The ruler of Kansas
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The ruler of Kansas |
| Original title | The Jayhawkers! |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1959 |
| length | 100 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Melvin Frank |
| script |
Albert Isaac Bezzerides Melvin Frank |
| production | Melvin Frank Norman Panama |
| music | Jerome Moross |
| camera | Loyal Griggs |
| cut | Everett Douglas |
| occupation | |
| |
The ruler of Kansas (Original title: The Jayhawkers! ) Is an American film directed by Melvin Frank from 1959. The screenplay was written by Albert Isaac Bezzerides and the director. The leading roles are cast with Jeff Chandler , Fess Parker and Nicole Maurey . In the USA the film was first seen on the screen on October 15, 1959, and in the Federal Republic of Germany on June 24, 1960.
action
The film is set in 1859, when Kansas was already a territory of the United States, but not yet a state. Chaos dominates in many places. Guerrillas are up to mischief, especially the gang of Jayhawkers .
Former soldier Cam Bleeker was sentenced to prison for manslaughter. One day he breaks out of prison. After being wounded while on the run, he dragged himself to his homestead . There he meets the French émigré Jeanne Dubois. She bought the estate from his wife shortly before her death and now lives there with her two children. Cam is allowed to stay with the family. However, his life in freedom does not last long; Governor Clayton's troops find out about him and arrest him. Clayton promises him freedom if he agrees to help his soldiers find Luke Darcy, head of the Jayhawkers. The governor can also prove to Cam that Darcy was responsible for his wife's death.
Cam manages to track down the Jayhawkers camp. After a short time, the gang leader casts him under his spell. Cam won over his goal of fighting for a free Kansas. That is why he joins the wicked.
The Jayhawkers take over town after town. But the greater the successes, the more Darcy turns out to be a brutal power man who is not afraid to walk over corpses. When a few gang members rage on Cam's former homestead and injure little Marthe, Cam changes his mind. He sneaks away secretly, goes to Governor Cayton and devises a plan with him how to take the Jayhawkers by surprise. The plan succeeds, and at the end there is a showdown in a saloon in which Cam and Luke face each other. The latter dies from a bullet from Cam. This is pardoned by the governor. Now Cam wants to shape the future together with Jeanne and her children.
criticism
The lexicon of international films doesn't think much of the film . It draws the following conclusion: “An ambitious gang leader tries with cunning to bring all of Kansas under his power. The dazzling power that the successful dictator exudes almost turns into the admiration of the director for a questionable leader idol. ”Cinefacts.de has a better opinion:“ Exciting western with psychological depth. ”
source
Program for the film: The New Film Program , published by the publishing house of the same name, Heinrich Klemmer, Mannheim, without a number
Web links
- The ruler of Kansas in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Five pictures from the film at Cinema.de
Individual evidence
- ^ Lexicon of international films, rororo-Taschenbuch Nr. 6322 from 1988, p. 1592
- ↑ http://www.cinefacts.de/Filme/Herrscher-von-Kansas,39906