Copper Canyon

Rating:
Summary: Copper Canyon
Review: COPPER CANYON is an agreeably mediocre film, a gray B-movie hiding behind a Technicolor A-list of stars. Although it probably won't win converts to the genre, it will satisfy the faithful.
The plot is cast in the standard Big Bully vs. Little Bully mold. Most commonly it's cattlemen vs. sodbusters, black hats worn by the cattlemen. This time around it copper miner vs. copper miner, or, to be more exact in this post-Civil War drama, ex-Union copper miners vs. ex-Confederate copper miners. The ex-Confederates are the underdog Little Bullies feeling the tight squeeze - their ore is being stolen, the local smelter won't smelt their ore, they're ambushed and killed when they try to sell it in the next town, etc. Standard western skullduggery, although it's unlikely that a modern movie would cast ex-Confederates as sympathetic underdogs, certainly not a movie as light-headed as this one. In any event, the plan is to force out the Little Bullies and buy their claims at severely discounted prices.
Enter Ray Milland, who plays a wandering vaudeville trick-shot artist who may (or may not) have stolen $20,000 which may (or may not) have been rightfully his when he escaped (if he is indeed the colonel in question) from a Yankee prison. You see, the Little Bullies are sure he's a fighting Reb colonel who is traveling incognito to avoid capture and re-imprisonment. They need a fighter to galvanize and lead their resistance, and they make a number of overtures to Milland, who plays coy about his real identity.
With its unique (for a western) and sterling cast the first half of COPPER CANYON won my attention. It was ripe with promise but barren with results. I was disappointed to see the movie drag itself to such a conventional conclusion. For instance, the mistaken identity angle was loaded with possibilities but more or less left unexplored. In the end it really didn't matter much if Milland was the Reb colonel or not. The final showdown certainly didn't call for extraordinary courage or a military genius.
An okay western, with the cast flying high above a leaden plot.


Rating:
Summary: Likeable western.
Review: I like Copper Canyon, it's one of my favorite westerns. Admittedly the plot is somewhat convoluted and the acting is merely adequate. I think I mainly like the cast. Hedy Lamarr is gorgeous -- as always, Mona Freeman was one of Hollywood's prettiest blondes, and Ray Milland is the suave, dashing hero. Copper Canyon was just another western ground out during Hollywood's Golden Age. But at least it was fun to watch, which I can't say about most movies made these days.