Dennis Hopper steals the show, as a young psychotic killer whose goal in life is to be more famous than Billy the Kid. His plan is to assassinate President Grant with explosives taken from a train Cheyenne is traveling on. Can Cheyenne save the people on his train and President Grant? You'll enjoy watching Mr Hopper's performance and Clint's as he channels Sherlock Holmes in uncovering a great plot twist in the third act.
3 Reviews
"How could anybody so young be so bad."
faunafan10 September 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This is one of the most interesting stories in the series because of the scenario and the characters. Cheyenne Bodie is escorting a pretty city woman, Mary Ellen, to meet her rancher husband-to-be, who happens to be Cheyenne's boss. The train's passengers are an interesting collection: besides Cheyenne and Mary Ellen, there's an old lawman friend of Cheyenne, a prejudiced Army major, a dodgy salesman, a sullen Indian, a feisty elderly woman, and a young eloping couple. They're all taken captive by a gang of arrogant young toughs who, besides robbing the passengers, have in mind no less than to kidnap the President of the United States by using dynamite to blow up the mountain to stop the President's train. With the whistle of the train drawing ever louder, Cheyenne races to the rescue.
But before the story gets to that critical juncture, there are some tense moments and some rather exciting action. Added to the mix are a mystery to solve and more than a few secrets to uncover. The leader of the youthful gang is a slight, swaggering 20-year-old named Abe Larson, believably played by Dennis Hopper, who was born for such roles. (He was the Utah Kid in "Quicksand," basically the same character.) Abe thinks he's invincible, but when at one point Cheyenne challenges him to a "man's game," he sends one of his larger cronies, Red, into the ring instead. The fight is just to divert attention away from the corralled prisoners so the Indian can escape, but Abe doesn't figure that out until afterwards. Meanwhile, Mary Ellen plays up to Red so she can confiscate his gun, which she delivers to Cheyenne, confident that he'll know what to do with it. When Abe leaves a few of his juvenile followers behind to kill all the prisoners while he and another one go off to ignite the dynamite, Cheyenne makes effective use of the gun and appropriates a few more so that the travelers can make short work of the remaining would-be gangsters. Only then can Cheyenne ride off to save the President.
This episode is fun because once the crux of the story begins, we wonder how Cheyenne will ever manage to get that pretty bride-to-be to her betrothed. In the end, the mystery is neatly solved, the secrets logically revealed, only the bad guys are dispatched, and the rancher gets the girl. There's even a dash of humor, thanks mainly to Cheyenne Bodie's sly use of sarcasm to manipulate the clueless Abe Larson. And the fight between Cheyenne and Red is another one that should be put to music. I've said before that I lean more toward the romantic than the violent, but Clint Walker is so graceful whenever the script puts him in a fight scene that the viewer can't help but watch. To say that fight scenes in films are choreographed is the perfect way to describe the way he moves. For such a big man, he's amazingly agile and convincing.
All the supporting actors are excellent. And finally, kudos to the writers, Jack Emanuel for the story and Montgomery Pittman for the script. "Cheyenne" had some of the best behind-the-scenes contributors in the business.
But before the story gets to that critical juncture, there are some tense moments and some rather exciting action. Added to the mix are a mystery to solve and more than a few secrets to uncover. The leader of the youthful gang is a slight, swaggering 20-year-old named Abe Larson, believably played by Dennis Hopper, who was born for such roles. (He was the Utah Kid in "Quicksand," basically the same character.) Abe thinks he's invincible, but when at one point Cheyenne challenges him to a "man's game," he sends one of his larger cronies, Red, into the ring instead. The fight is just to divert attention away from the corralled prisoners so the Indian can escape, but Abe doesn't figure that out until afterwards. Meanwhile, Mary Ellen plays up to Red so she can confiscate his gun, which she delivers to Cheyenne, confident that he'll know what to do with it. When Abe leaves a few of his juvenile followers behind to kill all the prisoners while he and another one go off to ignite the dynamite, Cheyenne makes effective use of the gun and appropriates a few more so that the travelers can make short work of the remaining would-be gangsters. Only then can Cheyenne ride off to save the President.
This episode is fun because once the crux of the story begins, we wonder how Cheyenne will ever manage to get that pretty bride-to-be to her betrothed. In the end, the mystery is neatly solved, the secrets logically revealed, only the bad guys are dispatched, and the rancher gets the girl. There's even a dash of humor, thanks mainly to Cheyenne Bodie's sly use of sarcasm to manipulate the clueless Abe Larson. And the fight between Cheyenne and Red is another one that should be put to music. I've said before that I lean more toward the romantic than the violent, but Clint Walker is so graceful whenever the script puts him in a fight scene that the viewer can't help but watch. To say that fight scenes in films are choreographed is the perfect way to describe the way he moves. For such a big man, he's amazingly agile and convincing.
All the supporting actors are excellent. And finally, kudos to the writers, Jack Emanuel for the story and Montgomery Pittman for the script. "Cheyenne" had some of the best behind-the-scenes contributors in the business.
Worth a watch to see a young Dennis Hopper
pensman30 November 2016
Warning: Spoilers
The story line gives you all the plot you need to know. Basically this is John Wayne's Stagecoach on a train. Same group of motley travelers thrown together and while being help prisoners by bandits, we get a glimpse into their character. The twist here is the bandits are a group of young kids lead by a very young—20 years old at the time—Dennis Hopper who demonstrates he has acting chops. Here Hopper he plays a psychotic Abe Larson who wants fame and plans to get it by kidnapping the President of the United States. And he demonstrates his badness by gunning down two unarmed men just to make a point. Worth a watch just to see Hopper. There are no real surprises as we know Cheyenne will save the day and prove that the much maligned Indian passenger, Eddie Little Sky, is the one who is the real hero.
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