DANA ANDREWS & FALLEN ANGEL BRUCE CABOT IN 'TOWN TAMER'

Dana Andrews TOWN TAMER Year: 1965 Rates: ****

In the Sixties, A.C. Lyles produced a cram-session of "Old Fogey Westerns" using aged movie stars as newly-revived leading men... 

And it's Dana Andrews turn as vengeful gunman TOWN TAMER reignited after wife Coleen Gray's gunshot death that was meant for him...

Which was orchestrated by a casino-owning villain lording over another TOWN, using local loser DeForest Kelley to thwart Dana's mission to rid his decades-earlier FALLEN ANGEL Linda Darnell rival Bruce Cabot: yet the real scene-stealer is the hired gun played by enigmatic rogue Lyle Bettger... 

As the guilt-ridden wife-slayer, Bettger (posing as a Marshal) becomes a confidant to an oblivious Andrews, unaware who's on his side...

Except Terry Moore, providing a cocky love interest more interesting than most, along with familiar faces Barton MacClane (who hires Dana), Richard Arlen (doctor), Richard Jaekel (corrupt deputy), Lon Chaney Jr. (stable manager), James Brown (tough local), Pat O'Brien (crooked judge), Roger Torrey (a giant baddie providing the best fist-fight), all aptly directed by Lesley Selander, and, while not the existential, ultra-violent Spaghetti Western the genre had morphed into, TOWN TAMER — with sudden deaths and a mob-gathered gunfire finale — definitely isn't tame. 

Bruce Cabot and Lyle Bettger in TOWN TAMER

Dana Andrews and DeForest Kelley in TOWN TAMER

Dana Andrews and Bruce Cabot in TOWN TAMER

Dana Andrews and Terry Moore in TOWN TAMER

Dana Andrews and DeForest Kelley in TOWN TAMER

Michael Landon fills in as DeForest Kelley's stunt double in TOWN TAMER

Poster artwork for TOWN TAMER starring Dana Andrews

Poster artwork for TOWN TAMER starring Dana Andrews and Terry Moore

Dana Andrews and Bruce Cabot were in IN HARM'S WAY the same year (Town Tamer)

Dana Andrews and Bruce Cabot bookend Lyle Bettger in TOWN TAMER

Nice guy stable hand Lon Chaney Jr. was also in Johnny Reno (Town Tamer here)

Great fight scene with untamed giant Roger Torrey in TOWN TAMER

Crooked lawman Richard Jaekel with Dana Andrews, TOWN TAMER

The lovely Terry Moore in TOWN TAMER directed by Lesley Selander

Cameo wife & Western regular Coleen Gray in TOWN TAMER

Lon Chaney Jr. and mismatched marrieds DeForest Kelley & Terry Moore, Town Tamer

Shot of your usual Frankenstein-style town up against the baddie in TOWN TAMER