FLESH AND THE SPUR

 

During the audio commentary for the new Blu-ray of THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS, Tom Weaver mentioned that the stars of the film, John Agar and Joyce Meadows, had already appeared together in a low-budget Western called FLESH AND THE SPUR. That film was released by American International Pictures in 1956. I viewed it last night on the Tubi streaming platform. 

John Agar stars as Luke Random, who arrives at his farm one day to discover that his twin brother has been shot and killed. Luke learns that an escaped convict belonging to a group of thugs called the Checkers gang is responsible. Luke decides to hunt down the killer himself. During his quest he encounters a disgraced Native American woman called Willow (Marla English), a shady gunslinger named Stacy (Mike Connors, billed here as Touch), and a grizzled snake oil salesman (Raymond Hatton). The motley group tracks down the Checkers gang, and is almost wiped out by them...but Luke finally catches up to his prey. 

Many of the names involved in FLESH AND THE SPUR will be familiar for AIP/Roger Corman fans. The director was Edward L. Cahn, the producer was Alex Gordon, and the story and screenplay was by Charles B. Griffith and Mark Hanna. It definitely has the mid-1950s AIP feel--it's an okay low-grade oater, but it promises more than it delivers. It has a few decent action scenes, but it's very talky--Luke's restless search slows to a halt several times. A climatic double plot-twist does enliven matters. 

John Agar was certainly no stranger to Westerns--he started out his movie career riding with John Wayne himself in FORT APACHE and SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON. Despite his playing a man determined to avenge his murdered brother, Agar here still comes off as a decent regular guy instead of someone obsessed with revenge. 

Agar isn't helped by the fact that he's overshadowed by Mike Connors as the boisterous and cocky Stacy. Connors steals the film, and Raymond Hatton also gets to shine in a hammy role. As for Joyce Meadows, she has a small role as Hatton's daughter, and she doesn't get much to do before she's killed off. 

The poster shown above says that the film is in "Wide vision color", but the version I watched on Tubi was in black & white, and in full frame, and it wasn't in the best condition. There's a DVD of FLESH AND THE SPUR from Alpha Video, but it's also listed as being in black & white and full screen. Does the original color version of this film exist anywhere? If it does, it would be interesting to see how this film plays in color and widescreen. 

One more bit of trivia about FLESH AND THE SPUR--the movie features a mournful song, written by Ross Bagdasarian, the creator of Alvin and the Chipmunks.