The Jayhawkers!

John Chard

The Backwards Napoleon. The Jayhawkers! is directed by Melvin Frank and Frank shares writing duties with A. I. Bezzerides, Frank Fenton and Joe Petracca. It stars Jeff Chandler, Fess Parker, Nicole Maurey, Henry Silva, Leo Gordon and Frank DeKova. Music is by Jerome Moross and cinematography by Loyal Griggs. Territory of Kansas . . . Shortly before the Civil War. In short order form the plot finds Chandler as a driven empire builder Luke Darcy, who is taking advantage of Bleeding Kansas. Insinuating himself into Darcy's gang is Cam Bleeker (Parker), who has a very personal ulterior motive for doing so. The Ace of Spades! It's one of those films that has some great literary ideas, with some stoic characterisations and deft hints at the turmoil hitting this part of American history, and yet it never truly delivers on its powerful potential. Action is in short supply so we are very much asked to invest fully in the key players, their motives and drives, reasoning's etc, with the Darcy/Bleeker relationship and the shades of grey holding the attention whilst simultaneously holding the play together. Love-And-Death. That's everyone's fortune my friend. Bonus point also are the tactics used by Darcy to build his empire, which coupled with his beliefs - and Bleeker's growing conflicted values (Bromance does that to a guy apparently) - marks it out as a good try at something more deep and meaningful. Filmed in Technicolor/VistaVision, pic looks lovely, but not enough is made of the outdoor locations, while Moross provides a big bold booming score - which is great - it's just in the wrong film as it belongs in a ripper of an action piece. All told it's a very mixed bag, and stripped down it's a undercover story dressed up in familiar Western attire. It works for those who enjoy well written speeches and simmering tensions/passions, but it's a trick film to recommend with confidence. Oh and serious history buffs should give it a wide berth. 6/10

CinemaSerf

This could have been so much better had they just made some better casting decisions. Even I might have made a better job of playing "Bleeker" than the dreadfully wooden Fess Parker. At times you can almost hear director Melvin Frank shouting "action" (or possibly even "breathe") at him as his staccato delivery sucks most of the life from this tale. To be fair to him, he isn't exactly out-acted by Jeff Chandler either as this latter gent aims to set up an independent republic of Kansas. Unfortunately for "Darcy", the military governor of the state (Herbert Rudley) has got wind of this plan and so has despatched "Meeker" to infiltrate the organisation and serve up this would be president on a plate to the cavalry. This doesn't prove so very difficult as the approach taken by this glorified warlord involves the use of his heavily armed "Jayhawkers" to persuade the citizenry that his is the best or only way. "Bleeker" also has a bit of an axe to grind as he holds his quarry personally responsible for the death of his wife, so the question is: will he succeed in laying the ultimate trap for "Darcy" or will that shrewd fellow realise the duplicity and do some counter-playing of his own? There is plenty of action going on here, and to an extent it plays quite well as a precursor to the Civil War when the United States will still little more than a loose confederation of warring communities ruled over with varying degrees of democracy by powerfully charismatic and militaristic men. What menace there is comes from Henry Silva's "Lordan" but for the most part this is a very disappointly procedural western that's let down by some mediocre writing and a Chandler who reminded me more of "Captain Nemo" than a ruthless conqueror.