The Last Posse * (1953, Broderick Crawford, John Derek, Charles Bickford, Wanda Hendrix, Warner Anderson, Henry Hull, Will Wright, Tom Powers) – Classic Movie Review 7759

Director Alfred L Werker’s 1953 Columbia black and white Western film The Last Posse stars Broderick Crawford as Sheriff John Frazier, who leads a bickering posse on the trail of three vicious thieves.

Despite a stalwart turn from Crawford and a pleasant one by the young John Derek as Jed Clayton, this remains a very routine and cliché-ridden Western, told in confusing multi-flashbacks, and packed full to overloading with stock characters and threadbare situations.

The acting from a more than decent enough cast who look right in the saddle and home on the range helps out a quite a lot. They include Charles Bickford, Wanda Hendrix, Warner Anderson, Henry Hull, Will Wright, Tom Powers, Raymond Greenleaf, James Kirkwood, Eddy Waller, Skip Homeier, James Bell, Guy Wilkerson, Monte Blue, Stanley Blystone, Frank Ellis, Frank Hagney, Harry Hayden, Reed Howes, Mira McKinney and Helen Wallace.

The story is by Seymour Lee Bennett and Connie Lee Bennett. The score is recycled music from Columbia serials by the likes of George Duning, Paul Sawtell and Marlin Skiles, arranged by Ross DiMaggio.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7759

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