The Jayhawkers! (USA, 1959) 100 min color DIR: Melvin Frank. PROD: Melvin Frank, Norman Panama. SCR: A.I. Bezzerides, Frank Fenton, Melvin Frank. MUSIC: Jerome Moross. DOP: Loyal Griggs. CAST: Jeff Chandler, Fess Parker, Nicole Maurey, Henry Silva, Leo Gordon. (Olive Films)
I had seen this western thirty years ago late one summer night on CFPL, and am delighted to see it being offered for view again thanks to those at Olive Films who are resurrecting many forgotten titles from the Paramount vaults.
Cam Bleeker escapes prison to find out that a widowed woman, Jeanne Dubois, and her children, now inhabit his homestead. He also learns that Luke Darcy, who is leading the Jayhawkers on a rampage in pre-Civil War Kansas, killed his wife. Bleeker is offered amnesty for his crimes if he brings Darcy to justice. This western avoids the complexity of what the Jayhawkers represented in the conflicts pre-dating the Civil War, and instead focuses more on the elaborate revenge plot, and the themes of odd devotion.
While Fess Parker (best remembered as Davy Crockett) is solid as the hero, Jeff Chandler’s character Darcy is more complex, thus more interesting. Like all good movie villains, Darcy is of the belief that his cause is right. With his prematurely grey hair, and urbane sophistication, Jeff Chandler’s dignified screen persona properly adds to the charisma of Darcy. This outlaw can capture the admiration of Bleeker and Dubois… even after her little girl is shot in a crossfire!
Although the movie has too many scenes that are stagey, it is interesting for the naturalism it tries to achieve: I like how Jeanne (Nicole Maurey) and her children often speak in untranslated French. This is quite a good western, directed and co-written by Melvin Frank, which also gets a few shots in the arm from perennial bad guy Henry Silva, as Darcy’s henchman, who starts digging for Bleeker’s true identity. The Jayhawkers is no classic, just a solid evening of old-fashioned entertainment.
Originally published in Vol. #1, Issue 25.
Greg Woods
Greg Woods has been a film enthusiast since his teens, and began his writing "career" at the same time- prolific in capsule reviews of everything he had watched, first on index cards, then those hardcover dollar store black journals, then an old Mac IIsi. He founded The Eclectic Screening Room in 2001, as a portal to share his film love with the world, and find some like-minded enthusiasts along the way. In addition to having worked in the film industry for over two decades, he has been a co-programmer of films at Trash Palace, and a programmer/co-founder of the Toronto Film Noir Syndicate. He has also written for Broken Pencil, CU-Confidential, Micro-Film, and is currently working on his first novel. His secret desire is for someone to interview him for a podcast or a DVD extra.