Gunsmoke in Tuscon (1958)

Almost nobody recognisable is in this, and I'd never heard of it, but it's surprisingly good (after an awful start). The film follows Chip Coburn (Mark Stevens), an outlaw who is slowly trying to become a legitimate landowner. His motivations are somewhat unclear for most of the film – he clearly doesn't want to be imprisoned again, but at the same time he has little interest in playing by the rules. He comes up against a brutal rancher, who is trying to take over the valley, but declines to do much to help the farmers who also want to fight the rancher. Chip's brother (Forrest Tucker), a Sheriff, comes gunning for Chip, believing he's still in the wrong.

The opening scenes are intended to set up the two brothers and their motivation, by showing the hanging of their father (and they do that to an extent) but feature awful child overacting and aren't really necessary. Fortunately it gets better from there. The character is Chip is excellently played, starting off tired of his outlaw life, but still fairly nasty and manipulative but gradually getting more likeable throughout (he's never entirely unlikeable though). I was also pleased to see that, in the end, he (slightly unexpectedly) chooses the saloon girl (Gale Robbins) rather than the nice girl he barely interacts with.

The main weakness is the cheesy "Blue Chip" outlaw persona, together with costume that Chip adopts at the start. It recurs later when the baddies try to use it to frame him. However, overall it's an enjoyable minor film with some good characters in.