Tension at Table Rock *** (1956, Richard Egan, Dorothy Malone, Cameron Mitchell, Angie Dickinson) – Classic Movie Review 11,632

RKO’s 1956 Western film Tension at Table Rock stars Richard Egan as a reluctant gunslinger who arrives at Table Rock where the sheriff needs help. Dorothy Malone, Cameron Mitchell and Angie Dickinson also star.

Director Charles Marquis Warren’s 1956 RKO Radio Pictures Western film Tension at Table Rock stars Richard Egan, Dorothy Malone, Cameron Mitchell and Angie Dickinson, and is based on Frank Gruber’s 1954 novel Bitter Sage, with a screenplay by Winston Miller.

Egan stars as reluctant gunslinger Wes Tancred, who has killed his gunslinger buddy Sam Murdock (Paul Richards), and gets involved with a stagecoach robbery at an outpost, killing the outlaws. He agrees to take a surviving boy in jeopardy to live with the kid’s uncle, the Sheriff in Table Rock. 

He arrives at Table Rock and saves the apparently yellow-bellied lawman Sheriff Fred Miller (Cameron Mitchell) and his town from a gang of murderously reckless herder ruffians, while falling for the sheriff’s lovely sexpot wife Lorna (Dorothy Malone).

[Spoiler alert] Wes shoots a hired killer who comes to town to gun down the Sheriff. The Sheriff, who was traumatised from previously being beaten up, comes to his senses and saves the hero. 

High Noon and Shane are successfully raided for ideas in this brooding, better-than-average Western, made in glorious Technicolor, with a master cameraman at work in Joseph F Biroc, and a strong score by Dimitri Tiomkin.

A fine cast of character actors helps bring out the tension, with Edward Andrews scoring strongly as the bad guy, Kirk.

Angie Dickinson, as Cathy, is once again typecast in Westerns as she started her early career. Still, it got her to her breakthrough in Rio Bravo.

Richard Egan as Wes Tancred.

The cast are Richard Egan as Wes Tancred, Dorothy Malone as Lorna Miller, Cameron Mitchell as Fred Miller, Billy Chapin as Jody Burrows, Royal Dano as Harry Jameson, Edward Andrews as Kirk, John Dehner as Hampton, DeForest Kelley as Jim Breck, Joe De Santis as Ed Burrows, Angie Dickinson as Cathy, Lauren Chapin as Singer, Charles H Gray as Zecca, Joyce Jameson as Singer, Suzanne Ridgeway as Saloon Girl, Jeanne Bates as Mrs Brice, James Anderson, Joel Ashley, William Fawcett, Harry Lauter, and Dabbs Greer.

Richard Egan starred in another Western in 1956: Love Me Tender. Egan was top billed but it was Elvis Presley’s film debut and he was the main attraction.

Charles Marquis Warren’s final film as director was Charro!, the 1969 Western film starring Elvis Presley, the only movie in which he wore a beard.

Tension at Table Rock is directed by Charles Marquis Warren, runs 93 minutes, is made by Sam Wiesenthal Productions, is released by RKO Radio Pictures, is written by Winston Miller, based on Frank Gruber’s novel Bitter Sage, is shot by Joseph F Biroc, is produced by Sam Wiesenthal, is scored by Dimitri Tiomkin, and is designed by Albert S D’Agostino and John B Mansbridge.

Release date: October 3, 1956.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,632

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com