Tumbleweed
Jim Harvey is hired to guard a small wagon train as it Yaqui fighters surround a wagon train, so Jim Harvey, the man guiding the pioneers, steps out to negotiate. They ignore his pleas and overrun the wagons, leaving him for dead. He manages to escape to the nearest town, but there, the law accuses him of deserting the settlers. The townspeople try to lynch him, so he flees to a ranch owned by kindly Nick, who lends Jim a trusty horse named Tumbleweed that may just be fast enough to save the day.
Cast
Audie Murphy
Jim Harvey
Lori Nelson
Laura Saunders
Chill Wills
Sheriff Murchoree
Roy Roberts
Nick Buckley
Russell Johnson
Lam Blandon
K.T. Stevens
Louella Buckley
Madge Meredith
Sarah Blandon
Lee Van Cleef
Marv
I. Stanford Jolley
Ted
Ralph Moody
Aguila
Ross Elliott
Seth Blandon
Eugene Iglesias
Tigre
Ratings & Reviews
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TMDB Reviews
12 years ago
A man’s best friend is his horse.
Tumbleweed is directed by Nathan Juran and adapted to screenplay by John Meredyth Lucas from the novel “Three Were Renegades” written by Kenneth Perkins. It stars Audie Murphy, Chill Wills, Lori Nelson, Roy Roberts, Russell Johnson, Lee Van Cleef, K.T. Stevens and Madge Meredith. Music is by Joseph Gershenson and cinematography by Russell Metty.
It’s atypical Audie Murphy fare, which for his fans (of which I’m firmly one) is enough for a rollicking good time. Plot has Murphy as Jim Harvey, a Wagon Train leader who mistakenly gets called out for being a coward when the train he is leading is attacked by the Yaqui Indians, leaving all the men folk dead. Forced to evade lynch mobs and the law, he goes on the lam, armed with only his wits and an aging horse called Tumbleweed.
What follows for the 80 minute run time is plenty of action and near scrapes, some barely concealed romantic yearnings, and of course heroics from both man and beast. The locations used for the story are gorgeous, as Death Valley and Vasquez Rocks form a mightily impressive back drop to the unfolding drama. While stunts and machismo are up to the requisite standard. Cast are fine, with Audie being Audie, Wills a gruff lawman and Cleef in loose cannon side-kick mode. The girls are mere tokens, but the beauty of Nelson and Meredith is breath taking. While costuming (Bill Thomas) is high end as well.
A Technicolor treat for Murphy and B Western fans. 7/10
