Jack McCall, Desperado ** (1953, George Montgomery, Angela Stevens, Douglas Kennedy, James Seay, Eugene Iglesias, Jay Silverheels) – Classic Movie Review 13,686

Columbia Pictures’ 1953 Western film Jack McCall, Desperado stars George Montgomery as a Southerner who sets out for revenge on the Yankee soldiers who killed his parents.

‘ONLY DESPERATE MEN RODE HIS TRAIL!’

Director Sidney Salkow’s 1953 Columbia Pictures Western film Jack McCall, Desperado is written by John O’Dea, based on a story by David Chandler, and stars George Montgomery, Angela Stevens, Douglas Kennedy, and James Seay.

George Montgomery stars as Jack McCall, a Southern soldier during the US Civil War, who is set up on a murder rap, but flees and sets out to trap and avenge himself on ‘Wild’ Bill Hickok and Bat McCall (Douglas Kennedy, James Seay), the villains who killed his folks.

This rather tepid, forgettable Western is not particularly exciting and covers familiar ground. However, on the plus side, it is busily plotted and fairly pacy, with a brief runtime of 76 minutes, and strikingly filmed by Henry Freulich in Technicolor, while Montgomery gives a stalwart turn as the dogged Desperado.

One scene shows the 1876 real-life shooting of Wild Bill Hickok by Jack McCall. Kennedy plays Wild Bill Hickok, Eugene Iglesias is Grey Eagle and Jay Silverheels is Chief Red Cloud.

Also notable are William Tannen as Spargo, John Hamilton as Col. Cornish, and Selmer Jackson as Col. Brand, with Stanley Blystone, Gene Roth, Alva Lacy, and Joe McGuinn

Jack McCall was born in 1852 or 1852 and too young to have been enlisted in the Union Army in the US Civil War.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,686

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