Abilene Town

Starring:Randolph Scott; Ann Dvorak; Edgar Buchanan
Director: Edward L. Marin
Studio: Miracle Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Stiff-as-a-board town marshal Randolph Scott, with his laconic drawl and smiling as if at some personal joke, is the moral authority of an end-of-the-trail frontier town in this surprisingly intriguing 1946 Western. The community is literally split down the middle--shops and churches line one side of main street, saloons and taverns the other--and Abilene's citizens tolerate the rowdy, rough-and-tumble antics of trail hands and rambunctious cowboys as long as they remain on their side of the street. Lloyd Bridges plays the leader of a flock of newly arrived settlers who inadvertently tip the uneasy balance when they string up the open range and draw the fire of the cattlemen, who bring their reign of terror into the town. Edwin L. Marin's professional (if pedestrian) direction keeps the film plugging along, but the smart script, an ingeniously mercenary climactic battle plan, and a defiantly righteous performance from Bridges give the film bite. Hellfire in heels dance-hall girl Ann Dvorak's love-hate relationship with Scott provides comic sparks and a potent challenge to his chaste courting of shop girl Rhonda Fleming. Edgar Buchanan is suitably dry as a cowardly, card-playing county sheriff who knows the value of a voting constituency. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Abilene Town.......2006-07-03

If you like westerns and especially if you like Randolf Scott you will enjoy Abilene Town. Being in B&W makes it like a documnetary on the growth of our nation. Yet this movie does have action and lessons to be learned without all of the blood and guts that the current movies like to show; and yes it does have a happy ending. This is a movie you can watch with your kids to give them an opportunity to see how the west was won.

The tame always win.......2004-10-25

Smart and briskly told, ABILENE TOWN is an above-average homesteader vs. cattle rancher movie. Randolph Scott stars as the town marshal of Abilene who finds himself in the middle of a land war. Short of only John Wayne, Scott is the man for the task. The movie opens with Scott in church, singing hymns with the angelic Rhonda Fleming. The pious music is interrupted by the sound of gunfire. The cattle drovers are in town, shooting up the honey pots.
Check that - they're shooting up-wards in the saloons, more in emphatic syncopation with song and dance girl Ann Dvorak's act that in meanness. The wranglers and ramrods are saving that meanness for act two, when the hymn singing, sodbusting homesteaders arrive and begin planting houses and barb-wiring up the northern terminus of the Abilene Trail. That levels out their aim some.
ABILENE TOWN is about the tension of opposites, with Randolph Scott smack in the middle. His character is a failed rancher who sympathizes with the "decent life" desiring homesteaders. He has to chose between Good Girl Rhonda Fleming and Bad Girl (with a heart of gold) Ann Dvorak. The movie also pits the merchants against the saloons, cattle against wheat, the pious against the profane. It's a contest between a restoration of the status quo and the establishment of a new order.
With its strong story, straight-ahead direction, and solid cast, ABILENE TOWN is a treat. Scott is well within his competent comfort zone as the man with the badge, Edgar Buchanan and Ann Dvorak leaven things with amusing diversions, and a young Lloyd Bridge is effective as the firebrand leader of the sodbusters. Hired thug Chet Younger, played by the underrated Jack Lambert, burns enough barns and shoots enough defenseless women and children to keep our sympathies from straying over to the wrong side of the fence. The transfer print on the review copy was faded out some, which tends to flatten out the picture. Nothing major. Otherwise it's in good shape, a real bargain considering its deeply discounted price.
ABILENE TOWN is a classic western that will delight fans of the genre and quite possibly hold the attention of non-converts as well.

