Tonight's Movie: King of the Wild Stallions (1959)

The second film I streamed via Watch TCM during our recent trip was a George Montgomery Western, KING OF THE WILD STALLIONS (1959).

KING OF THE WILD STALLIONS was attractively filmed and has a good cast, but the story didn't do much for me. Martha Morse (Diane Brewster of MAVERICK) is a widow with a young son, Bucky (Jerry Hartleben). Martha is about to lose her ranch due to scheming by greedy Matt Macguire (Emile Meyer).

Randy (Montgomery), one of Martha's ranch hands, is in love with her and tries to find a way to help her save the ranch. He and another hand, Idaho (Edgar Buchanan), have an idea or two they try out. Meanwhile, Bucky has secretly caught a wild stallion named Lightning worth enough reward money to solve his mother's problems.

I liked the cast and bits and pieces of the movie, but in the first place I wasn't very enthused about the "boy taming a wild stallion" storyline, and the overall script for this could have been better constructed. The first part of the movie focuses on two very minor characters and young Bucky, with Montgomery not showing up until 18 minutes into the 76-minute movie. I would have found a storyline which opened with the star of the picture on screen early on considerably more interesting.

There's some nice CinemaScope location filming at Vasquez Rocks by Carl E. Guthrie, and the actors are all appealing. The movie is simply flat; it needed a little more style and substance to make it a real winner. I'd class this one in the mid to lower end of the numerous Montgomery Westerns I've seen in the last year or so.

KING OF THE WILD STALLIONS was directed by R.G. Springsteen. The supporting cast includes Byron Foulger, Rory Mallinson, Dan Sheridan, and Denver Pyle.

KING OF THE WILD STALLIONS is available in on an "MOD" DVD from the Warner Archive.

Previous reviews of George Montgomery Westerns: DAVY CROCKETT, INDIAN SCOUT (1950), THE TEXAS RANGERS (1951), CRIPPLE CREEK (1952), GUN BELT (1953), THE LONE GUN (1954), MASTERSON OF KANSAS (1954), BATTLE OF ROGUE RIVER (1954), ROBBERS' ROOST (1955), CANYON RIVER (1956), GUN DUEL IN DURANGO (1957), TOUGHEST GUN IN TOMBSTONE (1958), BADMAN'S COUNTRY (1958), and MAN FROM GOD'S COUNTRY (1958).