Cheyenne Quicksand (1955–1963) Online

"Quicksand" demonstrates a laudable desire to move away from the standard B-movie plots. It's actually more of a character study in which a small group of people, trapped in hazardous circumstances, must individually examine both their past lives and their future hopes. It's all rather superficial, of course, since the restrictions of a limited running time don't allow for much depth, but the efforts are pleasing and they're helped by the presence of a better-than-average cast.

One of my fellow reviewers has mentioned the cast members, such as Dennis Hopper, who went on to bigger and better things. Also worth mentioning is Norman Frederic who plays the taunting Indian chief. Several years later, under the name Dean Fredericks and with bleached blond hair, he played the lead in the "Steve Canyon" TV series. He also starred in the cult sci-fi movie "Phantom Planet" in which he has an extended "beefcake" scene which shows off his hairy chest. To play the Indian chief in "Quicksand," however, he's shaved his chest smooth.

There's no such shaving for Clint Walker, however. His "beefcake" scene here -- perhaps the best of the show's first season -- displays his chest in all its hirsute glory. You can even see his navel, something not always visible in 1950s' "beefcake." The fact that he appears bare-chested during a scene in which he's at risk and facing danger only adds to the appeal.

You sometimes wish that you could give Cheyenne a good shake to awaken him to the predicament that that he finds himself in, but once again Clint Walker is saved from a dull script by his fellow actors, in particular DENNIS HOPPER and JOHN ALDERSON.

Dennis, in one of his earliest roles plays the Utah Kid, who feels he has to force the issue with Cheyenne and comes off somewhat badly, but at least he livens up the proceedings! The rest of the cast do their utmost to try and get the interest going by trying to explore each other's characters and John Alderson, in a rather unusually sympathetic role, does rather well. John, who was born in the North of England, was quite accustomed to playing a Cockney character in many feature films and towards the end of "Quicksand" tended to lapse in to his 'English' accent.

To return to Clint, upon reflection he has to maintain the stance of the unshakable hero but I wished that a little more time could have been spent in getting underneath the surface of the 'Cheyenne' persona and to have given Clint better dialogue to work with. I feel that the other actors are given the better lines but poor Clint has to fend for himself, perhaps this is why his career as a major star was rather short lived.

I can certainly understand possible reasons why Clint fell out with Warner Brothers over the handling of his career as nearly every other western movie was an extension of his Cheyenne role. It must have been extremely difficult in trying to convince other film makers to offer Clint roles outside the western genre!