Last Friday I had the afternoon free so I watched another western from the GREAT AMERICAN WESTERN collection I mentioned previously.
KANSAS PACIFIc (1953) is a dramatization of the construction of the railroad through Kansas just prior to the Civil War. The area was divided between those who favored the Union and those 'state rights' and pro-slavery advocates who supported the Confederacy. Seeing the difficulties being thrown at the railroad the Union Army "unofficially' sends in a construction engineer (played by Sterling Hayden) to assist. Naturally, as these things go events rapidly build from destruction of property to the murder of railroad personnel. Eventually the Army must send in troops.

Hayden stars with Barton MacLane as the railroad's cheif engineer, and Eve Miller as his daughter (and as the only female in the cast) the love interest for Hayden. One of the villain's henchmen is played by Myron Healey, who you may recall was in RAGE AT DAWN, with Randolph Scott as one of the Reno brothers. That fella was all over the place and proof that Hollywood loved a 'good' badguy. :-)

I didn't recognize him in pencil-thin moustace and minus the mask at first, but Clayton Moore has such a distinctive voice that I couldn't help but realize that he was playing a bad guy. You have to remember that at this point Moore was having contractual problems with the folks producting the LONE RANGER TV show and was temporarily replaced in the role for which he will always be remembered. Guy still had to pay the rent!

Not a classic, by any means, but like many other 'B' westerns of the time well-acted and well produced. Director Ray Navarro was very busy in the 1940s - '50s cranking out dozens of westerns for a number of studios. His last project was in 1964 when he directed "When Strangers Meet" (also released as "Dog Eats Dog") with Jayne Mansfield and Cameron Mitchell. Now there's a legacy!