Classic Westerns

Vengeance Valley (1951)

Director: Richard Thorpe
Actors: Burt Lancaster, Robert Walker, Joanne Dru, Sally Forrest, John Ireland, Ray Collins, Stanley Andrews
Runtime: 83 min.

Owen Daybright (Burt Lancaster) feuds with his black sheep brother Lee Strobie over the rights to their father's empire. But the sibling rivalry comes to a head when Lee fathers an illegitimate child and tries to frame Owen.

Trivia: Burt Lancaster won a Best Actor Academy Award for 1960's Elmer Gantry. Joanne Dru was one of John Wayne's leading ladies, starring opposite the Duke in Red River and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. When this movie was made she was married to actor John Ireland (Hub Fasken). Richard Thorpe was the original director of The Wizard of Oz but he was fired after two weeks of shooting, because it was felt that his scenes did not have the right air of fantasy about them. He later directed Ivanhoe and the Elvis Presley film, Jailhouse Rock. Based on a novel by Luke Short.