From cattle chaos to homesteading order.......2002-06-13

This film is interesting because it shows how a city that was built and that prospered thanks to the driving of cattle from the SouthWest to the Middle West becomes a farming town. The fight between the drovers and the homesteaders is very well depicted, with its killings when the drovers deem it necessary to impose their domination. But the city is cut in two. On one side of the street the saloons. On the other side of the street the shops. The change comes when the homesteaders cut the trail with their barbed wire and when the shopkeepers understand that there is more money on the homesteaders' side than on the drovers'. The drovers push their last pawns, with the support at first of the saloonkeepers. But it means killing some homesteaders and the local marshall opposes it and imposes law and order. The drovers are driven out of the city. The city becomes a farming city and Kansas moves from a state that is crossed by herds of cattle to a farming state. This is possible, though never really said, because the railroads make it feasible to transport the cattle from Texas to Illinois without having to cross any farmland any more. But this future is made a reality because of the alliance of the shopkeepers with the homesteaders. We thus are shown history in its making.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Cattlemen vs homesteaders vs law.......2001-03-28

In this opus,town marshall(Randolph Scott)his his hands full keeping trail hands,at the end of a drive from treeing his town. Added to this is an enept sheriff(Edgar Bucannan),a hot headed farmer (Lloyd Bridges)and the town's saloon keepers -who will do anything to make a fast buck

Average customer rating:

History lesson sorely needed
Two good films, in good condition.
Rousing but inaccurate adventure movie
Fun Escapism Through a Western Adventure
THIS DVD IS NEWLY REMASTERED

Santa Fe Trail/Abilene Town
Starring: Errol Flynn , Olivia de Havilland , Raymond Massey , Ronald Reagan , and Alan Hale
Director: Michael Curtiz , and Edwin L. Marin
Manufacturer: Marengo Films
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00004WL4Y
Release Date: 2001-02-28

Description

200 minute double feature film DVD.

Customer Reviews:

History lesson sorely needed.......2007-06-02

How many school children in 21 st century know about John Brown? How many know about the causes of this horrible war that pitted former comrades against one another? Is this movie entirely accurate and does take artistic license with the characters and storyline? Yes and No, but and so do many contemporary films such as 'Saving Private Ryan' or 'Patton' take liberties with actual events. As a number of reviewers have noted, we see events in history through politically correct eyes. My major fault with the movie is that southerners did not have a distinctive regional drawl, especially Errol Flynn's character, Jeb Stuart. Having your children watch this movie will provide them an insight into a forgotten epic American history while at the same time entertaining them with battles and other action scenes. John Brown may have been right in his core principles but he is a prime example of excessive zeal clashing with established law and order.

Two good films, in good condition........2005-11-14

I don't very often write reviews (although I enjoy reading those of others), but I must just tell anyone wondering which version of "Santa Fe Trail" to buy that the Marengo version (the one that includes "Abilene Town" as a bonus) is excellent. I was not familiar with either of these movies before - I don't know why, as they are both really good movies, and better than many others that I have bought individually and paid more money for. "Santa Fe Trail" is a really unusual, and interesting movie. The combination of Curtiz and Flynn gives it something - a depth, or thoughtfulness, perhaps - that most movies just don't have. It is also, IMHO, a better movie than Errol Flynn's other cavalry outing, "They Died With Their Boots On", so I don't know why the former is in the public domain, as if nobody cares about it, with numerous versions available (some of which don't sound very good), while the latter is presumably still owned and guarded exclusively by Warner Brothers, who have recently brought out a lavish DVD version of it, with various "extras" on it.
As for "Abilene Town", that also is a surprisingly good movie, its plot not unlike that of "Dodge City". On a trivial note: it looks to me as if Gary Cooper's famous, iconic "look" in "High Noon" (reproduced in books and posters so often) was in fact inspired by the outfit that Randolph Scott wears in "Abilene Town".

