Fort Utah ** (1967, John Ireland, Virginia Mayo, Scott Brady, John Russell, Robert Strauss, James Craig, Jim Davis, Richard Arlen, Don Barry, Harry Lauter) – Classic Movie Review 12,546

John Ireland plays reformed gunslinger Tom Horn in producer A C Lyles’s 1967 Western film Fort Utah. Astoundingly, it is the 150th feature film directed by Lesley Selander. 

John Ireland plays Tom Horn in director Lesley Selander’s 1967 Western film Fort Utah, produced by A C Lyles for release by Paramount. It also stars Virginia Mayo, Scott Brady, John Russell, Robert Strauss, James Craig, Jim Davis. Astoundingly, it is the 150th feature film directed by Lesley Selander, in his penultimate film before Arizona Bushwhackers (1968), which also stars John Ireland.

Ireland plays reformed gunman/ gunslinger Tom Horn, who steers a wagon train of pilgrims across Indian land despite hostile wagon boss Eli Jones (John Russell) and bad guys Scarecrow (Jim Davis) and Dajin (Scott Brady), who are terrorising the pioneer settlers and the local Indians.

Nifty performances by the very welcome, stalwart old-time cast and striking cinematography by Lothrop B Worth make up for routine, indifferent work on the script (Steve Fisher, Andrew Craddock), score (Jimmie Haskell) and direction, in producer A C Lyles’s acceptable, so-so Sixties B-movie Western. It very largely relies on the undeniable, enduring attractions of the old-time cast, for whom it is a good enough vehicle.

The cast are John Ireland as Tom Horn, Virginia Mayo as Linda Lee, Scott Brady as Dajin, John Russell as Eli Jonas, Robert Strauss as Ben Stokes, Richard Arlen as Sam Tyler, James Craig as Bo Greer, Jim Davis as Scarecrow, Don ‘Red’ Barry as Harris, Read Morgan as Cavalry Lieutenant, Regis Parton as Rafe, Eric Cody as Shirt, and Harry Lauter.

More famously, Steve McQueen plays Tom Horn in the 1979 Western film Tom Horn.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,546

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