Young Billy Young Reviews

After killing a Mexican general, hired killers Walker and Carradine ride off with a posse close behind. Walker's horse falls, and he is left stranded by his partner. Ex-sheriff Mitchum, who is hunting for his son's killer, comes upon Walker and takes him along. Mitchum becomes the marshal of Lordsburg in hopes of catching murderer John Anderson. There he meets and falls for Dickinson, a dance hall girl who warns the new marshal that Kelly and his sidekick, Carradine, are out to get Mitchum. After Carradine tries to do in the marshal, Walker changes his mind and accepts Mitchum's offer of a deputy job. Mitchum arrests Carradine, not knowing he's the son of his own son's murderer. After learning this, Mitchum decides to use the jailed Carradine as bait in catching killer Anderson. Walker frees Carradine to prevent a confrontation, but Anderson and Kelly are killed in a violent shoot-out, and Carradine is recaptured. Mitchum leaves town with Dickinson, putting Walker in charge as deputy marshal. Direction is effective (although Kennedy had clearly proved he could do much more with the genre, the previous year, with SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF). Good performances from Mitchum and particularly Dickinson. Considering that this plot is steeped in father-son relationship, the casting was appropriate. Carradine is the son of John; Walker is the son of Jennifer Jones and the late Robert Walker; Deana Martin (in a minor role) is Dean's daughter; and Chris Mitchum played Robert's film son in flashback sequences. The elder Mitchum sings the title song.