Rousing but inaccurate adventure movie.......2005-07-06

The title may well lead people to expect a Western and indeed this is how the movie has been packaged ,but I would argue it is nothing of the sort .While the Santa Fe Trail is mentioned and the role of the railroad in opening up the West is touched upon the movie is really about the origins of the Civil War .
Flynn stars as J E B Stuart -arguably the most famous cavalry commnader in the Confederate army .We first meet him as a West Point cadet, along with several other men who became prominent in the military in subsequent years chief among them being Custer (Ronald Reagan ) Phil Sheridan ( David Bruce) and George Pickett( Willam Marshall ) .His nemesis at the Academy is "Rader" played by Van Heflin ,a fervent abolitionist and disciple of the firebrand preacher John Brown .The two get involved in a brawl and Rader is sent down for having abolitionist pamphlets in his locker .Already the Civil war is casting its shadows over the military -;we meet Lee and Davis ,men who were to play a key role in events in the following decade .
Stuart ,Custer and Sheridan are sent to "Bloody Kansas" to keep the peace in the face of John Browns agitation for it to become a free state .They clash early on when they foil a gun running bid by Brown and his followers who now number the embittered and mercenary Rader in their ranks (it is made clear he fights for money ,not belief in the cause) .Further confrontations with Brown arise ,culminating in the bloody affray at Harper's Ferry
There is no shortage of movies dealing with the Civil War but very few have adressed its origins which makes this aspect of tghe movie so disappointing .Perhaps mindful of the need not to damage its potential in the South ,scriptwriter Robert Bruckner has come up with an evasive screenplay which sits on the fence politically .Brown is depicted as a fiery psychopath and an irrational madman whose cause is founded on the need for someone to hate rather than any love of the blacks or sense of moral righness ,while the Heflin character is a vain ,envious opportunist who loves only money and betrays any cause he feels does not value his contribution to it .He is shown as interfering in a system which Stuart claims is reforming itself from within ,and by so doing bringing about an avoidable conflict This is a gross distortion of the facts .Thus ,faced with such moral equivocation ,the best thing to do is enjoy it on an action movie level and here it works well .The action is lively and plentiful and the acting is pretty solid .Flynn is ideally cast as the archetypal military man -one who fights nobly for his cause ,despite his own doubts and de Havilland is excellent as the feisty tomboyish Kit Carson Halliday over whom Custer and Stuart bicker .Raymond Massey is hypnotic if hammy as Brown and there is a solid "best friend of the leading man "turn from Reagan ,whose character is allowed a few tentative pro-Brown remarks
One scene stands out -when Custer ,Sheridan ,Stuart and Pickett consult an Indian seeress they are told they will all be generals but will never again all meet as friend ;they react with uneasy laughter but in the scene we see the gathering clouds of the impending war ,
Muddy monochrome photography from the usually dependable Sal Polito does not help while Max Steiner's score is not his best by a long eway
Enjoy it as a vigorous and robust action picture from the great Michael Curtiz and this is okay but as a serious treatment of the issues it is sunk by its own timorousness and refusal to address reality

Fun Escapism Through a Western Adventure.......2005-03-20

Two major strenghts of this film are its character development and plot. Various historical figures are given the "Hollywood" treatment. The storyline unfolds in such a way that the complexity of the pre-Civil War era is addressed. John Brown is the focal point of the forces to be overcome. Harper's Ferry is where the resolution is reached.

Olivia de Havilland's character has to choose between Ronald Reagan's George Custer and Errol Flynn's J.E.B. Stuart. Humor is included in various spots to make for a pleasant occasional break from tension. There's a good flow, nice pacing.

The camera movements are not bad for that era. Since I love the West, I also like the establishing shots. This is a good clean movie for the most part, with the exception of the Indian fortune-teller.

THIS DVD IS NEWLY REMASTERED.......2004-12-25

MARENGO FILMS IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THAT BOTH TITLES ON THIS DVD HAVE BEEN NEWLY RE-MASTERED. NEW SOFTWARE, MUCH MORE POWERFUL AND HANDY THAN THAT AVAILABLE AT THE ONSET OF DVD HAS BEEN USED BY MARENGO. THE FILMS HAVE BEEN COLOR CORRECTED, AND AN ADDITIONAL SOUND DESIGN HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED. WE FEEL UPGRADING THESE WONDERFUL PRINTS WAS WELL WORTH THE COST AND THAT COLLECTORS WILL BE PROUD TO HAVE THEM IN THEIR INVENTORY.

Average customer rating:

"Abilene Town (1946) ... Randolph Scott ... United Artists Classic Western"

Abilene Town
Starring: Randolph Scott; Ann Dvorak; Edgar Buchanan
Director: Edward L. Marin
Manufacturer: Miracle Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Colt .45 / Tall Man Riding / Fort Worth
The Stranger Wore a Gun
The Man Behind the Gun / Thunder Over the Plains / Riding Shotgun
Albuquerque
Hangman's Knot

ASIN: B0002CR7ZW
Release Date: 2005-05-15

Product Description

In the years following the Civil War, the town of Abilene, Kansas is poised on the brink of an explosive confrontation between the homesteaders and the cattlemen. Randolph Scott portrays a genial town marshall who is determined to bring about a peaceful solution and restore calm.

