Indians, gold-seekers and dance hall girls liven this hackneyed saga of a selfish politician trying to start an uprising in order to get to the gold on Apache land. Very good scenery and strong cast; but the story is too predictable. The players include: Robert Young, Janis Carter, Jack Buetel and Reed Hadley.
7 Reviews
Disjointed film and story
bkoganbing22 April 2020
In this poorly contrived western the Apaches never learn why Reed Hadley and
his henchmen want them off the San Remo reservation. So I won't say either.
Robert Young and Jack Beutel are respectively a jaded and disillusioned former Confederate officer now turned gambler and a half white Apache warrior. Between he two of them they have their hands filled trying to stop an Indian war that saloon owner Reed Hadley wants to start.
Coming between them is entertainer Janis Carter whom Hadley has a Snidely Whiplash interest in
The sad thing about The Half Breed is that it had potential for a serious film on race relations. Poor Jack Beutel who was Billy the Kid in Howard Hughes's Thr Outlaw. Unlike Jane Russell he never got a career on track after that legendary fiasco.
This film didn't help.
Robert Young and Jack Beutel are respectively a jaded and disillusioned former Confederate officer now turned gambler and a half white Apache warrior. Between he two of them they have their hands filled trying to stop an Indian war that saloon owner Reed Hadley wants to start.
Coming between them is entertainer Janis Carter whom Hadley has a Snidely Whiplash interest in
The sad thing about The Half Breed is that it had potential for a serious film on race relations. Poor Jack Beutel who was Billy the Kid in Howard Hughes's Thr Outlaw. Unlike Jane Russell he never got a career on track after that legendary fiasco.
This film didn't help.
Poor Western
jromanbaker20 September 2020
This was a typical Western for early 1950's double bills but was poor by those standards. Jack Buetel stands out but sadly he should have had more films after the controversy of ' The Outlaw ' but unlike Jane Russell he did not flourish. He made a few Westerns and did nothing after 1961. Nothing was worthy of him, or his electric beginning as an actor in ' The Outlaw '. The rest of the cast are mediocre, and the film is indifferently directed. Not a film worth hunting down unless you hope Buetel has been given a decent role. The most I can say he is worth watching even with poor material. Disappointing on all levels.
Lamentable
lorenellroy16 April 2005
There is a passage in the Shakespeare play " A Midsummer Night's Dream "that refers to the imaginary play of Pyramus and Thisby as being both " brief and tedious" .It would serve well as a description of this quite awful piece of garbage from the early 50's as well . The eponymous hero is Charley Wolf who is part white and part Apache and who seeks to maintain the existing uneasy peace between the two races in San Remo .He is helped by a former Confederate officer ,turned gambler (Robert Young ).The local Indian agent is a devious and corrupt individual who is seeking to get the Apaches evicted from their reservation in order to get at the gold which lies hidden there .The relationship between Wolf and his ally is shattered by their competing for the affections of the same girl -a saloon singer . The script is dire and the acting woeful ;in particular the slow and over emphatic delivery of the white actors playing Native Americans is tedious .Young -a capable enough player in other movies -looks out of sorts in the Western setting. Add muddy colour and a clichéd script and the result is racist tedium and unrelenting dullness .
Half-baked
dbdumonteil22 August 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Jack Buetel's career never really took off after the "scandalous" "gay" western "the outlaw" ,where he was outstripped by Jane Russel,who became a true star .When he returned ,he was given uninteresting parts:for instance,in "best of the badmen" ,probably the best of the lot,he had to play the youngster opposite seasoned actors such as Robert Ryan and Claire Trevor and he was not able to shine,being already too old for this kind of role.
I was expecting more of "the half-breed" .What a disappointment!Whereas the subject could have been interesting(the man torn between the White and the Indians),the screenwriters made of mess of it ,with a desultory script,mixing gambling,songs in the saloon which are mostly filler, love rivalry,male friendship,and Charley's sister who appears just to be raped(?) and killed .
Like this? Try this.....
"The savage" (Marshall,1952,star. Charlton Heston)
I was expecting more of "the half-breed" .What a disappointment!Whereas the subject could have been interesting(the man torn between the White and the Indians),the screenwriters made of mess of it ,with a desultory script,mixing gambling,songs in the saloon which are mostly filler, love rivalry,male friendship,and Charley's sister who appears just to be raped(?) and killed .
Like this? Try this.....
"The savage" (Marshall,1952,star. Charlton Heston)
"Breed" isn't the word
boblipton27 November 2003
Poorly acted drama about Robert Young -- doing a badly acted William Powell impression -- coming between Janis Carter, doing a bad Lucille Ball imitation and Reed Hadley doing a surprisingly awful Charlton Heston imitation. Beautiful location shots don't do anything towards rescuing this picture. Not even awful enough to be interesting.
