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The Civil War is over, but Vance Reno (Richard Egan) didn't know that when he led his squadron of Confederate soldiers into a raid on a money transport. The money was meant strictly for the Confederacy, but upon learning there is no Confederacy anymore, he and his men split the loot among themselves, figuring it might come in handy to get them back on their feet. The gang splits up, and Vance and his brothers Brett (William Campbell) and Ray (James Drury) return to the family farm, where Vance plans to marry his sweetheart from back when, Cathy (Debra Paget). But upon returning home, Vance learns that he and his brothers were presumed dead, and that Cathy has since married his younger brother Clint (Elvis Presley), who, being too young to be drafted, stayed home to take care of the farm. Heartbroken, vance decides to move on while leaving most of the loot behind to help the family - but before he even can, he, Brett and Ray are arrested by Pinkerton detective Siringo (Robert Middleton) and army Major Kincaid (Bruce Bennett) for raiding the money transport back when. However, Siringo offers Vance a fair deal, if Vance and company return the money, they're let off the hook - after all, when they robbed the transport they thought the war was still on. Vance is about to accept when the train that's carrying them is raided by three of Vance's men, Mike (Neville Brand), Ed (Russ Conway) and Pardee (L.Q. Jones), who spring the Reno brothers free. Vance, Brett and Ray show little gratitude though as they want to make right, and want to force Mike, Ed and Pardee to give up their share of the loot as well. Meanwhile, Major Kincaid thinks the escape has been planned, and they search the Reno farm for the money (without any luck) and put it under heavy guard. But somehow Cathy manages to escape with the money and meets up with Vance to hand it over - but they get delayed, having to evade a bunch of soldiers after the Renos. Now Mike, Ed and Pardee don't want to give up their money, if anything, they want to get their hands on the Renos' share of the loot, so they put the idea into Clint's brain that Vance has split with the money and with Cathy, and Clint, who had bouts of jealousy ever since Vance has returned, is more than willing to believe them and is soon blind with rage - but in the final shoot-out he just can't kill his brother and instead takes a bullet meant for him and dies a hero's death ...

Pre-superstar Elvis Presley's first film (where he's only third-billed and plays second fiddle to Richard Egan) is actually a pretty decent genre piece - sure, it's a little high on melodrama, but it's coherently put together and solidly told and directed. And Elvis gives a believable performance in a rare dramatic role, and he's part of a pretty strong cast. Only him performing several songs over the course of events is a bit jarring, especially since only one, the titular Love Me Tender, is properly woven into the story, but even they are more of a distraction than actual narrative tripwires. And while I wouldn't call this film a masterpiece, it's definitely good western entertainment.

By the way, one of only two features (by early 2021) ever shot about the notorious real life Reno Gang, the other being the previous year's Rage at Dawn. And while the earlier movie wasn't very accurate in its dealing with facts, this one strays so far away from what had actually happened that had the Renos been given a different surname nobody would actually be able to guess who the film's based on.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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