Customer Reviews:

"Abilene Town (1946) ... Randolph Scott ... United Artists Classic Western".......2007-04-01

United Artists presents "ABILENE TOWN" (1946) (89 mins/B&W) (Dolby digitally remastered) --- Starring Randolph Scott, Ann Dorvak, Edgar Buchanan, Rhonda Fleming & Lloyd Bridges --- Directed by Edwin L. Marin and released in January 11, 1946, our story line and film following the Civil War in the town of Abilene, a delicate peace is inadvertantly shattered when a group of homesteaders lay down their stakes on the cattlemen's side of town, upsetting the balance that had existed thus far and sparking an all-out war between the farmers, who want the land tamed and property lines drawn, and the cowboys, who want the prairies to be open for their cattle to roam. Into the mix walks a patient sheriff - guess who! ... from the book "Trail Town" by Ernest Haycox --- From 1945 until 1962 when he retired, Randolph Scott made a series of good adult themed westerns, some of them considered real classics

Under Edwin L. Marin (Director), Jules Levy (Producer), Ernest Haycox (Book Author), Harold Shumate (Screenwriter), Victor Heerman (Cinematographer / Editor), Otho Lovering (Cinematographer / Editor), Louis Clyde Stoumen (Cinematographer), Nathaniel W. Finston (Musical Direction/Supervision), Albert Glasser (Composer (Music Score), Kermit Goell (Songwriter), Fred Spielman (Songwriter), Duncan Cramer (Art Director), Peter Tuesday (Costume Designer), James Barker (Makeup), Sammy Lee (Choreography) - - - - the cast includes Randolph Scott (Dan Mitchell), Helen Boyce (Big Annie), Ann Dvorak (Rita), Edgar Buchanan (Sheriff Bravo Trimble), Rhonda Fleming (Sherry Balder), Dick Curtis (Cap Ryker), Lloyd Bridges (Henry Dreiser), Howard Freeman (Ed Balder), Richard Hale (Charlie Fair), Jack Lambert (Jet Younger), Hank Patterson (Doug Neil), Earl Schenck (Hazelhurst), Eddy Waller (Hannaberry), Walter S. Baldwin (Train Conductor) --- take note some veteran character actors Edgar Buchanan, Hank Patterson and Eddy Waller all familiar to the oaters of Hollywood - - - - Randy Scott had a quiet gentleman nature about him which is not seen in the films of today ... Randy took his job and his responsibility to his audience very seriously, would not settle for anything less than his best ... same was true in his personal life.

SPECIAL FEATURES BIOS:
1. Randolph Scott (aka: George Randolph Scott)
Date of birth: 23 January 1898 - Orange County, Virginia
Date of death: 2 March 1987 - Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California

Special footnote, George Randolph Scott better known as Randolph Scott, was an American film actor whose career spanned the sound era from the late 1920s to the early 1960s ... his popularity grew in the 1940s and 1950s, appearing in such films as "Gung Ho"! (1943) and "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" (1938); but he was especially famous for his numerous Westerns including "Virginia City" (1940) with Errol Flynn and Humphrey Bogart, "Western Union" (1941) with Robert Young and "Ride the High Country" (1962) with Joel McCrea (a coin was flipped to see whether Scott or McCrea would receive top billing, and Scott won despite having a slightly smaller role) ... his long fistfight with John Wayne in "The Spoilers" (1942) was frequently cited by critics and the press as the most thrilling ever filmed; they were fighting over Marlene Dietrich ... another smash hit film together that same year called "Pittsburgh" (1942) once again with Dietrich, Scott and Wayne --- Daniel Webster defines "Legend", as being a notable person, or the stories told about that person exploits --- well by the time Randolph Scott made his best films he had long established himself as a legend in the film industry --- they say practice makes perfect, if that is true by 1958 at 60 years of age he was the master with these oaters from the 50s ... "The Cariboo Trail" (1950), "The Nevadan" (1950), "Colt .45" (1950), "Santa Fe" (1951), "Sugarfoot" (1951), "Fort Worth" (1951), "Man in the Saddle" (1951), "Carson City" (1952), "The Man Behind the Gun" (1952), "Hangman's Knot" (1952), "Thunder over the Plains" (1953), "The Stranger Wore a Gun" (1953), "Ten Wanted Men" (1954), "Riding Shotgun" (1954), "The Bounty Hunter" (1954), "Rage at Dawn" (1955), "Tall Man Riding" (1955), "A Lawless Street" (1955), "Seven Men from Now" (1956), "Seventh Cavalry" (1956), "Decision at Sundown: (1957), "Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend" (1957), "The Tall T" (1957), "Buchanan Rides Alone" (1958), "Ride Lonesome" (1959), "Westbound" (1959), "Comanche Station" (1960) --- Scott's age seemed to matter little, they only came to see another Randolph Scott film and always got their money's worth --- Scott's films were good and getting better becoming classics --- so if you ever wonder "What Ever Happened To Randolph Scott", just rent or purchase one of his films and you'll see he's never left us.

