With Donna Reed and Richard Widmark in a western, it's natural to assume he'll be the bad boy who finally gets tamed by a goody-goody, right? Well, fresh off her Academy Award for playing against type, Donna isn't all that nice in Backlash. After all, when they're stranded in the desert together at the start of the movie, gunfire breaks out when she sends him to her saddle. It appears to be a total setup, and that all she's after is a gold claim.
Not everything is as it seems, though. Richard isn't exactly the bad boy. He's just out to avenge his family, who were killed by Apaches. There was another man with them who ran away and didn't try to help, who were also only after the gold. As he tries to find the unknown witness, will Donna get to the gold first, or will they fall in love and forget all about it? And if they do, will the bad guys just let them ride off into the sunset? If you absolutely love Donna Reed and think she can do no wrong, go ahead and check this out. If you don't, skip it. The acting is pretty stinky. You're better off with Warlock or The Alamo for Richard Widmark, or any other Randolph Scott western.
Not everything is as it seems, though. Richard isn't exactly the bad boy. He's just out to avenge his family, who were killed by Apaches. There was another man with them who ran away and didn't try to help, who were also only after the gold. As he tries to find the unknown witness, will Donna get to the gold first, or will they fall in love and forget all about it? And if they do, will the bad guys just let them ride off into the sunset? If you absolutely love Donna Reed and think she can do no wrong, go ahead and check this out. If you don't, skip it. The acting is pretty stinky. You're better off with Warlock or The Alamo for Richard Widmark, or any other Randolph Scott western.