source: Tension at Table Rock

Trailer—Tension at Table Rock

Tension at Table Rock

More interesting than the slow-moving "Shane" or the overrated "High Noon", this superb western has Richard Egan well cast as the misunderstood outsider. Egan was often a wooden actor but he was surprisingly effective in this film. Cameron Mitchell gives a fine performance as the sheriff who has to prove he can still keep the town in order. It is surprising that Billy Chapin never made another film after his moving portrayal of Jody. 10/10.

This is a movie with a solid script, really a very good cast, and a decent script. It is a later RKO production completed a short time before Lucy & Desi bought the studio. It is one of a handful of films of this type shot in color during the 1950's. Any fan of the Wild Wild West TV series will recognize John Dehner and some of the set sued in this movie. Angie Dickinson has a small role. When you add up Richard Egan, Cameron Mitchell, Edward Andrews, Billy Chapin, Dorothy Malone, and DeForest Kelly, the cast is a who's who of 1960's and 70's television actors. It is a good solid western outing that only suffers slightly from the fact that RKO did not have the resources of the other studios by now. Still, some of these folks went on to stay at Desilu later and help make that a great television studio.

Better than Average Western with a Fine Cast and has Moments of Hard-Hitting Fisticuffs and Underplayed Suspense. It is a B-Movie that does have a Good Score and is in Color. It Relies on Melodrama and Good Dialog to Offset the Less than Sprawling Cinematography. There is an Orphaned Youngster and the Characters are more Conflicted and Deep than in a Standard Oater. Richard Egan is Expressionless as is Cameron Mitchell and Dorothy Malone is Radiant and there for some Sexual Tension. It does have a Laid-Back Feel and Never seems to Rise Above its Rasin' but there are Confrontations Aplenty and it is a Mature Movie. Definitely worth a View for Western Fans and some Others may find Pleasure in its Understated but Raw Roughness.

Needing a break from his gunfighter western ways, rugged Richard Egan (as Wes Tancred) decides to take on a tamer identity (as "John Bailey"). In this guise, Mr. Egan finds honest work, but immediate tragedy. He hooks up with blue-eyed Billy Chapin (as Jody Burrows), after gunmen kill the cute boy's paw. Delivering the lad to relatives, sharply outfitted Dorothy Malone (as Lorna) and sheriff husband Cameron Mitchell (as Fred Miller), leads "Rifleman" Egan from "Shane" to "High Noon" territory. Angie Dickinson and DeForest Kelly have bang-up roles. With Charles Marque Warren at the reigns, "Tension at Table Rock" knows its turf. ****** Tension at Table Rock (10/3/56) Charles Marque Warren ~ Richard Egan, Dorothy Malone, Cameron Mitchell, Billy Chapin

This movie has all the ingredients most Western fans love in their films: gunfights, love triangles, bad guys & a quiet, suffering & misunderstood hero working out his private travails by helping a beleaguered sheriff deal with his own demons. All with a rousing Dimitri Tiomkin score that has a memorable ballad at its core. We've seen these ingredients before in many other Westerns but in this film they seem to work. Richard Egan non-acting style work perfectly here & the supporting cast boasts small but vivid parts for Angie Dickenson as the siren that starts Egan's private struggle & Deforest Kelly as a smiling, friendly gunslinger. I've seen this film a number of times & surprisingly the film still works.

Good western featuring a reticent gunslinger and a lawman who has lost his nerve who must go up against a group of thugs who want to let off steam in their town. Egan was well cast as the gunman who was short on talk and long on slinging lead when the chips were down.

This is a better than average telling of the trail herd vs. the town story. A legendary gunfighter(played by Richard Egan) hiding from his past drifts into a town about to be visited by a trail herd. The sheriff (played by Cameron Mitchell) has more than his share of troubles with the town council, a local saloon owner and his pretty wife (played by Dorothy Malone). The ending is predictable with the gunfighter confronting his past, shooting a gunfighter hired to kill the sheriff and saving the town. Although the usual cliches are plentiful, the movie is well photographed and colorful. The script is well above average and there is much more going on plot-wise than usual. The acting is top notch. DeForest Kelly is memorable in a small role as a gunman hired by the saloon owner to kill the sheriff. There is also an excellent Dimitri Tiomkin score which reflects nicely the psychological undercurrents of the gunfighter's past. This movie is well worth the time.