Colorado Territory (1949)

Colorado Territory (1949), directed by Raoul Walsh.

An outlaw is broken out of prison so he can commit a train heist. He doesn't much like the helpers they've given him, but grows close to the half-Indian woman hanging out with the gang. They are all doomed. The problem with crime is the people you have to deal with.

Interesting because it is a remake of Walsh's own High Sierra (1941) from just eight years earlier. I think it works better as a crime story than as a western, and Joel McCrea doesn't have the hardness or pain of Humphrey Bogart. Skin-toned Virginia Mayo is fetching as the bad-girl love interest.

David Buttolph score. The music and emotion swell as they approach the tragic ending, and we have some lovely cinematography by Sidney Hickox. Unfortunately the Warner Archive DVD has a very soft image.