if youre go to watch a jeff chandler western and this be the one to see . i would hestitate to call it a masterpiece and but it a damn good try . produce and direct by the team of norman panama and melvin frank and it be a tale of conflict loyalty and megalomania and love and hate and a number of other issue i can not remember and in pre civil war kansa on the eve of the civil war . star jeff chandler and who portray the megalomaniacal but withal personally decent and charismatic bad guy and be quite good here . he have spend a decade in action picture and romance and with an occasional comedy throw in for good measure and and yet have not achieve major stardom . a mid level star of the kind of medium grade movie that be go out of fashion and he be on the verge of become an anachronism while and have he not die a couple of year after this film one wonder what would have happen to him and his career . in the jayhawkers he show what he might have become represent a fine and commanding and aristocratic character actor . a the second bill good guy and fes parker and fresh from his triumph a davy crockett a few year earlier and be attempt a mainstream and post disney career . low key and phlegmatic and and not without appeal and he lack the edge of a mitchum that might have propel him into the big league and and be for the most part an uninteresting hero . nicole maurey be the incongruously gallic love interest and and one can not help be curious a to why she be cast in this film . she be a lovely young woman and but way out of place here . loyal griggs color photography be as good a his work in shane and and far less mannered . the music of jerome moross be stir and in it way as good a anything dimitri tiomkin ever do . with it large than life good bad guy and and reasonable ( for a movie ) historical accuracy and this could have be a major film . the problem with it be that though panama and frank be quite good at light comedy and they be inexperienced in the western genre . frank do a good and derivative job of draw from ford and hawkes while and there be some breathtaking vista . there be even a touch of nicholas ray in his creative and interesting use of interior and especially the main hideout . and chandler give an at time dare performance and with occasional lapse into mild effeminacy in his vocalizing and posture and his work be well rounded and sophisticated and suggest that his character feeling for parker be more than just friendship . ala and this dare aspect of the story be never go into with any depth or insight and and the result the movie be a near miss and but a fascinating one .