Tumbleweed (film)
Tumbleweed is a 1953 Technicolor Western film directed by Nathan Juran and starring Audie Murphy, Lori Nelson, and Chill Wills. It was also known by the alternative title of Three Were Renegades; the title of the 1937 novel Three Were Thoroughbreds by Kenneth Taylor Perkins[1] the film was based on (which had been previously filmed as the 1948 film Relentless).[2]
| Tumbleweed | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Nathan Juran |
| Produced by | Ross Hunter |
| Written by | John Meredyth Lucas |
| Based on | novel Three Were Renegades by Kenneth Perkins |
| Starring | Audie Murphy Lori Nelson Chill Wills |
| Cinematography | Russell Metty |
| Edited by | Virgil W. Vogel |
Production company | Universal Pictures |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 79 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Plot
Jim Harvey (Audie Murphy) is a guide and guard on a wagon train. After he saves the life of a Yaqui Indian warrior named Tigre, the wagon train is attacked and Harvey realizes their only chance of survival is if he can negotiate a truce with Tigre's father, the chief Aguila (Ralph Moody). Aguila orders Harvey to be knocked out, and tortured later, but he is set free by Tigre's mother. He goes to town and discovers the people on the wagon train were massacred, except for two sisters who Harvey insisted hide in the caves. Harvey is falsely accused of cowardice and the townsfolk threaten to lynch him.[3] Harvey escapes on a borrowed Cayuse horse[4] named Tumbleweed, and tries to prove his innocence, discovering that a white man was responsible for the attack. The horse's intelligence, sure-footedness, and instinct save Harvey, and Murphy's interaction with the horse drives much of the storyline.[5]
Cast
- Audie Murphy as Jim Harvey
- Lori Nelson as Laura
- Chill Wills as Sheriff Murchoree
- Roy Roberts as Nick Buckley
- Russell Johnson as Lam Blandon
- K. T. Stevens as Louella Buckley
- Madge Meredith as Sarah Blandon
- Lee Van Cleef as Marv
- I. Stanford Jolley as Ted
- Ralph Moody as Aguila
- Ross Elliott as Seth Blandon
- Eugene Iglesias as Tigre
- Phil Chambers as Trapper Ross
- Lyle Talbot as Weber
- King Donovan as Wrangler
- Harry Harvey as Prospector
See also
References
- http://thepassingtramp.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/a-life-of-crime-kenneth-taylor-perkins.html
- p.95 Herzberg, Bob Hang 'Em High: Law and Disorder in Western Films and Literature McFarland, 28 Aug. 2013
- Tumbleweed at Audie Murphy Memorial Site
- "Film - Tumbleweed". TV Tropes. Retrieved September 4, 2020.
- Nott, Robert (2005). Last of the Cowboy Heroes: The Westerns of Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, and Audie Murphy. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-7864-2261-6.