The Wild and the Innocent *** (1959, Audie Murphy, Sandra Dee, Joanne Dru, Gilbert Roland, Jim Backus) – Classic Movie Review 11,718

Director Jack Sher’s 1959 Universal-International CinemaScope and Eastmancolor Western film The Wild and the Innocent stars Audie Murphy, Sandra Dee, Joanne Dru, Gilbert Roland, and Jim Backus.

The mix-ups and brawling that occur when a professional fur hunter Yancy Hawks (Murphy) and a naive country girl (Dee) hit a frontier town to celebrate Independence Day. Murphy is briefly seduced by the painted charms of Marcy Howard (Dru).

Dee stands out as the backwater babe Marcy Howard, who has a fancy for Yancy, and Gilbert Roland has a good time as Paul Bartell, the town’s corrupt sheriff, in this pleasantly passable Western that mixes action, comedy and romantic melodrama.

There is more emphasis on comic touches and character development and less on gunfighting than usual, in an effective film that is capably written, acted and handled.

Also in the cast are Peter Breck, George Mitchell, Strother Martin, and Betty Harford.

It is written by producer Sy Gomberg (story and screenplay) and Jack Sher (screenplay).

It is shot at Big Bear Lake, California.

 © Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,718

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