Leonard Maltin must have delicate ears. He called 1951's "Slaughter Trail" soundtrack "indescribably awful." Something "indescribably awful" to hear is a Siamese cat giving birth. The soundtrack is like the Sons of the Pioneers with below-par lyrics, with an occasional zinger mixed in.
This is a sublimely stupid Western, where the "Indians" wear obvious wigs, the makeup people painted their chests but forgot their backs, the soldiers throw up their arms and fall and die before the sound effects tell the viewer they've been hit, the leading lady smooches with a highwayman and her very obvious lipstick is on his face and yet nobody comments on it. When asked if anyone was killed during a robbery, Andy Devine says "just the stagecoach driver. No one important"(!?)
Another line that seems to indicate the film was meant as a satire (or maybe just poorly written). Devine asks if an Indian had been hit. Soldier: "No, but he won't be riding a horse for a longgg time." I'd pass on this one. The western genre was big in the 50's because so many social issues could be discussed in the context of the old west rather than cause controversy by discussing them in a modern setting. But then there was always a film just trying to make a buck off the popularity of the genre. This is one of those films.
This is a sublimely stupid Western, where the "Indians" wear obvious wigs, the makeup people painted their chests but forgot their backs, the soldiers throw up their arms and fall and die before the sound effects tell the viewer they've been hit, the leading lady smooches with a highwayman and her very obvious lipstick is on his face and yet nobody comments on it. When asked if anyone was killed during a robbery, Andy Devine says "just the stagecoach driver. No one important"(!?)
Another line that seems to indicate the film was meant as a satire (or maybe just poorly written). Devine asks if an Indian had been hit. Soldier: "No, but he won't be riding a horse for a longgg time." I'd pass on this one. The western genre was big in the 50's because so many social issues could be discussed in the context of the old west rather than cause controversy by discussing them in a modern setting. But then there was always a film just trying to make a buck off the popularity of the genre. This is one of those films.