Abilene Town

1946 "Ablaze with guns and guts and glory!"
6.2| 1h29m| NR| en
Details

Marshall Dan Mitchell, who is the law in Abilene, has the job of keeping peace between two groups. For a long time, the town had been divided, with the cattlemen and cowboys having one end of town to themselves, while townspeople occupied the other end. Mitchell liked it this way, it made things easier for him, and kept problems from arising between the two factions. However…

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Cebalord Very best movie i ever watch
Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place
MusicChat It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.
Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
wes-connors Five years after the US Civil War, western folk are more concerned with the age old war between homesteaders and cattle ranchers. The cattlemen herd their wares, from Texas to the trail town of Abilene, Kansas. There, the cowboys find not only big money, but also big confrontation, with homesteaders. Tall in the saddle Marshal Randolph Scott (as Dan Mitchell) tries to keep peace in the town. Mr. Scott has experience mediating between trail hands and saloon patrons. He also juggles the town's finest looking women: sexy saloon singer Ann Dvorak (as Rita) and pretty church lady Rhonda Fleming (as Sherry). Boozy county Sheriff Edgar Buchanan (as Bravo Trimble) offers more comic relief than sharp-shooting assistance."Abilene Town" begins with some promising symbolism and contrast: gunshots interrupt Scott and Ms. Fleming singing a hymn in Church; then, the camera switches to Ms. Dvorak sexily singing her saloon number, which causes a man to fire his gun in pleasure. After that, it really becomes quite a standard western; it is somehow duller than it should be, but not quite awful. Young Lloyd Bridges appears as one of the homesteaders. Dvorak's leggy costume is the film's greatest asset; in it, she is a real mover. **** Abilene Town (1/11/46) Edwin L. Marin ~ Randolph Scott, Ann Dvorak, Edgar Buchanan
ma-cortes The film is set in 1870 , post civil war , in Abilene ( a biblical name meaning city of the plains ), the pattern of the other celebrated cow towns of the Old west . Randolph Scott is the brave sheriff of Abilene along with Edgar Buchanan , they are fighting to stifle the conflicts between homesteaders ( led by a young Lloyd Bridges ) and cattlemen who hire gunfighters ( Jack Lambert ) . Meanwhile he develops a loving triangle between a Saloon girl ( Ann Dvorak ) and a good girl ( Rhonda Fleming ). The picture gets action Western , shootouts , a love story , musical numbers ( in charge of a gorgeous Anne Dvorak ) and is quite entertaining . It's a medium budget film with good actors , technicians, production values and pleasing results . The film is totally set in Abilene ( Kansas )which was the first of the major railhead cattle towns . From 1867 to 1872 it was a booming depot , shipping some one million Texas Longhorns by railroad to Kansas City and Chicago and meat markets in the East . The place was selected as a terminus for Texas cattle drives in 1867 . Then the long drives began from Texas over the Chisholm trail . At trail's end in Abilene the rowdy,free-spending cowboys attracted saloon keepers, gamblers , brothels and all types of frontier riff-raff , the town became notorious for its lawlessness . Gunmen were hired for a time to keep the peace in Abilene ( in the film the peacemaker results to be Randolph Scott and actually Wild Bill Hickok ) . With the numerous presence of homesteaders the town prospered , stabilized and grew , its lawabiding citizens decided to discourage the troublesome cattle trade with his transient cowboys and early requested the Texas cattlemen to drive their herds elsewhere , which they soon did and Abilene's role as a wild cow town came to an abrupt ending. The motion picture is directed in sure visual eye by Edwin L. Marin . He realized a variety films of all kind of genres , though especially Western , the best are starred by Scott , all well screen-written ( as Abilene , Canadian Pacific , Cariboo trail , Fighting man of the plains ). In fact his last films were Westerns until his early death at 52 .
classicsoncall In the expansive history of film Westerns, the theme of cattle men against homesteaders has been done countless times, and "Abilene Town" turns out to be one of the better explorations of that subject. Interestingly, it also throws in a third element, that of the general merchandise shop keeper who stands to benefit from making the right choice between the two. Straddling atop that shaky fence is town marshal Dan Mitchell (Randolph Scott), who has the vision to understand that what happens in Abilene, Kansas will have an impact across all the western territories sooner or later. The story takes place in 1870, and most of the action occurs along Texas Street, where the best bar in town is called 'The Best Bar in Town', right alongside 'Joe's Texas Bar" and the simply named 'Saloon'. A trail hand wonders what kind of town Abilene is with no bars on the other side of the street. When homesteaders begin to make their presence in town felt, Mitchell must perform a delicate balancing act between the opposing forces, and between two lovely young women. Ann Dvorak is saloon singer Rita, who literally keeps Mitchell hopping with precision kicks in the shin. Sherry Balder (Rhonda Fleming) is the daughter of the main shop keeper in town, who pines for Mitchell, until homesteader Henry Dreiser (Lloyd Bridges) wins her over with an appeal to her sense of family values and homesteader principles of working hard and building a life. Rounding out the main cast is Edgar Buchanan, a perennial favorite as County Marshal Bravo Trimble. Bravo has a unique nose for danger, and a compass that always points him in the opposite direction. He also has a penchant for a card game called 'fantan' which he would rather play than do anything else, and Big Annie (Helen Boyce) is always willing to oblige.The film has it's fair share of saloon fights and gun play, though it gets a little disjointed during the cattle stampede that Cap Ryker's (Dick Curtis) men initiate to take down the barb wire barrier put up on the range land. Banding together, the homesteaders find the resolve they need to stand up to the raucous cattle drovers. In an ironic twist, Sheriff Mitchell allows the carousing bad boys to tear the saloons apart. His 'way a rough street dies' speech near the end of the story is a fitting capstone to a turn of events that heralds the advance of civilization to a wild frontier. While in the background, shop keeper Balder does the math.With Randolph Scott in the starring role, I should have thought to count the number of outfit changes he'll go through before he tames Abilene. It's a signature mark of his Western films, and he doesn't disappoint here, though for my money, I prefer him in all black. With the town cleaned up and ready to move forward, the men and ladies pair off neatly, Mitchell and saloon girl Rita, Dreiser with Sherry Balder, and would be mayor Bravo with Big Annie. Somehow I got the feeling that they all had a different definition of 'fantan' on their minds.
Bill Pearson Excellent, under-appreciated movie, which I suspect fell into public domain because only cheap copies from original prints seem to be available. Randolph Scott is rock solid in the unassuming characterization of a modest but moral man acting as a moderating influence between three distinct groups, the cattlemen, the homesteaders and the tradesmen in a frontier town. Each have their own agendas, and the most alluring enticement for Scott on the bad side of town is the brassy but captivating dance hall singer, Ann Dvorak, in one of the best performances of her career, who is so fresh and sexy in her several numbers that I can well believe a whole roomful of cowboys would just sit there, stone silent with their mouths open, staring at her as she dances and flirts through her songs. I don't know if her voice was her own or dubbed, but she could sure deliver those lyrics! There's not a dull or extraneous scene in the movie, with many well cast characters, fistfights, gunfights, a cattle stampede, romance, comedy and first-rate film noir lighting and dialogue for those who care. And besides all that, I didn't notice until about the third time I'd watched it, Scott's horse follows him around when he's on foot like a pet dog. Very subtle, never made a focus of attention by the director, one of the old-timers who had the sense to let audiences find their own points of interest. I think it's a classic.