The Baron of Arizona Reviews

Ambitious western for budget-bound Lippert is based upon a real con man and artful forger, James Addison Reavis. Price, in one of his best roles, spends years forging ancient land grants that give the rights to almost all of the land in Arizona to the near-extinct Peralta family, of blue-blooded Mexican lineage. He then marries Drew, last of the line. Next, as husband of the endowed lady, he lays claim to the entire state, briefly taking over Arizona as his personal fiefdom, proclaiming himself a baron. Not for money does Price covet such vast lands, but for regal power which goes to his head and is finally his undoing. This is a powerful and colorful film, the second to be directed by the gifted Fuller, which shows a large slice of pioneer life in early America.