2. Lloyd Bridges
Date of Birth: 15 January 1913 - San Leandro, California
Date of Death: 10 March 1998 - Los Angeles, California

3. Ann Dvorak (aka: Anna McKim)
Date of Birth: 2 August 1912 - New York, New York
Date of Death: 10 December 1979 - Honolulu, Hawaii

4. Edgar Buchanan
Date of Birth: 20 March 1903 - Humansville, Missouri
Date of Death: 4 April 1979 - Palm Desert, California

5. Edwin L. Marin (Director)
Date of Birth: 21 February 1899 - Jersey City, New Jersey
Date of Death: 2 May 1951 - Los Angeles, California

Hats off and thanks to Les Adams (collector/guideslines for character identification), Chuck Anderson (Webmaster: The Old Corral/B-Westerns.Com), Boyd Magers (Western Clippings), Bobby J. Copeland (author of "Trail Talk"), Rhonda Lemons (Empire Publishing Inc), Bob Nareau (author of "The Real Bob Steele") and Trevor Scott (Down Under Com) as they have rekindled my interest once again for Film Noir, B-Westerns and Serials --- looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '20s, '30s & '40s and B-Westerns ... order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on VHS, stay tuned once again for top notch action mixed with deadly adventure --- if you enjoyed this title, why not check out VCI Entertainment where they are experts in releasing B-Westerns and Serials --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 89 min on DVD ~ Miracle Pictures ~ (5/15/2005)

Average customer rating:

Rage At Dawn / Abilene Town
Starring: Forrest Tucker; Randolph Scott
Director: Tim Whelan; Edward Marin
Manufacturer: Miracle Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

Colt .45 / Tall Man Riding / Fort Worth
Albuquerque
Santa Fe
The Man Behind the Gun / Thunder Over the Plains / Riding Shotgun
The Stranger Wore a Gun

ASIN: B00069UCWQ
Release Date: 2002-02-02

Product Description

Double Feature

Average customer rating:

Abilene Town
Starring: Ann Dvorak; Randolph Scott; Edgar Buchanan; Rhonda Fleming; Lloyd Bridges
Director: Edwin L. Marin
Manufacturer: Reel Enterprises
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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The Fighting Westerner/Abiline Town
Starring: Fighting Westerner , and Abilene Town
Manufacturer: Direct Source Label
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Tales From the Old West Collection: Abilene Town/Under California Stars/Angel and the Badman

Average customer rating:

Tales From the Old West Collection: Abilene Town/Under California Stars/Angel and the Badman
Starring: Great Collections
Manufacturer: Madacy Records
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002IQL7Q
Release Date: 2004-08-10

Average customer rating:

Abilene Town/Hell Town

Manufacturer: Ingram Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002E6FO4
Release Date: 2001-11-06

The Randolph Scott Collection: Rage at Dawn/Abilene Town/Captain Kidd/Gung Ho

Average customer rating:

The Randolph Scott Collection: Rage at Dawn/Abilene Town/Captain Kidd/Gung Ho

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Abilene Town / Trapped DVD Double Feature

Average customer rating:

Abilene Town / Trapped DVD Double Feature

Manufacturer: Movie Classics
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Product Description

Lloyd Bridges in two classic films on one DVD, Abilene Town (1946) and Trapped (1949).

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