Rage at Dawn (1955)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Tim Whelan

Writers:

Horace McCoy (screenplay)
Frank Gruber (story)

Release Date:

26 March 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

SHOWDOWN AT SUNUP! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

A special agent from Chicago is sent out west to bring in the notorious Reno brothers.

Plot Keywords:

Train Robbery | Burned Alive | Beautiful Woman | Lynching | Undercover

Cast

Randolph Scott	...	James Barlow
Forrest Tucker	...	Frank Reno
Mala Powers	...	Laura Reno
J. Carrol Naish	...	Simeon 'Sim' Reno
Edgar Buchanan	...	Judge
Myron Healey	...	John Reno
Howard Petrie	...	Lattimore, Prosecuting Attorney
Ray Teal	...	Sheriff of Seymour
William Forrest	...	William Peterson
Denver Pyle	...	Clint Reno
Trevor Bardette	...	Fisher
Kenneth Tobey	...	Monk Claxton

Also Known As:

Seven Bad Men

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (nf) | UK:U (passed with cuts) | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Columbia State Historic Park - 22708 Broadway, Columbia, California, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Set in Indiana in 1866, the opening sequences reveal telephone poles and telephone lines in the background. Also, the U.S. and California State flag are shown on a flagpole in the background. (The film was shot in California)

Quotes:

Clint Reno: So it finally happened. A Reno brother got killed.
Sim Reno: Clint, we don't want no preaching.
Frank Reno: Take it easy, Sim.
Clint Reno: The baby of the family dying in the streets and his brave brothers running away. Not even animals would do a thing like that!
John Reno: Dead in the streets... not dying.
Clint Reno: As if that made a difference!

Fast-Paced and Much-Copied Western; Historical and Satisfying

This is a very-much copied western which belongs technically to the category of Randolph Scott westerns; this large and interesting body of work itself should be divided I suggest into the 1940s B/W series, and the 1950s color series; this is one of the earlier color efforts, an expensive-looking production but with somewhat inconsistent color. In several of his better efforts, Scott's role was that of a law officer or detective infiltrating some group of schemers. The story-line here is a fictionalized biography by veteran Frank Gruber, with screenplay by Horace McCoy, detailing the events of the Reno Brothers' gang and their train robberies performed in rural Indiana c. 1866. Scott's character is Barlow, a veteran Southern spy with impressive credentials. When their agent operating with the gang is murdered (after the gang is set up for capture), the Peterson Detective Agemcy sends for Scott to work with agents Kenneth Tobey and Ralph Moody to infiltrate the gang himself. Their device is a staged train robbery faked by the team, and the promise of a $100,000 payoff in the future. The ruse works; Scott is accepted by the gang, including Frank Reno, its leader, played strongly by Forrest Tucker. But immediately Scott finds he has problems. One of the Reno family, Denver Pyle, has nothing to do with the crimes and Scott falls in love with Mala Powers, his sister, who is bitter and unhappy; of course when he turns out to be just another bank robber, she turns against him, despite their obvious attraction and his courtly manners. From this point on, Scott helps the others pull an unremunerative robbery and becomes Tucker's rival to be the head of the gang. Between runs to town to report to his partners, he also is introduced to the three inside men in the town from which the gang operates--played by fine actor Howard Petrie, Edgar Buchanan and "Bonanza's" TV sheriff talented Ray Teal. Despite setbacks, the entrapment of the gang works. In a long and well-done shootout, several of the gang are killed, along with Scott's partner. He is then free to reveal his the role he has been playing all along. Powers tries to shoot him at night, but she comes nowhere close and ends up in his arms. Then Pyle comes to warn the detectives that a mob has been formed, led by smooth-talking Trevow Bardette and Jimmy Lydon. Scott tries has to ride off to try to save the gang from being lynched. The film's ending is downbeat but historically accurate, bringing to the end a memorable adventure tale that might have been made differently but is very lively and well-made exactly as it is. The other members of the gang are Myron Healey and powerful J. Carroll Naish, plus others, with George Wallace as the sheriff of Seymour and William Phipps, Chubby Johnson and Holly Bane in smaller roles. Director Tim Whelna did a solid if unspectacular job of directing a very difficult film, with day, night, action, dialogue, interior, exterior and battle scenes. The cinematography by Ray Rennahan and the music by Paul Sawtell are very fine, and Walter E. Keller's art direction is above average also. I enjoy this Scott western as a transitional work and for its attempts to make a true-to-life historical fictionalized biography, for the mostly-implied-level idea on which characters interact in this swift-moving adventure, and for the authentic look and feel of the work. A very entertaining film by anyone's standards.