Multi-layered western
jarrodmcdonald-12 June 2024
Warning: Spoilers
I haven't decided if this RKO western in Technicolor is unfairly overlooked or unfairly maligned. Maybe both. It's certainly a unique western and as a production overseen by Howard Hughes, it has its share of interesting scenes. What I really like about the film, which others might deride, is that it is several western films rolled into one. This is not because Hughes and his directors (there were more than one) couldn't decide what story to tell, but because there were quite a few stops and starts behind the scenes.
Each time they resumed production on THE HALF-BREED, there was a new person in charge, taking the reigns under Hughes' watchful eye. So in a way they keep remaking the story, with continuous retakes, something Hughes was famous for doing. And by the time they finally reached the end of a long production schedule, the editors had multiple versions to choose from for individual scenes. This actually works in the film's favor. The result is a multi-layered western drama about a group of white people in town (those scenes mostly shot at RKO's ranch in Encino) and a group of indigenous people outside of town (with those scenes mostly shot on location in beautiful Arizona).
Part of the narrative focuses on a traveling gambler (Robert Young) who's just come into a dusty western town, but before doing so, he was nearly killed and had his life saved by a half-breed, the title character (played by Jack Buetel). Young is slightly miscast but still renders an excellent performance. Buetel had a splashy motion picture debut in Hughes' THE OUTLAW, overshadowed by Jane Russell, but he remained under personal contract to Hughes for about a decade, though he didn't make too many films. Here Buetel provides us with a very sensitive performance as a man who is half civilized and half savage, trying to decide which culture is best for him.
In addition to the culture clash and the ensuing friendship between these men, we have a love story. It involves Young falling for a saloon singer (Janis Carter in her last Hollywood movie), who is desperate to get on the next stage outta here so she can start a good clean life in a more respectable locale. Her exit is delayed more than once. First, her manager gambles away her money, which Young wins back for her. Then, there there is an uprising by the natives against several corrupt townsfolk trying to push them off their gold-rich land.
In my opinion, the film really hits its stride when the whites and the natives head into battle with each other; though, many of the whites and one native maiden are innocently caught in the crossfire. Young and Buetel try to broker a peace, with Buetel ultimately deciding to side with the natives. It's gripping entertainment. We also learn Young had been a confederate soldier in the war who drifted into gambling; so, he knows what it's like to be in a war where there are losers.
It's a shame this film is not better known. It contains some very competent performances. Because of the start-stop-restart nature of the production behind the scenes, we have a multi-layered western entertainment that can be read in a variety of ways.
Each time they resumed production on THE HALF-BREED, there was a new person in charge, taking the reigns under Hughes' watchful eye. So in a way they keep remaking the story, with continuous retakes, something Hughes was famous for doing. And by the time they finally reached the end of a long production schedule, the editors had multiple versions to choose from for individual scenes. This actually works in the film's favor. The result is a multi-layered western drama about a group of white people in town (those scenes mostly shot at RKO's ranch in Encino) and a group of indigenous people outside of town (with those scenes mostly shot on location in beautiful Arizona).
Part of the narrative focuses on a traveling gambler (Robert Young) who's just come into a dusty western town, but before doing so, he was nearly killed and had his life saved by a half-breed, the title character (played by Jack Buetel). Young is slightly miscast but still renders an excellent performance. Buetel had a splashy motion picture debut in Hughes' THE OUTLAW, overshadowed by Jane Russell, but he remained under personal contract to Hughes for about a decade, though he didn't make too many films. Here Buetel provides us with a very sensitive performance as a man who is half civilized and half savage, trying to decide which culture is best for him.
In addition to the culture clash and the ensuing friendship between these men, we have a love story. It involves Young falling for a saloon singer (Janis Carter in her last Hollywood movie), who is desperate to get on the next stage outta here so she can start a good clean life in a more respectable locale. Her exit is delayed more than once. First, her manager gambles away her money, which Young wins back for her. Then, there there is an uprising by the natives against several corrupt townsfolk trying to push them off their gold-rich land.
In my opinion, the film really hits its stride when the whites and the natives head into battle with each other; though, many of the whites and one native maiden are innocently caught in the crossfire. Young and Buetel try to broker a peace, with Buetel ultimately deciding to side with the natives. It's gripping entertainment. We also learn Young had been a confederate soldier in the war who drifted into gambling; so, he knows what it's like to be in a war where there are losers.
It's a shame this film is not better known. It contains some very competent performances. Because of the start-stop-restart nature of the production behind the scenes, we have a multi-layered western entertainment that can be read in a variety of ways.
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