Now thrill to TV's famed frontier fighter Robert Fuller in his first starring motion picture role . When in Southern California visit Universal City studios shows up this thrilling and nail-biting Western picture . From a forgotten page of history , this is the story of The Phantom Hill Incident, and the events that followed... Northwest Texas , at the end of the Civil War, a convoy carrying a million dollars in gold is ambushed in the desert . The U.S. Civil War occurred April 1861-April 1865, officially ending with the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House ; once finished an Union army captain named Matt Martin (Robert Fuller) is assigned by a General (Paul Fix) to carry out a dangerous mission . As
Matt Martin is sent on a secret assignment to retrieve the bullion with the reluctant help of one of the robbers , one man (Dan Duryea) who knows where it is hidden . Along the way they are accompanied by a motley group (Linden Chiles , Tom Simcox , Claude Akins , Noah Beery Jr) and by a Madame" (gorgeous Jocelyn Lane) who has been sanctimoniously ushered out by a sheriff from Hays City . Things go wrong when some bandits (Denver Pyle ..) set out to get the valuable stash . A million dollars in gold waits for two desperate men and a blonde wildcat !. As explosive as a bullet in the back ¡ . A woman's fury , deadlier than Apache arrows ¡ A man's gold fever hotter than the desert sun ¡
Tense , moving and suspenseful Western with a simple , standard story that engages the viewer until the last scene , dealing with a million-dollar gold shipment is hijacked and buried , while a misfit bunch is going to retrieve it , along the way they must fight off outlaws who are also after it and rampaging Comanches . The film packs thrills , psychological drama , noisy action , crossfire , twists , turns , and being enough entertaining . It's a medium budget film with comfortable actors , technicians , functional production values and pleasing results . Pretty good and pleasant traditional Western with professional direction and flawlessly acted by Robert Fuller and Dan Duryea as nasty Joe Barlow who steals the show as a treacherous villain . A Hollywood production full of interesting characters , shootouts , go riding , betrayals and Indian attacks . This ¨Incident at Phantom Hill¨not the best Western ever,...but pretty darn close . The picture is really intriguing , not merely because Earl Bellamy's tersely economic narration of his material , but because Universal Pictures made a decission to cut budget and reducing locations . This decent western is plenty of suspense as the dreaded trial approaches and the protagonist realizes he must stand alone against a heinous killer . The narration is perfectly adjusted , from the beginning , until the final showdown and being approximately developed in a moderated runtime : 88 min . Director managed to create a passable work of art with fine acting , appropriate scenarios , and attractive plot . Bursting with appealing , top-drawer characters, including adequate filmmaking and fine interpretation . The ending confrontation results to be tense , charged and riveting . This is one of a clutch of acceptable horse operas made in the sixties , many of them released in television . Here stands out a top-drawer support cast , along with the frankly excellent Dan Duryea , there appears other notorious secondaries , such as : Linden Chiles , Tom Simcox , Claude Akins , Noah Beery Jr , Paul Fix and Denver Pyle chewing up scenario playing another remarkable villainous .
It packs a colorful and brilliant cinematography in Technicolor , Techniscope by William Margulies . Being shot on location in Joshua Tree, and Lake Piru, California, and Universal studios . As well as an evocative and stirring musical score by Hans J. Salter , Universal's regular . Well produced by Harry Tatelman who also wrote the story along with the prestigious Frank S. Nugent , a Western expert who worked in John Ford's scripts , such as : Wagon Master , The searchers , She Wore a Yellow Ribbon , Fort Apache , Two Rode Together , The quiet man , The last Hurra ¡ , The Donovan reef , Mister Roberts . The motion picture was professionally directed by Earl Bellamy . Earl worked too much at TV , specializing in westerns that he shot a lot , such as : Three Guns for Texas , Seminola uprising , Backtrack , Against a Crooked Sky , Justice of the West , Speedtrap , Seven alone , The tracker , The wackiest wagon train in the West , Daniel Boone , The Viginian , Lone Ranger , The Sheriff of Cochise . He was a good professional who served in the US Navy's photographic unit in the WWII and directed more than 1600 episodes of television from known series such as : Marcus Welby , The Restless Gun , U.S. Marshal , Lassie , Bat Masterson , Shotgun Slade , The Best of the Post , US Marshal , Annie Oakley , Masquerade , Crusader , Wagon train , Soldier of fortune and catastrophe films for Irwin Allen , such as : Fire! and Flood! and a sequel titled Walking tall II . After Bellamy retired from directing he became the head of production for Universal Pictures , a cinema Company in which he made several movies like this ¨Incident at Phantom Hill¨ . Rating : 6.5/10 . Acceptable and entertaining Western . Well worth watching .
