Fort Dobbs (1958)

Directed by Gordon Douglas; produced by Martin Rackin

After killing a man, cowboy Gar Davis (Clint Walker) flees into Comanche territory, where he meets a woman (Virginia Mayo) and her son (Richard Eyer). The trio evade an Indian attack and, chased into the wilderness, must make it to the nearest U.S. Army fort, before their pursuers catch them, and their own mutual distrust destroys them.

When this film was made, Clint Walker was at the height of the fame generated by his starring role in the Cheyenne television series. Unfortunately, Fort Dobbs has the feel of an extended tv series episode. There is nothing new to be seen here, which would not be bad if what was old were at least handled with novelty or excitement.

The story has been done before; not long before, in fact: Fort Dobbs is reminiscent of both Hondo and Shane. The writing is ordinary and the plot predictable; the significance of the dead man found by Davis is immediately apparent when he meets the farm woman. The characters are humdrum, with the exception of an amoral gun-runner played by Brian Keith.

The script also is mundane, and introduces an anachronism: the Henry repeating rifles, of which so much is made by the characters, are treated as a new development in firearms (they were first produced in the early 1860s), yet the revolver all the cowboys use is standard Colt from the 1870s. Such displacement of props is unfortunately common in low-budget westerns, but the props in question are not usually central to the story.

The action is adequate - there is in particular an excellent though short scene demonstrating how devastating a repeating rifle must have been at the time, even in the hands of the inexpert - but the film is undermined by poor production values. The viewer receives the impression of everything being done with a strict accountant standing beside the director. The town into which Davis rides at the beginning looks composed of a few shop-fronts; though boasting two hotels, its population seems very sparse; the scenery in the wilderness is a standard western-genre setting, probably replicated in a dozen tv shows and a hundred movies.

The acting is good. Walker is a convincing and likeable ‘strong, silent type’, while Mayo and Keith fill their roles satisfactorily. Young Richard Eyer is an admirable child-talent.

What all this adds up to is a very ordinary film, perhaps even less than average. It was probably popular at the time due to its star. Sixty years later, Walker is barely remembered even by western fans; his first starring role and the movie it is in, are barely memorable.