Cattle King, 1963 is playing on Turner Classic Movies on Wednesday, June 24 at 6:30 p.m. est.  Cosed captioned.

Cattle King is the last film Robert Taylor made under his MGM contract. His full-time contract had ended in 1959 but he agreed to do three more pictures. Cattle King is the third. Mr.Taylor plays a large scale cattle rancher whose living is being threatened by a Texas cartel who want to build a cattle highway from Texas to Canada. This would bring thousands of undesirable cattle to Mr. Taylor’s Wyoming home. It’s a nice twist on the old cattle ranchers vs. sheep herders story. Instead of wanting to leave the range free for cattle to roam, Sam Brassfield (Mr.Taylor) wants to fence in land for the controlled  breeding of high quality bovines. The only sheep herder in the picture ends up siding with Brassfield. The cinematography is outstanding with a pallette that brings out the beauty of the area near Yellowstone Park. There are numerous scenes of groups of people riding which must have looked wonderful on the big screen.

Left to right: a French poster and three promotional photos.

The acting is done by seasoned professionals like Robert Middleton, Ray Teal and William Windom and a newcomer, Robert Loggia. They are all excellent. As usual in westerns, Joan Caulfield as the love interest for Sam isn’t given enough to do. President Chester A. Arthur (Larry Gates) plays a pivotal role. In many ways Robert Taylor’s colleagues at MGM made this a warm farewell. The name Robert Taylor fills the screen from top to bottom in the credits. He is photographed lovingly with numerous close-ups. There’s a wonderful scene where Mr. Taylor stands proudly, legs apart in the western stance facing his enemy when the camera slides into a screen filling close-up. Robert Taylor was very good at playing characters who were larger than life, people who made a difference without losing their integrity. There’s even a bit of humor as he spends a fair amount of time fussing with his various ties. Cattle King is a solid, well-acted, beautifully photographed western.

Left to right: who, me?; on horseback with Robert Loggia; with Joan Caulfield and William Windom.

Left to right; with Ursula Thiess, Terry and Tessa Taylor on the set; taking his place in the chow line like anyone else; with Maggie Pierce, Robert Ivers and Virginia Christine.

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