Untamed Frontier (1952)
Director:
Hugo Fregonese
Writers:
Gerald Drayson Adams (screenplay), John Bagni (screenplay)
Stars:
Joseph Cotten, Shelley Winters, Scott Brady
Reportedly, there was no love lost between the three stars of Untamed Frontier, and perhaps it was this tension that added so much depth to this otherwise formula-bound western. Joseph Cotten plays Kirk Denbow, the straight-laced son of ruthless cattle-baron Matt Denbow (Minor Watson), while Scott Brady co-stars as Glen Denbow, Kirk's firebrand brother (shades of Duel in the Sun, which also starred Cotten). Waitress Jane Stevens (Shelley Winters) witnesses a murder committed by Glen, then is railroaded into marrying him to prevent her from testifying in court. Inevitably, Jane falls in love with Kirk, the first of several fateful steps which lead to the film's bloody denouement. The late Suzan Ball, whose screen career was so tragically brief, makes her movie debut in Untamed Frontier.