Man from God's Country (1958) User Reviews

Nice Allied Artists Western

[boblipton · 6/10 · 18 September 2019]

George Montgomery has a shot taken at him while he's heading to Sundown. He has no idea why. He's on his way to visit his Civil War buddy, House Peters Jr., with not a care in the world, so everyone figures he's someone else, and that's why they're after him: everyone has a different reason, including saloon singer Randy Stuart (who takes quite a hankering to him) and freight operator Frank Wilcox, who's not looking forward to the railroad coming and detroying his business. Montgomery goes about his affairs with his open, friendly manner and shoots people only when necessary, usually when they're trying to shoot him.

It's a pretty good Allied Artist western, with beautiful camerawork by Harry Neumann, and a lot of subtext in the script about how honesty is the best policy. Montgomery, as always, is very good. He was so good in westerns that he was pretty much stuck in them. So long as they are as good as this one, I think that's a good thing.

Routine B western

[Tweekums · 6/10 · 15 July 2012]

This western opens with Sheriff Dan Beattie being forced to gun down a cowboy who opened fire on him; for this he finds himself on trial with the town mayor stating that the time for lawmen like him is past as the town needs to entertain cowboys; surprisingly it is the dead man's boss Col. Miller who comes to Beattie's defence. He is cleared but resigns anyway and joins Miller's cattle drive as far as the town of Sundown. He intends to meet up with his civil war buddy Curt Warren there but doesn't get the welcome he was expecting; first somebody takes a pot shot at him on the outskirts of town then his friends suggests that he'd be wise if he left. It turns out the town 'boss' Beau Santee believes that Beattie is working for the railroad, surveying a potential new route and as head of the local freight company he is determined to keep the railroad out. If Beattie is to stay in town he will have to face Santee and discover who can be trusted there.

This is a fairly routine B western; if you are a fan of the genre it passes the time well enough but is hardly a must see. We have plenty of genre staples; a good man going into a potentially dangerous situation, an old friend who may now be a danger, a couple of attractive women to cause some jealousy and misunderstanding and even a boy for the hero to befriend; presumably to appeal to the younger viewer. There isn't all that much action but the final shootout is exciting enough even if the outcome isn't really in doubt. George Montgomery is likable in the lead role and the rest of the cast are solid enough although young Kim Charney was clearly older than the 'nearly ten' he claimed to be. Overall I'd say it is worth watching on television if you are a fan of B westerns but it isn't worth going out of your way to see.

Monty Rides Again!

[hitchcockthelegend · 6/10 · 30 September 2012]

Man from God's Country is directed by Paul Landres and written by George Waggner. It stars George Montgomery, Randy Stuart, Gregg Barton, Kim Charney, Frank Wilcox, Susan Cummings, James Griffith and House Peters Junior. A CinemaScope/De Luxe production, with music by Marlin Skiles and cinematography by Harry Neumann.

Dan Beattie (Montgomery) is a former Civil War soldier who is working as the sheriff of Yucca. After being acquitted of murdering a rabble rouser, he quits on principle and heads towards the town of Sundown where he hopes to hook up with his old war buddy Curt Warren (Peters Jr). Upon arrival, though, Dan finds a town run by a shifty business man Beau Santee (Wilcox) who mistakenly suspects Dan of being in league with the railroad company who want to run a line through the town. This opens up a can of worms and friendships and families become in danger of being ruined.

Little known Oater from the end of the 50s, Man from God's Country is a standard B picture that never quite fulfils the promise of its themes. There's interesting threads within, though nothing that hasn't been dealt with better elsewhere in 50s Westerns. The railroad is the devil who patrols the edges of the frame, this causes no end of suspicion and treachery as "honest" Dan proves to be the catalyst for Sundown's secrets and lies to come tumbling out of the dust in a blaze of guns, fists and tears.

It's handled efficiently by TV director Landres, with Waggner's screenplay mature and not without merit. Cast are mostly run of the mill, though Montgomery (looking and sounding like a poor man's Charlton Heston) proves more than capable at being the macho cornerstone of this particular production, where just like Heston he could throw a believable punch. Filmed out of Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth, California, there's some nice exteriors photographed by Neumann, costuming and colour are very pleasing and at 72 minutes in length the film never has time to labour.

