has to prove himself to the men of the troop who are immediately wary of this medical officer leading them. His one saving grace may be Sergeant Elliott (James Whitmore), a veteran soldier who is similarly skeptical of the doctor but willing to work with him. The troop reaches safety but is ordered to accompany a wagon train of settlers heading west that is accompanied by two companies of green recruits. To protect the troop from getting an infantry officer as a commander, MacClaw continues to pose as the troop's commander, even as he clashes with the infantry commander, veteran Colonel Janeway (Carl Benton Reid). The troop moves out though riding escort, but a large Indian war party is moving along with them. The Indians are just one problem though as a smallpox epidemic threatens to take out the whole column before they can reach the bigger body of the army's attacking force on the Paradise River.

While many B-westerns are really bad examples of what not to do with a medium-sized budget, decent story, and good if not great casting, The Command is a prime example of how everything can fall into place when handled the correct way. Released through Warner Bros., it is a beautifully shot western and the California locations, filming in a gorgeous widescreen presentation. The story is pretty straightforward, an outnumbered, rag-tag column traveling through Indian territory, hoping to threat the needle to safety. It's never boring though, and there's an actual sense of danger, the war party always closing in, always waiting for a chance to strike.  Composer Dimitri Tiomkin keeps the action flowing with a solid soundtrack that will sound familiar to anyone familiar with his other scores. Maybe I give this movie a notch above what it actually deserves, but you know what? It's a fun story, full of action and some solid performances from the lead. The only problem of any consequence I had with the story was an insistence on adding a love interest for Madison's Capt. MacClaw.

Through all his wooden deliveries, I still find myself liking Guy Madison in the lead. His character is something new in a western, a doctor with no military training forced to learn what does and doesn't work fighting the Indians on the plains. Just by reading the cavalry tactics manual, he seems to pick it up rather quickly, but who's to complain, right? He isn't going to lose, is he?  His mentor/student relationship with Whitmore is solid, and Madison more than handles himself in the action scenes (which are surprisingly grisly for a 1954 western). The character is different so right off the bat the movie is a little more interesting than it would have been with a seasoned officer trying to lead his company to safety. Trying to draw in that female audience though (I guess), Joan Weldon plays Martha, a young single woman traveling with the wagon train who butts heads with Madison's MacClaw only to fall deeply in love with him. I didn't see it coming either. Besides the fact that their developing relationship is boring, the duo doesn't have much in the way of chemistry together. Their scenes tend to drag on at times, killing an otherwise fast-moving story and all the momentum it builds up.

As a sucker for great character actors, I'm going to recommend this one mostly on the shoulders of James Whitmore.  The movie is good enough on its own, but Whitmore definitely moves this western up a notch or two. His Sergeant Elliott character immediately reminded me of his Academy Award nominated performance from 1948's Battleground, and he plays a similar role, the part of the tough but fair sergeant. He's got years of experience and knows the Plains like few men in the troop do.  As Madison's MacClaw adjusts to the position of command, Whitmore's Elliott is a cushion of sorts, answering questions when he can, and basically doing what he can to make the transition smoother both for the Doc and the men he's commanding. In his 40s here, Whitmore looked old no matter how old he actually was, and it all rolls into the character. He's gruff and surly, short on words, letting his actions do more of the talking for him.  His chemistry is good with Madison which is essential, especially because their dialogue scenes dominate the landscape. Whitmore was a class act, always very watchable, and that's certainly the case here.

For a B-movie with a somewhat limited budget that clocks in at just 94 minutes, I was surprised by the epic quality of the finale which on its own takes almost 20 minutes. There is some impressive scope with a small army of extras standing in for the ever-growing Indian war party. The attack on the column's forted-up wagons is a great finale that reminded me a lot of a similar ending to Hondo, made the year before. The action all-around is impressive. The rest of the cast after the first two or three names is more hit or miss in smaller parts.  Benton Reid is a one-note veteran, spouting how he's willing to die on his feet but not in the saddle. Other performers of note include some unnecessary humor from Harvey Lembeck as Pvt. Gottshalk (because there were a lot of snarky Jewish cavalry troopers from NYC in the old west), Ray Teal as the crotchety unit surgeon, and Don Shelton as Major Gibbs, a desk officer with no combat experience assigned to the infantry. An underrated western that gets lost in the sea of bad westerns from the 1950s when studios were cranking them out as quick as audiences could gobble them up.  It's better than most so if you can find a copy, scoop it up.

The Command (1954): ***/****