It's more about "potential" psychological characterisations than action, which is fine, all be it annoying since the characters just don't get fleshed out at all. What action there is is done in short sharp shock manner, and in truth the ending, which is never in doubt, is all too brief and not doing justice to the good versus bad thread that director and writer were striving hard to build upon. 6/10

Montgomery rides the range yet again ........

[revdrcac · 4/10 · 18 June 2006]

In this standard late 50's color western from George Montgomery, a decent script is hampered by so-so casting and pacing . Montgomery is convincing in the lead hero role --- in a film that is ultimately routine.

As movies moved into the late 50's and 1960's, audiences were demanding more adult themes and conflict. This film is an example of that trend. Strained friendship, betrayal, redemption and renewal are all on display in this film ...... but it's too much in too short a film.

This is really a "C" western, and while it does entertain it is undemanding and barely memorable........

Stuart's working her plan

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 6 January 2015]

Man From God's Country has George Montgomery fired recently as sheriff of one town going to visit a friend in another town, House Peters,Jr. who seems to be mysteriously under the thumb of Gregg Barton and his right hand man James Griffith who does the enforcement of Barton's will when needed. This is not a normal situation by any means and Peters' own son Kim Charney is troubled by it.

Of course the bad guys are all taken care of as you would expect in a B western. I have to say though that the plot and motivations of the characters were pretty muddled. Except for saloon girl Randy Stuart. She's working a plan that will put her with a winner no matter who comes out on top.

Montgomery never got the acclaim for his B westerns in the way Randolph Scott did. They vary in quality, some were good, over all Randolph Scott's were better. But this one from Allied Artists is near the bottom.

A routine Western starring George Montgomery as an ex-sheriif who gets into trouble in Montana

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 24 April 2023]

An old sheriff (George Montgomery) comes to a village in order to visit a friend who lives there. But when the people mistake him with a hated representative of the railway company, he gets in trouble with some local thugs. At first mistaken for a railroad agent by Beau Santee (Frank Wilcox) , a Sundown businessman who wants to keep the railroad away from his town, Dan is nearly killed by Santee's henchman, Mark Faber (James Griffith) .Montana...gun-raw...gun-ruled...gun hell! The shooting saga of Beattie, who bought the law to Sundown...murder town! Big Montana story !

It's an a so-so story with a brief touch of peculiarity , some decent characters, and atmospheric music score . This movie is a lot of fun to watch. One of the many low-budget Westerns shot throughout his career by the muscular Montgomery. This protagonist was a famous actor who starred B series called George Montgomery . He was born to Ukranian immigrants and was a heavyweight boxer previously becoming an actor . Besides was a magnificent craftsman and built and designed houses, plus a self-taught artist, creating bronze busts for famed actors . Unable to shake his image as a cowboy actor he starred in scores of films with titles like Belle Starr's daughter (1948), Dakota Lil (1950), Jack McCall (1953) and Masterson of Kansas (1954) at Columbia, and for producer Edward Small at United Artists. When not cleaning up the Wild West with his six-shooter he branched out into adventure films set in exotic locales . At the height of his popularity, George attracted as much publicity for his acting as for his liaisons with glamorous stars, like Ginger Rogers, Hedy Lamarr to whom he was briefly engaged and singer Dinah Shore , whom he married. He starred movies around the world and diverse genres : adventures (Watusi,Steel claw) , Warlike (Battle of Bulge, Hell of Borneo) and specially Western (Seminola uprising, Fort Ti, Last of badmen, Great duel in Durango ). In this run-of-the-mill Western in which George plays an ex-sheriff who , through a deal with a friend, gets involved in a land-grab for a proposed railroad in Sundown, Montana . Descendant of an authentic cowboy family, he studied interior decoration and was a boxer before dedicating himself to the cinema, under the auspices of the Republic. Interestingly, though he matured into a competent character actor, Montgomery ended up being much more appreciated among the Hollywood community for his role as a top-notch furniture builder, and even made quite a bit of money building sets for Columbia.

Being regular but professionally directed by Paul Landres . Landres is generally considered to be a prolific director of television episodes as ¨Lone ranger¨ , ¨Cisko Kid¨, ¨Maverick¨ , ¨Life and Legend of Wyattt Earp¨ . He realized his first feature in 1949 , a western , ¨Grand Canyon¨ genre in which he would not only excel but one where he would spent much of the rest of his career. Although Paul Landres couldn't be deemed an "A"-list director, his movies had a professionalism and a verve that many of those made by his fellow B directors lacked . He also filmed detective thrillers , Western as ¨Lone Texas¨, ¨Frontier gun¨ , action motion pictures and even a horror film or two as ¨The vampire¨, ¨The return of Dracula¨. Rating : 5 . Average but passable.

Man From Gun Country

[zardoz-13 · 8/10 · 6 June 2015]

"Man from God's Country" reteamed square-jawed George Montgomery with his "Last of the Badman" director Paul Landres. This sturdy western shoot'em up ranks as one of Montgomery's best, thanks in part to scenarist George Waggner's first class screenplay. Not only does Montgomery reteam with Landres, but also House Peters, Jr., of "Black Patch" is back. This time Peters plays our hero's old pal from the American Civil War. Everything that you want in a good western appears in this lean, mean dust-raiser. Clocking in at a trim 72 minutes, "Man from God's Country" doesn't stray. Frank Wilcox and James Griffith qualify as excellent adversaries. As the entrepreneurial dude who owns the saloon, Wilcox exudes egotism and charm to the max, while Griffith is equally as treacherous as Wilcox's bushwhacking henchman. Wilcox is cast as the owner of a freight business who doesn't want to see the railroad lay track through his stomping grounds until he has cleaned up. We'll probably never know if Spaghetti western director Sergio Corbucci ever saw "Man from God's County," but the pistol-packing finale anticipates "The Mercenary" with competitors who face off but gun down their adversaries. Meantime, the supporting cast is first class with Phil Terry as the sheriff who has more spine than most star-packers. Leading lady Randy Stuart made her last big-screen appearance here as a saloon girl before she took advantage of the television. She is the other lady with a slightly tarnished past who never gets a chance to put a lip lock on our hero, while Susan Cummings is the good girl who is romantically attached to Peters' gunhand. Although this is a low-budget Allied Artists oater, "Man from God's Country" boasts a solid, atmospheric budget. Veteran western producer Scott Dunlap doesn't short-change this sagebrusher that confines itself largely to town settings. The title seems a mite misleading. You don't see any preachers in "Man from God's Country" and our hero is a former sheriff who is a sure shot with a six-shooter. None of the scenes occur in a sanctuary and the Bible isn't quoted by anybody. Typically, gospel means a narrative about the life and death of Jesus. A couple of characters do change their over the duration of the story and our hero calls his advice to a youngster as preaching, but that is as close as it comes to religious. Altogether, "Man from God's Country" is a western worth watching.

Man from God's country

[coltras35 · 5/10 · 5 April 2023]

Dan Beattie gives up his job to move further west and rejoin his old war buddy Curt Warren in the town of Sundown. At first mistaken for a railroad agent by Beau Santee, a Sundown businessman who wants to keep the railroad away from his town, Dan is nearly killed by Santee's henchman, Mark Faber. Dan discovers that his old pal Curt works for Santee. Even after learning Dan's true identity, Santee considers him trouble and plots to get rid of him. With the help of Curt's son Stony, Dan tries to get Curt to take a stand on the right side of the law.

George Montgomery is his usual dependable self as a hero and does well as a man mistaken for a railroad man, but I have seen better westerns of his such as Texas Rangers, Jack McCall, Desperado, Cripple Creek, Gun belt etc. Man from God's Country has a slow pace and lack bite, though there are some good characterisation and themes. It's a passable oater. James Griffiths, like usual, his excellent as a thug.